Chris Chan | |
|---|---|
 Chan in 2013 | |
| Born | 18 September 1950 |
| Education | Royal Military Academy Sandhurst |
| Organizations | |
| Awards | Olympic Diploma of Merit (2016) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Singapore |
| Branch | Singapore Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
Christopher Chan Seng Heng [a] (born 18 September 1950) is a Singaporean executive who has been the president of the Global Esports Federation since 2019. He was the secretary-general of the Singapore National Olympic Committee (SNOC) from 2002 to 2025.
Christopher Chan was born on 18 September 1950. [1] He graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1973 and spent 28 years in the Singapore Armed Forces, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. [2] He was a commando officer of the Singapore Army. [3]
He was a chief executive of the Singapore Premier League [4] from 1997 to 2002. He left the league [5] to begin working as the secretary-general of the Singapore National Olympic Committee. [6] Amid the controversy stemming from death sentence of Van Tuong Nguyen, Chan declined to comment after his country's participation of the 2006 Commonwealth Games was protested, preferring not to mix sport and politics. [7] He repeated this latter sentiment in 2008, comparing the two topics to oil and water. [8]
During his tenure, Singapore hosted the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010. [3] [9] Despite a favorable outcome at that year's Commonwealth Games, Singapore had an underwhelming performance at that year's Asian Games, with Chan reacting in confusion at the upset. [10]
By 2012, the BBC noted that Singapore had not won any gold medals at the Olympics despite attending since 1948. It described Chan as attributing this issue to "the lack of a systemic and holistic approach toward identifying sporting talent" in the country. [9] Singapore finally earned its first Olympic gold medal with Joseph Schooling's performance at the 2016 Summer Olympics. [3] That same year, Chan was awarded the Olympic Diploma of Merit with two others for "significant contributions to the Olympic movement and sport in Singapore and internationally." [6]
In 2019, he was elected as the founding president of the Global Esports Federation (GEF), [11] [12] [13] and unanimously re-elected in 2024. [14] Under Chan's presidency, the GEF "acquir[ed] an impressive number of members and partners," including the publishers Capcom, Konami, and Sega. [15] Kenyan esports executive Ronny Lusigi endorsed Chan's 2024 reelection bid in an opinion piece in the Daily Nation. [16] Former swimmer Mark Chay succeeded him as secretary-general of the SNOC in 2025. [3]