Tan Kin Lian

On 7 June 2011, Tan announced that he would be contesting in the 2011 presidential election. Following his announcement, he promised to donate a significant part of the S$4 million presidential salary to a specially formed charity and circulated several statements outlining his position on the role of the president, including a controversial statement on safeguarding the reserves. The statements drew a mild rebuke from senior members of the Singapore Government, who attempted to publicly clarify that the elected president has only "custodial powers" and not "executive powers". In response, Tan issued another statement, where he agreed with the limitations but nevertheless stressed that "the president does not need to be armed with strong executive powers to make an impact. A well qualified and properly elected President will make his impact through the power to persuade, to influence, to counsel, to convey feedback and if necessary, to articulate informed positions on specific issues".

On 7 July 2011, Tan submitted the presidential eligibility forms. Tan had submitted his application for the Certificate of Eligibility under a Special Clause, citing his experience as CEO of an insurance cooperative with a shared capital of S$500 million and assets of S$17 billion. He was granted the Certificate of Eligibility on 11 August 2011 along with the other three candidates.

In response to rumours circulating that Tan would be dropping out of the presidential race early, he refuted such claims and expressed that he would be filing his nomination papers as planned. After submitting his nomination forms on 17 August 2011, he made his nomination day speech in four of the official languages of Singapore; English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. He was the only who do so.

A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) for 30 years, he left the party in 2008 due to his inactivity, and disagreement with the party's value system. He also served as the party's branch secretary at Marine Parade for three years and was picked by Goh Chok Tong in 1977, to test a pilot scheme for setting up block committees, now known as Residents' Committees (RC).

Tan had already expressed his interest in becoming the president of Singapore in 2008.

Tan's portfolio in 2007 mentioned more than 60 directorships and other corporate appointments. Of these, the most notable was as Chairman of International Co-operative & Mutual Insurance Federation from 1992 to 1997, an international organisation which at that time represented 123 insurance groups in 65 countries, employing 260,000 people. The total assets of the members of this international federation totalled US$1.5 trillion in 1997.

Since retiring from NTUC Income in 2007, Tan has provided free financial advice and opinions on current affairs through his blog, and had established the Financial Service Consumer Association (FISCA) to educate people about long-term financial security. During the 2008 financial crisis, he organised public rallies for people who lost their money due to investing in Lehman Brothers' Minibond products. The rallies resulted in a petition to Singapore Government, signed by 983 investors.

Tan became the general manager of NTUC Income in 1977, at the age of 29. He was subsequently re-designated as the chief executive officer and remained in this position until April 2007. Under his leadership, the company has grown from having S$28 million in assets in 1977 to more than S$17 billion in assets and over one million policyholders in 2007.

Tan Kin Lian PBM BBM (Chinese: 陈钦亮; pinyin: Chén Qīnliàng; born 1948) is a Singaporean businessman who served as the chief executive officer of NTUC Income between 1997 and 2007, before standing for the 2011 presidential election.