David Neo

David Neo
David Neo
Born	1977 (age 45–46); Singapore
Allegiance	Singapore
Service/branch	Singapore Army
Years of service	1996–present
Rank	Major-General
Commands held	Chief of Army; Deputy Secretary (Technology)/Future Systems and Technology Architect; Director of Joint Operations; Head, Joint Plans and Transformation Department; Commander, 3rd Singapore Division; Commander, 2nd Singapore Infantry Brigade; Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion Singapore Guards
Alma mater	University of Illinois (BEng, BA); Stanford University (MS); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MBA)

David Neo Chin Wee PPA(G) is a Singaporean major-general who has been serving as Chief of Army since 2022.^[1] He previously served as Deputy Secretary (Technology) at the Ministry of Defence.

Education

Neo attended Victoria School before graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Engineering degree with honours in electrical engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in economics.

He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Business Administration degree in business administration, management and operations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Master of Science degree in operations research at Stanford University under the Lee Kuan Kew Scholarship conferred by the Public Service Commission, and the Singapore Armed Forces Postgraduate Scholarship in 2012.

He also attended the Indonesian Army Command and Staff College (SESKOAD) in 2007 and attained the Top Foreign Student – Best Thesis.

Military career

Neo enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1996 and served in the Singapore Army as a Commando officer.

Throughout his career he held many appointments and roles, from command tours to staff appointments. The staff appointments include: Training Development Officer from Apr 2001 - Dec 2002, Staff Officer (Plans) / Joint Operations Department from Nov 2004 - Aug 2006, Chairman SICUS Committee NDP 2008 from Aug 2007 - Aug 2008, Deputy Director (Planning) / Head Strategic Plans from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012, Chairman, Show Committee NDP 2014, Head Joint Plans and Transformation Department from Oct 2014 - Jul 2016, Director Joint Operations from May 2019 - Mar 2021 and Deputy Secretary (Technology) on Mar 2021.

As the Head Joint Plans and Transformation Department and Director of Joint Operations, he oversaw the SAF's contributions to the national fight against COVID-19.^[2]

His command appointments include: Company Commander, Fifth Company, 1st Commando Battalion from May 2003 - Nov 2004,Commander Officer 1st Battalion Singapore Guards from Jan 2008 - Dec 2009, Brigade Commander 2nd Singapore Infantry Brigade from Aug 2013 - Oct 2014, Commander 3rd Singapore Division from Jul 2018 - Jun 2019.

On 10 March 2022, he took over from Goh Si Hou as the Chief of Army.^[2] On 1 July 2022, Neo was promoted to the rank of Major-General.^[3]

Non-military career

Outside of the SAF, Neo holds several other appointments. Currently he is a Board Member of Temasek Defense Systems Institute since March 2021 and a Director in DSTA since April 2021.

In the past, Neo was the programme director of the Pioneer Generation Office and the founding Group Chief of the Silver Generation Office under the Agency for Integrated Care. He was also a Member, Board of Governors of Singapore Polytechnic from April 2015 - April 2018 and Alternate Director in Advanced Material Engineering from June 2013 - June 2016.