He studied in Haig Boys School, Raffles Institution and National Junior College.
[1] After studying in France, Chan worked as a civil servant under various Singaporean government ministries.
In 1994 Chan successfully applied to be the Principal Private Secretary of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew (as he then was).
Becoming Group President of the Singapore-based media firm SPH in July 2002, it was in January 2003 that he became the company's chief executive officer.
[5] Chan contributed an essay titled "My Tryst With Chinese" for Lee Kuan Yew's 2012 book, My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey.