President Tharman to receive MIT award for his leadership in international financial policy

SINGAPORE — President Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be receiving an award from an American research centre in recognition of his leadership in international financial policy.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Golub Center for Finance and Policy is awarding Tharman the Miriam Pozen Prize, the MIT Sloan Office of Communications said on Nov 25. He will be the third recipient of the biennial prize.

Tharman will deliver the Miriam Pozen Lecture at an award ceremony on Dec 9 that will be held at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He will receive a $200,000 prize and a fellowship named in his honour will also be awarded to an incoming MIT Sloan Master of Business Administration student, selected in 2026.

Tharman's work in this area has spanned decades. Over more than 20 years in politics, his roles included Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for Social and Economic Policies, Deputy Prime Minister as well as Finance and Education Minister. He also chaired the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2011 to 2023, and was its managing director before entering politics in 2001.

On the international stage, he currently chairs the board of trustees of the Group of Thirty, an independent global council of leading economic and financial policymakers and is a member of the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum.

His past roles include leading the International Monetary and Financial Committee and chairing the G-20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance.

The Miriam Pozen Prize is awarded in honour of the late mother of Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and the former president of Fidelity Investments and executive chairman of MFS Investment Management who has endowed the award.

The MIT Sloan Office of Communications said the prize advances the MIT Golub Center for Finance and Policy's mission to serve as a catalyst for innovative, cross-disciplinary and nonpartisan research and educational initiatives that address the unique challenges facing governments in their role as financial institutions and as regulators of the financial system.

Given out every two years, the award was conferred to the former head of the Bank of Israel and vice chair of the US Federal Reserve Stanley Fischer in 2021, and to former Italian Prime Minister and president of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi in 2023.

Tharman said he was privileged to receive the prize.

He added: "I hope it helps advance ideas for the principled stewardship of public finances, and renewed construction of a cooperative international order — both critical to addressing the most pressing issues of our times."

MIT President Sally Kornbluth said the university is delighted to welcome Tharman to their campus to accept the honour and share his wisdom with their students.

She added: "MIT has a long history of fruitful collaboration with Singapore and a deep appreciation of President Tharman — his leadership in research and education, his dedication to public service and his insightful, compassionate approach to global policy challenges."

Pozen said he was pleased that the judges had selected Tharman as this year's honouree.

He said: "(Mr Tharman) combines the deep insights of a well-trained economist with the willingness to apply his ideas to policymaking, and he is a model for the application of financial science to practice that the Miriam Pozen Prize is intended to encourage."

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.