Evlyn W.Y. Cheong graduated with BSc (Estate Management) from the National University of Singapore. She obtained her Masters in Town & Country Planning from the University of Sydney under the Colombo Plan Scholarship.

Evlyn has nearly 30 years of professional and management experience. She started her career as a planner in Statutory Planning with the then Public Works Department, before she was seconded to the Planning Department, Ministry of National Development. There, she led the review of ‘new’ Hotel Zone which was just introduced in the Singapore Master Plan. At Strategic Planning Section, she evaluated public housing submissions made to the Chief Planner and Master Plan Committee, before submission to the Minister.

As Section Head, Development Control, Central Area, she was empowered to administer Parts 3 & 4 of the Planning Act. Here, she accumulated vast experiences in her interactions with architects, developers in the private sector, and officers of various government departments. She honed her communication skills in making regular presentations to the then Development Control Committee, submitting planning reports to Permanent Secretary (MND) for approval,  and representing the authority at appeal hearings which were presided by Planning Appeal Inspectors.

As Section Head, Sale of Sites, she has coordinated many land sales in the Government Land Sales Program(GLSP). She later led a joint MND-MinLaw delegation to Sydney and Perth, to study the feasibility of amendments to the Land Titles Strata Act, and the Planning Act to introduce landed condominiums in the private sector, and the GLSP.