Mr. Lim is the former Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Prior to A*STAR, he was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Chief of Defence Force of the Singapore Armed Forces respectively. He is the inaugural Governing Board Chairman of the Joint Nanyang Technological University/Imperial College Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and also chaired the National Infocomm Security Committee.

Mr. Lim received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Mathematics from Cambridge University, his M.B.A. from Cornell University and attended the A.M.P. at Harvard Business School.