Calvin Cheng

Calvin Ern-Lee Cheng was a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) in Singapore, and is a leading figure in the media and fashion modelling industry in Asia. He has held senior roles in Elite Model Management, Ford Models, two of the world's well-known and oldest modeling agencies. He sits on several media advisory boards in Singapore, and is the managing partner of the first China-focused media fund located outside China.

Biography
Cheng graduated from Oxford University (Hertford College) in the United Kingdom, with a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, and a Master of Science in Management.

Cheng was the Asian regional head of Elite Model Management,  the agency that spawned supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bündchen amongst others. In 2003, when Cheng was Head of Elite Models for Asia, the Elite Model Look International finals were also held in Singapore, the second time in 21 years that the event was held in Asia. Cheng left Elite in 2004.. During his tenure as the Head of Elite Models for Asia, Cheng rapidly grew Elite Model's network in Asia, including opening Elite for the first time in the important markets of China, India, Korea, and Thailand. In China, Cheng presided over a watershed Elite Model Look contest held right at the doorsteps of Tibet's Potala Palace, an event that garnered widespread international attention. In India, Cheng not only opened an Elite Agency, but also opened Asia's first Elite Modelling School which aimed to scout and groom India's next Supermodel. Similarly in Korea, Cheng led a nationwide effort to discover a Korean model that could compete internationally. During his tenure, Cheng was at the forefront of trying to internationalise Asian beauty, and spearheaded efforts to find a global 'Asian' face. His efforts were to prove ahead of his time, with European faces still dominating the catwalks in the mid-2000s. Cheng's remarks to the press at the end of Elite Model Look 2003 were that, "The prevailing perception of beauty always belongs to the stronger economic power. At the moment, the Western economy is still holding sway. Therefore, their culture and values are being imposed on us. As the East grows stronger economically, more of our value and culture will be exported to the West. I believe there will be a reversal of trend.". These remarks were to prove prescient in the late 2000s and early 2010s, when a rising China finally allowed the emergence of the world's first Chinese supermodel, Liu Wen.

From 2003 to 2005, Cheng was the Founding President of Singapore's modelling association, which aimed to increase the pay and welfare of models in Singapore. The association successfully managed to increase model wages for shows by 60%, and for shoots by 33%. This was however later interpreted as price-fixing by the Competition Commission of Singapore, and 11 agencies, including the model agency which Cheng was a shareholder of, were fined. Cheng however in an interview with Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper, argued that even though in its decision, the Competition Commission of Singapore took higher prices as evidence that the association has had an (adverse) effect on the market, the association had 'noble goals', and "If wages of models have been left higher and they have benefited permanently, it's a good thing". In a reply to the same newspaper, the Competition Commission reiterated that regardless of the initial goals of increasing wages, the modelling agencies' price (wage) fixing still had an adverse effect on the market. Choosing to blog in response, Cheng revealed that the 'adverse effect' that the Competition Commission claimed was in fact most greatly felt by the Government-linked media giants of SPH and Mediacorp for model shoots, and the Government-backed Singapore Fashion Week and Singapore Fashion Festival for fashion shows. Cheng wrote, "Therefore in summary, the biggest 'clients' that were 'adversely affected' by our 'price-fixing' (which increased the wages of poor young people), was not some poor man on the street, but government owned media monopolies and government agencies themselves."

Cheng is currently the Director of Lumina-Looque International, Director of Looque Models and President of John Robert Powers China.

Looque Models has managed Asian celebrities such as Sara Malakul Lane,  Amber Chia., Lisa S and Maike Evers

Lumina-Looque also owns events group Lumina Live which organises events for luxury brands such as Dior, Ferragamo and Zegna, as well as leading youth magazine JUICE.

At the end of 2014, it was announced that Cheng, together with one of the largest media groups in China, Nasdaq-listed Bona Film Group, launched a $100 million media fund to invest in China media sector. Cheng said "The Chinese media market is the fastest growing media market in the world, and within a few short years, it has almost caught up with the US and is now the second largest box-office market in the world," he said. "Because the Internet market in China is also very developed, the convergence of media is very advanced in China. So we see huge opportunities, not only in film and TV content, but the entire media value chain."

Cheng also sits on the Media Literacy Council of Singapore's Ministry of Communications and Information., and the Advisory Board of Singapore's Media Development Authority's Singapore Media Festival. Previously, Cheng also served on the Supervisory Council of the Government's Feedback arm, REACH.

On the 18 March 2015, Calvin Cheng had uploaded a black lightning-thunder picture, before he made the announcement "Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 18 March 2015, 5.30pm" on Facebook, and also placed the flag at half-mast. According to the Statutes, "no person is allowed to disecrate the flag by flying the flag at half-mast, unless it is confirmed by the respective authorities only in the period of half-mast or national mourning". The flag is flown half-mast five days later. The photograph was therefore removed owing to the complaints from various people.

Achievements and Appointments by Chronology
In August 2005, Cheng was featured in Singapore's 40th independence day official commemorative video as one of 40 outstanding Singaporeans under 40.

Cheng was on the Council of the Singapore Red Cross Society from 2009 to 2011.

In 2009, Cheng was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, and inducted into the Forum of Young Global Leaders, one of five to be chosen from Singapore.

In July 2009, Cheng was appointed a Nominated Member of Parliament in Singapore.

In 2010, Cheng was appointed the President of John Robert Powers for China, the world's largest model training and development school.

In 2011, Cheng was appointed the franchisee for Ford Models Supermodel of the World for Singapore, Malaysia and China. In the same year, Cheng was appointed to the Board of Screen Singapore, Singapore's premier cinema event.

In 2014, Cheng was appointed to the Advisory Board of the newly formed Singapore Media Festival. At the inaugural Singapore Media Festival in December 2014, it was announced that Cheng, together with China media tycoon Yu Dong, launched a US$100 million fund to invest in China's media industry.