Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) is an award-winning engineer, two-time New York Times bestselling author, film producer, and philanthropist whose work has received eight nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meng was among Google’s earliest engineers and played a key role in the company’s formative years. He contributed to the development of Google’s first mobile search service, led efforts to maintain the quality of its search engine, and was a founding member of Google’s Chinese Search team. After eight successful years in Engineering, he became the first engineer in Google’s history to transfer into People Operations, where his unconventional job description was to “Enlighten minds, open hearts, create world peace.” His official title, “Jolly Good Fellow (which nobody can deny),” reflected both his unique role and his lasting impact on Google’s culture.
Meng is best known for creating Search Inside Yourself, a groundbreaking mindfulness-based emotional intelligence program developed at Google. The program gained international recognition and was featured on the front page of the New York Times Sunday Business section. His first book, also titled Search Inside Yourself, became a New York Times bestseller and received endorsements from world leaders, including President Jimmy Carter and President Tony Tan of Singapore; business figures such as Eric Schmidt and John Mackey; and spiritual leaders including the Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra.
Beyond Google, Meng has continued to dedicate his life to promoting peace, compassion, and well-being. He is Co-Chair of One Billion Acts of Peace, which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and seven other Nobel Laureates. He is also Co-Founder of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and Buddhism.net, and created one of the earliest websites on Buddhism in 1995.
Meng has spoken at the United Nations and the White House on topics such as compassion, kindness, and emotional intelligence. He was Executive Producer of the film Walk With Me, and has served as Adjunct Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
Meng holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has received numerous awards for his contributions to computing, including the Championship of Singapore’s National Software Competition. He is a Founding Patron of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE), the World Peace Festival, and serves as an advisor to several technology startups.
