The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has named Andrew Tan Kok Kiong, currently the Deputy Secretary of Special Duties in the Ministry of Transport, its Chief Executive.
Tan, who holds a concurrent appointment as Fellow in the Civil Service College, will take over from outgoing Lam Yi Young effective January 1, 2014, according to an official statement released recently by the Ministry of Transport.
Tan, 46, graduated from King’s College, University of London in the UK with a degree in History, and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the United States.
He began his career with the Singapore Administrative Service in the Ministry of Information and the Arts and was subsequently posted to the Ministry of Defence. From there, he moved on to hold other posts including Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew from 2002 to 2004, and senior appointments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.
On January 1, 2009, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the National Environment Agency, a post he held until June 30, 2013. He was also the director of the Centre for Liveable Cities from October 1, 2008 to July 1, 2010.
Lam, 41, has been the Chief Executive of MPA since May 1, 2009. The ministry acknowledged his contributions, saying that under his leadership, Singapore has maintained its standing as the world’s busiest port in annual vessel arrival tonnage, and registered record highs in container throughput.
Singapore has also remained the world’s top bunkering port, and ranks among the world’s top 10 ship registries.
The ministry added that Lam was instrumental in the commissioning of a new Port Operations Control Centre in Changi and the development of Pasir Panjang Terminal Phases 3 and 4.
