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New Chief Executive Officer for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency

1 October 2013

  1. Mr Ng Cher Pong (黄子鹏), currently Deputy Secretary (Policy) of the Ministry of Education (MOE), has been appointed the new Chief Executive (CE) of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). The appointment will take effect on 1 November 2013.
  2. Mr Ng, 41, will succeed Mr Wong Hong Kuan (黄宏冠), 42, who has assumed the role of Director, Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB), on 1 October 2013. Mr Ng will take over the helm from Mr Goh Eng Ghee, currently WDA’s Deputy CE, who was appointed Acting CE of WDA on 1 September 2013.

    Mr Wong Hong Kuan
  3. Mr Wong joined WDA as its CE in June 2011. Under his leadership, WDA made significant strides in strengthening engagement with the Professionals, Managers and Executives’ (PMEs) group. He successfully led efforts to increase the breadth of interventions for PMEs, enabling some 100,000 PMEs to benefit from WDA’s Continuing Education and Training (CET) programmes. He also strengthened employment facilitation for PMEs through CaliberLink1, and enhanced the employability of PMEs through the Max Talent Place-and-Train programme2.

    Mr Ng Cher Pong
  4. Mr Ng joined the Administrative Service in 1996. He holds a Master in Business Administration from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cambridge, UK.
  5. Mr Ng has served in various portfolios in the Ministry of National Development, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the former Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Defence. He was appointed Deputy Secretary (Services) at the Ministry of Education in 2009 and Deputy Secretary (Policy) in 2010.
  6. Mr Ng also serves on the Boards of the Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Yale-NUS College, A*STAR, Info-communications Development Authority of Singapore and Singapore Technologies Kinetics.

    MOM’s Comments on the New Appointments
  7. Mr Loh Khum Yean, Permanent Secretary (Manpower), said, “The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) deeply appreciates Hong Kuan’s valuable contributions. He has led WDA through many achievements, which will continue to serve as a strong foundation to help our workforce move ahead of the intense global competition. I wish him all the best in his new appointment.”
  8. Mr Loh added, “At the same time, we welcome Cher Pong back to the MOM family. Cher Pong had headed our Foreign Manpower Management, and Workplace Policy and Strategy divisions during his previous stint in MOM. We look forward to him leading the WDA team to further strengthen our Continuing Education and Training efforts. ”

1CaliberLink is a one-stop service point to enhance the employability of PMEs through its training and career consultation services, networking events and workshops. To date, over 3,200 PMEs have been assisted by CaliberLink.

2The Max Talent Place-and-Train programme is a collaboration between WDA and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) to help SMEs recruit and retain PMEs.