Appointment of New Chief Executive for Skillsfuture Singapore

Mr Ong Tze-Ch’in will be appointed Chief Executive of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) with effect from 1 Dec 2019. Mr Ong will concurrently be appointed Deputy Secretary (SkillsFuture) of the Ministry of Education (MOE). He will succeed Mr Ng Cher Pong, who will assume the role as Chief Executive of the National Library Board on the same date.

2. Appointed in May 2018, Mr Ong is currently Co-ordinating Divisional Director, Higher Education Group in MOE. Prior to this appointment, he held various key leadership positions in the Singapore Armed Forces, the last two being Director, Military Intelligence and Commander, 3rd Singapore Division.

3. In his current appointment, Mr Ong oversees a wide spectrum of functions encompassing policy development, governance and operations across the higher education landscape. Having played an instrumental role in shaping higher education as well as continuing education and training policies, Mr Ong is well-positioned to lead SSG in its continued drive towards developing a culture of lifelong learning, through the pursuit of skills mastery.

4. Mr Ng joined the Administrative Service of the Singapore Civil Service in 1996, and has served in various capacities across many Ministries and government agencies. He was appointed Chief Executive of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency in 2013 and was appointed Chief Executive of SSG upon its establishment in 2016. He concurrently serves as Deputy Secretary (SkillsFuture) in MOE.

5. As the founding Chief Executive of SSG, Mr Ng has played a pivotal role in the development and implementation of various SkillsFuture initiatives during his tenure. These initiatives include the SkillsFuture Work-Study programmes to diversify work-study pathways; the SkillsFuture Series that focuses on industry-relevant training for skills in emerging areas; the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace to prepare workers for the digital economy; and the SkillsFuture Credit to encourage Singaporeans to take ownership of their skills development and lifelong learning. Mr Ng is a regular champion for lifelong learning and skills mastery - he led the development of the Skills Frameworks for more than 30 sectors and the MySkillsFuture portal, and oversaw the launch of the annual SkillsFuture Festival to inspire Singaporeans to develop a passion for learning.

6. Mr Ng was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2016 for his outstanding contributions to the Singapore Civil Service.