SINGAPORE: The Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board will get a new CEO from Oct 1 with the appointment of Ms Melissa Khoo, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a press release on Friday (Jul 28).
Ms Khoo is currently the Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills) at the Ministry of Education (MOE). She will be concurrently appointed as the CEO (Designate) of the CPF Board on Sep 1.
She will leave her role at MOE and succeed the CPF Board’s current CEO, Mr Augustin Lee, on Oct 1.
Mr Lee will be concurrently appointed as the Second Permanent Secretary (Designate) of the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) from Aug 1, before taking on the role on Oct 1.
Ms Khoo joined MOE as the Deputy Secretary (Policy) on Apr 1, 2019, before being appointed to her current role on Nov 1, 2021.
She oversaw key shifts in the education landscape, including the rollout of the revised Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scoring system, stronger support for disadvantaged students through the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT) and the establishment of the University of the Arts in her term, according to MOM.
In her role as Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills), Ms Khoo also led efforts in expanding lifelong learning and continuing education offerings across institutions of higher learning, as well as strengthening support for those in their mid-careers.
Mr Lee, who was appointed CEO in April 2019, “has built on CPF Board’s strengths in areas such as government grant disbursement, insurance administration and customer service” during his tenure, said MOM.
It noted that the CPF Board was able to set up a call centre with 175 trained agents from across 25 government agencies within a week during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr Lee was also awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19) in 2022.
Mr Ng Chee Khern, Permanent Secretary (Manpower), said: “The Ministry of Manpower would like to express its deepest appreciation to Augustin for his strong leadership of the CPF Board over the past four years.
“Under Augustin, the CPF Board has scaled new heights in areas such as government grant disbursement, insurance administration and customer service.”
Mr Ng highlighted Mr Lee’s contributions, including making continual improvements to digitalise CPF services, which have brought greater convenience and efficiency to CPF members.
He also noted the increase in trust in the CPF system during Mr Lee’s tenure, as evidenced by “increases in the participation rate in voluntary CPF schemes”.