New Chief Executive Officer for Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board

1. From 1 August 2023, Mr Augustin Lee, Chief Executive Officer of the CPF Board, will be concurrently appointed as Second Permanent Secretary (Designate), Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG). He will take on the appointment of Second Permanent Secretary (SNDGG) from 1 October 2023.

2. Ms Melissa Khoo, currently Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills), Ministry of Education, will be concurrently appointed as Chief Executive Officer (Designate) of the CPF Board on 1 September 2023. She will relinquish her role at MOE and succeed Mr Lee as CPF Board’s Chief Executive Officer on 1 October 2023.

3. 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. Augustin has made continual improvements to digitalise CPF services, bringing greater convenience and efficiency to CPF members. Trust in the CPF system has increased under Augustin, as evidenced by increases in the participation rate in voluntary CPF schemes.”

Background

Mr Augustin Lee (李东阳)

4. Mr Augustin Lee was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of CPF Board in April 2019.

5. Mr Lee has inspired and brought out the best in Team CPF to achieve excellence and fostered a strong culture of improving and innovating continuously in the work and organisational practices. In 2022, CPF Board won the Transformative Agency of Year Award (TAA) at the Public Sector Transformation Awards. The TAA is an apex all-rounder award which recognises exemplary agencies that have successfully transformed both their operations and workforce with ambition, and with impactful outcomes.

6. Mr Lee accelerated the pace of digital transformation in CPF Board; the CPF mobile app, which won the Red Dot Distinction Award, showcases CPF Board's embrace of inclusive user experience design, and the CPF website continues to be the leading e-gov website, serving more than 60 million transactions annually. Under his leadership, CPF Board also launched the CPF Volunteer movement and stepped up engagement with CPF members through both digital and physical channels.

7. The CPF Board was recognised as the top-rated public agency - as well as the most improved - in terms of customer service, in a survey that Ernst & Young conducted on leading public and private sector organisations. Beyond improved sentiments and perception, members’ trust in the CPF system is borne out in their actions as well. The CPF Board has seen increased participation in voluntary CPF schemes – such as significantly more members making voluntary contributions, deferring their retirement payouts, and withdrawing less monies from CPF after turning 55. Mr Lee’s leadership has made a positive difference to CPF members.

8. During Mr Lee’s tenure, Mr Lee has built on CPF Board’s strengths in areas such as government grant disbursement, insurance administration and customer service. These capabilities proved useful when scaled in support of Whole-of-Government solutioning. Notably, during the COVID-19 pandemic, CPF Board was able to set up a call centre of 175 trained agents from across 25 government agencies within a week, engaging anxious members of the public and contributing to Singapore’s robust response to the pandemic. Mr Lee was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) (COVID-19) in 2022.

Ms Melissa Khoo (邱明)

9. Ms Melissa Khoo joined the Ministry of Education (MOE) as Deputy Secretary (Policy) on 1 April 2019 and was subsequently appointed as Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills) on 1 November 2021.

10. In her term, she oversaw key shifts in the education landscape, including the roll out of the revised PSLE scoring system, stronger support for disadvantaged students through the Uplifting Pupils in Life and Inspiring Families Taskforce (UPLIFT), moves to expand pathways and opportunities for polytechnic and ITE students, and the establishment of the University of the Arts. As Deputy Secretary (Higher Education and Skills), she led efforts to expand lifelong learning and continuing education offerings across institutions of higher learning, and to strengthen support for mid-careerists.