Asia/Pacific News
New Executive Director for Singapore Shipping Association
The Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) has announced that Michael Phoon has been appointed as its new Executive Director effective August 1, 2014.
He replaces Daniel Tan who is retiring after 29 years service with the Association.
Phoon was said to have had a highly successful career at Hewlett Packard where he most recently held the position of Director & General Manager of the HP Enterprise Networking Business Unit for Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Welcoming the new appointment, SSA Honorary Secretary Esben Poulsson said:
"The process of choosing a successor to the Association's long-serving and extremely talented Executive Director Daniel Tan has been a big challenge, given how difficult it will be for anyone to succeed such an illustrious and well respected industry figure as Daniel.
"We did, however, interview some highly impressive candidates and the final choice was therefore very difficult. Nonetheless, the SSA Council was unanimous in its choice of Mr Phoon who, while not being from the industry, has demonstrated a level of understanding, enthusiasm and passion for the role and was in the end simply chosen on the basis of being the best person for the job.
"His track record as a results driven person, with excellent people management skills will, we believe, enable him to lead the SSA to the next level.
"There is a clear trend for Associations around the world to be run along more business-like lines and in this respect, the SSA in the future will be no exception. With more than 470 member companies, the SSA has a very solid foundation from which to grow further and continue to make its contribution to further enhancing Singapore as a leading International Maritime Centre."
The SSA recently met with the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and is helping to develop its new standard bunker contract.
