Keppel Corp. announced that Managing Director of Keppel FELS Chris Ong will be concurrently appointed acting chief executive officer (CEO) of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M), following the retirement of current Keppel O&M President Chow Yew Yuen.
Ong will take the reigns as acting CEO effective 1 April 2017.
Ong, 42, joined Keppel FELS in 1999, and has held a range of key appointments in Keppel FELS, including general manager (engineering), acting executive director (operation), executive director (commercial) and deputy managing director, before being appointed managing director of Keppel FELS on 5 July 2016.
Apart from his role in Keppel FELS, Ong is the chairman of Bennett Offshore LLC, Keppel LeTourneau USA Inc, Bintan Offshore Fabricators, and Keppel SLP LLC and a director of various subsidiaries or associated companies of Keppel O&M.
Ong is also a board member of The Institute of Technical Education Board of Governors, a member of the Association of Singapore Marine Industries, a member of the Workplace Safety & Health (WSH) Council Marine Industries Committee, and a member of the U EnTech Steering Committee.
Ong has a Bachelor and Master Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from National University of Singapore. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology and a member of the American Bureau of Shipping.
Loh Chin Hua, CEO of Keppel Corp. and chairman of Keppel O&M, said, "Chris is part of the talent pool which we have been nurturing for leadership succession at Keppel O&M. He has been with the Keppel Group for 17 years, and has contributed significantly to building Keppel FELS into the global leader in the offshore business that it is today. On behalf of the board of Keppel O&M, I welcome Chris in his new role. I am confident that he will provide effective leadership to Keppel O&M in the next stage of the company's development."
After 36 years of service, during which he had served as, among others, president of Keppel AmFELS and president of Keppel O&M USA, Yuen, 62, CEO of Keppel O&M, will retire with effect from 31 March 2017.