Permanent Secretary Appointments – 1 Aug 2025

New Permanent Secretary Appointments

The following new Permanent Secretary appointments will take effect from 1 September 2025:

a. Mr Kenneth Er Boon Hwee (余文辉), Deputy Secretary (Planning), Ministry of National Development will be appointed as Second Permanent Secretary (Manpower) and concurrently Second Permanent Secretary (Education); and

b. Ms Ngiam Siew Ying (严秀颖), Chief Executive Officer, Synapxe Pte Ltd will be appointed as Second Permanent Secretary (Finance).

Changes in Permanent Secretary Appointments

2 Mr Augustin Lee (李东阳) will relinquish his appointments as Second Permanent Secretary (Education) and Second Permanent Secretary (Smart Nation), Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on 1 September 2025 and 1 October 2025 respectively. He will be appointed as Permanent Secretary (Energy and Trade), Ministry of Trade and Industry with effect from 1 September 2025.

3 Mr Chng Kai Fong (庄凯峰), Permanent Secretary (Information and Development), Ministry of Digital Development and Information, will take over Mr Lee’s Smart Nation portfolio and be concurrently appointed as Permanent Secretary (Development)(Smart Nation)(Cybersecurity), Prime Minister’s Office with effect from 1 October 2025.

Background

Mr Kenneth Er Boon Hwee

4 Mr Kenneth Er, 53, has held various appointments in the National Parks Board, Ministry of National Development (MND) and Gardens by the Bay, before his appointment as Chief Operating Officer, Gardens by the Bay in 2012. He served as Chief Executive Officer, National Parks Board from 2014 to 2023. He has been Deputy Secretary (Planning), MND since 2023.

Ms Ngiam Siew Ying

5 Ms Ngiam Siew Ying, 49, has held various appointments in the Defence Science and Technology Agency, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Transport, and Prime Minister’s Office, before her appointment as Deputy Secretary (Policy), Ministry of Health in 2016. She has been Chief Executive Officer of Synapxe since 2022.

Mr Augustin Lee

6 Mr Augustin Lee, 54, has held various appointments in the then-Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Health, National Healthcare Group and Ministry of Trade and Industry. He also served as Principal Private Secretary to then-Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong before his appointment as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Manpower. From 2019 to 2023, he was Chief Executive Officer of Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board. He is now concurrently holding the appointments of Second Permanent Secretary (Smart Nation), PMO and Second Permanent Secretary (Education).

Mr Chng Kai Fong

7 Mr Chng Kai Fong, 46, has held various appointments in the then-Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Home Affairs, Civil Service College, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Communications Group, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). He has also served a two-year stint at Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd. He was appointed as Principal Private Secretary to then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2014 and subsequently as Managing Director, Economic Development Board in 2017. In 2021, he was appointed as Second Permanent Secretary (Smart Nation and Digital Government Group), PMO. In 2022, he took on additional concurrent appointments as Second Permanent Secretary (Communications and Information) and Second Permanent Secretary (Cybersecurity), PMO. In 2023, he was re-designated as Permanent Secretary (Development) in the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG), PMO as well as for Cybersecurity in PMO. He subsequently relinquished his appointment as Permanent Secretary (Development), SNDGG and was re-designated as Permanent Secretary (Information and Development), MCI, and as Permanent Secretary (Information and Development), Ministry of Digital Development and Information with the renaming of MCI in July 2024.