Who will be SIA’s next captain?

AS SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) CEO Goh Choon Phong turns 60 this year, the question of whom his successor will be has popped up on the radar of analysts and investors.

At the post-results briefing and a media roundtable in May, Goh gave no clues on the next captain in SIA’s cockpit, except hinting that his successor is likely to be promoted from within and not someone parachuted in from outside.

Those who helmed the national carrier before Goh had all risen through the ranks and spent decades rotating across the group’s various departments and subsidiaries.

The airline has always been proud of “having a very strong bench”, Goh said. His responsibility, he added, is to groom as many next-generation leaders for the group as possible, including giving them broad exposure.

“As to who eventually succeeds (me) and when that takes place, it is really the board’s decision,” added Goh at the briefing.

Goh, himself, was the youngest among the four apparent contenders in the running for the pole position, which he was formally appointed to in 2011. He had also leapfrogged his supervisor in making it to the top job at the national icon.

Now, after over a decade with Goh at the helm, speculation is rife following the group’s flurry of senior management shuffles recently. These include the appointment of Lee Lik Hsin as chief commercial officer (CCO), Tan Kai Ping as chief operations officer (COO) and JoAnn Tan as chief financial officer (CFO).

The first two are executive vice-presidents (EVPs), while the third is a senior vice-president (SVP).

Apart from them, Chin Yau Seng (the designated CEO of SIA Engineering and formerly SVP of cargo at SIA) and Leslie Thng (CEO of SIA’s low-cost airline Scoot and formerly SVP of sales and marketing at SIA) might also be prime CEO candidates waiting in the wings. Industry watchers note that they, too, have been given exposure in various units of the airline group.

Amid the speculation, we have a look at five potential CEO candidates, who each has at least 24 years of experience with SIA.

Lee Lik Hsin

The 52-year-old is responsible as CCO for the cargo, customer experience, marketing planning, and sales and marketing divisions, as well as the sales regions.

He was thrust into prominence when he was tasked with overseeing the new corporate planning division and reported directly to Goh, shortly after the then-new CEO assumed the position in 2011.

The 30-year SIA veteran with an economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania was the CEO of SIA’s budget airline Tigerair before he led its merger with Scoot, and subsequently became the CEO of the merged entity.

Prior to the stint at Tigerair, Lee was the president of SIA Cargo and had also held regional vice-president roles in West Asia and Africa, as well as the North Asia sales regions.

Tan Kai Ping

The 50-year-old will be responsible for SIA’s cabin crew, customer services and operations, engineering, and flight operations divisions when he assumes the role of COO in September.

As the executive vice-president for finance and strategy and CFO currently, Tan spearheaded the airline group’s fundraising efforts during the pandemic, tiding it through one of the most challenging periods in SIA’s history.

He has been extensively involved in the proposed merger between Air India and SIA’s Indian joint venture Vistara, which is a key plank of SIA’s multi-hub strategy.

Starting out as a cadet administrative officer at SIA in 1995, the Imperial College alumnus with a master’s degree in electrical and electronic engineering has held various positions in SIA Cargo. He has also had stints in the corporate planning and marketing planning departments.

JoAnn Tan

The 46-year-old was credited with leading the airline as senior vice-president for marketing planning in restoring its network connectivity and capacity after borders reopened. This helped the group to capture the significant pent-up demand for air travel and deliver its record passenger revenue for FY2023.

She has worked in several departments, including passenger marketing, e-commerce development, cabin crew planning and training, loyalty marketing and network revenue management departments after joining SIA in 1999.

She was educated at Imperial College and graduated with a master’s degree in engineering.

Chin Yau Seng

The 51-year-old began his career with SIA in 1995 as a cadet administrative officer and has held various executive positions across the group, including sales and marketing. He was senior vice-president for cargo at SIA, following the reintegration of the formerly wholly-owned subsidiary SIA Cargo, having been the president of the cargo unit.

He was the CEO of SIA’s now defunct regional carrier and wholly-owned subsidiary SilkAir, and had a stint helming Tigerair.

He holds a Master of Science in operational research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Leslie Thng

The 48-year-old was senior vice-president of sales and marketing at SIA before taking over the reins at Scoot.

The veteran with 24 years of experience at SIA joined the airline as a cadet administrative officer and had stints as CCO of Scoot, CEO of SilkAir and CEO of Vistara.

Apart from these five candidates, there are also nine SVPs not named here who could be contenders for the CEO post.

Who would eventually succeed Goh is anyone’s guess. But, as Goh’s own appointment had shown, the top job might not go to the most senior in rank or age.

In a male-dominated industry, it’s good news for diversity advocates that JoAnn Tan might stand a chance to be the national carrier’s first female CEO.