Chief of one of Singapore’s oldest private education institutions resigns after 5 months
SIM’s Poon Joe Keen is stepping down to ‘pursue personal interests’
[SINGAPORE] Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) group chief executive Poon Joe Keen will step down on Mar 31, just five months after joining the private education and lifelong learning institution on Oct 1 last year.
SIM, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2024, said in a statement on Friday (Mar 14) that Poon, 54, will step down to “pursue personal interests”. No further elaboration was given.
SIM Global Education president Wei Kwok Kee will succeed him as president and chief executive from Apr 1.
Poon will continue to serve as an adviser to SIM chairman Euleen Goh for the next three months in order to “ensure a smooth and seamless transition”.
Before joining SIM, Poon served on the boards of several publicly listed companies. He was also the former president (Singapore and South-east Asia) of Kaplan, and former managing director and group chief technology officer of Surbana Jurong.
Poon holds a Master of Business Administration from Imperial College London, and a Bachelor of Science from King’s College London. He graduated from Raffles Institution in 1987 and Hwa Chong Institution in 1989.
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SIM announced on Sep 2, 2024, Poon’s appointment as group chief executive from Oct 1, noting that he succeeded Seah Chin Siong, who stepped down in July.
SIM chairman Goh thanked the outgoing Poon for his contributions, and said of his incoming successor: “With Professor Wei’s deep understanding of SIM’s purpose and vision, we are confident he will lead SIM into its next phase of growth and internationalisation.”
Next in line
Prof Wei, meanwhile, said he was grateful to the board for their “trust and confidence” in him. He added: “I look forward to leading SIM into its next chapter, working closely with the board and staff to build on our achievements and drive sustainable growth and impact.”
The higher-education veteran is said to have been with SIM since 2020.
Quick bio of Prof Wei Kwok Kee
Previous roles
- 1998 - 2002: Founding head of the department of information systems at the National University of Singapore (NUS)
- 2002 - 2007: Head of the department of information systems at the City University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
- 2007 - 2012: Dean of the college of business at CUHK
- 2016 - 2020: Founding dean of the School of Continuing and Lifelong Education at NUS
Accomplishments
- Fellow of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), then president in 2003/4
- Awarded the AIS Leo Award for Lifetime Exceptional Achievement in Information Systems in 2015
- Published more than 250 journal and conference papers
- Listed as Stanford’s top 2 per cent most highly cited scientists in 2023
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