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Singapore Environment Council announces leadership change, executive director replaced after short tenure of two months

Four different executives have held SEC’s top job in six months. Cheang Kok Chung, the environmental non-profit’s incoming executive director, replaces Hazri Hassan, unveiled as SEC’s new chief only in last September. It is unclear why his stint was short.

Cheang Kok Chung and Hazri Hassan — Cheang Kok Chung (left) has been named executive director of non-profit Singapore Environment Council just two months after Hazri Hassan (right) was slated to have started with the organisation as ED. Images: Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment and SEC

Oleh Robin Hicks

2 minit pembacaan Jan. 5, 2024

Singapore Environment Council has announced a new executive director (ED) a few months after naming its replacement for an outgoing ED.

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The environmental non-profit unveiled Hazri Hassan as its new ED in September last year, and the former Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE) executive was slated to take on the top job on 1 November.

It was unclear at the time of publishing why Hassan’s stint as ED was short. Eco-Business has approached Hassan, SEC and MSE for comment.

Hassan, who was MSE’s divisional director (international policy) and Singapore’s permanent representive to the United Nations Environment Programme, was named as the replacement for Jen Teo, who resigned after six years as the organisation’s ED in June. Teo joined SEC in 2017 after the sudden exit of former ED Edwin Seah.

In a post on social network LinkedIn on Thursday, SEC announced Cheang Kok Chung as its new ED, taking the number of executives to have held the top post, including interim ED Goh Wee Hong, to four in six months.

Cheang is currently the deputy director-general of environment protection and group director of resource and sustainability at the National Environment Agency, a statutory board under MSE. His appointment as SEC’s new chief will take effect from 1 February 2024.

In the LinkedIn post, SEC chairman Isabella Huang Loh said Cheang’s track record in environmental protection and sustainability made him the “ideal individual to steer SEC into its next phase of growth and impact”.

SEC, which was formed out of what was once Singapore’s environment ministry in 1995, provides advice to companies on improving their sustainability efforts, publishes research on sustainability issues in Singapore and runs a series of certification schemes.