From July 1, the National Environment Agency will have a new chief executive officer, Mr Ronnie Tay, who is CEO-designate from June 10. He will take over from chief executive of four years Mr Andrew Tan, 46, who has been at NEA's helm since January 2009. Mr Tan will attend an advanced management programme prior to his next posting.

Mr Tay. 49, has been chief executive of the Infocomm Development Agency since 2007. Prior to that he spent 25 years with the Singapore Armed Forces, where he held various command appointments, including Chief of Navy from April 2003 to August 2007.

Under Mr Tan, the NEA, a statutory board that is part of the Environment and Water Resources Ministry, has made several key regulatory and policy changes. These include a revamp of hawker centre policies such as rental rules to keep food affordable; improving standards and productivity in the cleaning industry; and a roadmap to achieving higher air quality targets by 2020, in line with World Health Organisation standards.

It also formed a Department of Public Cleanliness in 2012 to oversee all public cleaning efforts, and set up a centre for climate research here this year to boost Singapore's capabilities in this area.