Mr Ngien Hoon Ping, 47,will be taking over the reins at the Land Transport Authority (LTA) from incumbent chief executive Chew Men Leong.
Mr Ngien, currently Deputy Secretary (Performance) at the Ministry of Finance, will assume the position on Nov 12, the Ministry of Transport said yesterday.
Mr Chew, 48, who has resigned, will join the private sector. He joined the LTA on Oct 1, 2014, and is leaving the authority after about two years.
During the transition period, Mr Ngien will be appointed chief executive-designate from Oct 31 to Nov 11, while concurrently holding his position in the Finance Ministry.
Industry observers said that helming the LTA will be especially challenging now, considering recent changes in the industry.
SIM University senior lecturer Park Byung Joon said: "With the government contracting model for the bus industry and new rail financing framework, LTA will have much bigger roles and more responsibility."
Before joining the Finance Ministry in 2013, Mr Ngien served in the Singapore Armed Forces for 26 years, in positions such as Commander of the Combat Service Support Command.
In that role, he was "responsible for the planning and execution of army transport, maintenance engineering, supply, medical and ammunition support", the Transport Ministry said.
Mr Ngien studied at the University of Manchester in Britain, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (first class honours) in electrical and electronic engineering. He also has a Master of Science in industrial and system engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Mr Chew, a former chief of the Republic of Singapore Navy, headed national water agency PUB before replacing Mr Chew Hock Yong at the LTA in October 2014.
Yesterday, the Transport Ministry said it would like to "put on record its appreciation to Mr Chew for his significant contributions".
During Mr Chew's tenure, he oversaw the opening of the Downtown Line 2 in December last year, the development of new rail projects such as the Thomson-East Coast Line and engineering studies for the Cross Island Line.
He was also involved in the impending transition to the new rail financing framework, which takes effect on Oct 1.
Under this, LTA will take over all operating assets of the North-South, East-West and Circle lines and the Bukit Panjang LRT Line from SMRT for $1.06 billion.
