Singapore Technologies Engineering has announced changes to its senior leadership, which will take effect from July 1.

Mr Lee Fook Sun, the company's deputy chief executive and president of the defence business, will be retiring after spending 17 years with the group.

Mr Lee, 60, was president of ST Electronics from August 2009 to December last year and has been a significant contributor to the growth of the group, said the company in a press release yesterday.

His career milestones include driving the company's entry into the global space industry. The firm's TeLeos-1 earth observation satellite now orbits the Equator, while its next-generation iteration TeLeos-2 is in development.

Mr Lee notably also grew the electronics sector's profits before tax by 80 per cent in seven years, crossing the $200 million mark last year.

Mr Ravinder Singh will take over Mr Lee's portfolio as president of the defence business, in addition to his current role as president of ST Electronics.

Meanwhile, Ms Eleana Tan will relinquish her role as chief financial officer.

She has held the position since March 2008, and will be taking on the newly-created role of chief corporate officer. In this role, she will have function responsibilities for IT, procurement, as well as estate and facilities management. She will also manage the group's corporate shared management services.

Mr Cedric Foo will succeed Ms Tan as chief financial officer. Mr Foo has been adviser (corporate development) at the group since October last year, and had previously served as chairman of JTC Corporate between 2008 and 2012.

ST Engineering chief executive Vincent Chong thanked Mr Lee for his contributions to the group and wished him well on his retirement. He added that as the group strives for long-term sustainable growth, the roles of its senior leaders will continue to evolve to "strengthen our leadership bench".