The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has appointed Ms Quah Ley Hoon, 42, as chief executive with effect from Jan 1 next year, the Ministry of Transport announced yesterday.

Ms Quah, who will join MPA as chief executive (designate) from Nov 1, has held leadership positions in various organisations including the former National Population Secretariat under the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Finance and Mediacorp. She holds a Master's degree in economics from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne in France and a Master of Business Administration from the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.

She will take over from current chief executive Andrew Tan, 51, who was appointed in 2014. He is retiring from the Administrative Service at the end of this year to pursue new challenges.

During his five years at MPA, Mr Tan has led efforts to conceptualise and plan for the new Tuas Terminal, as well as set up several centres of excellence, the region's first maritime accelerator programme, Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ Block71 and the MPA Living Lab to trial innovative productivity and safety solutions.

He also led efforts to get Singapore re-elected into the Council of the International Maritime Organization in 2015 and last year, and established the Port Authorities Roundtable as a community of best practices to promote greater collaboration between port regulators.