SINGAPORE – Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board chief executive officer Augustin Lee will be appointed second permanent secretary for the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) from Oct 1.

Ms Melissa Khoo, who is currently deputy secretary for higher education and skills at the Ministry of Education, will succeed him at the board, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Friday.

Mr Lee, 52, has been with the CPF Board since April 2019.

Prior to that, he held various appointments in the then Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Health, National Healthcare Group and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the Public Service Division said in a separate release.

He has also served as principal private secretary to then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in 2007, before his appointment as deputy secretary for manpower in MOM in 2010.

Mr Chng Kai Fong will relinquish his position as permanent secretary for development at SNDGG and continue as permanent secretary for development at the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Mr Chng, 44, has held appointments in the then Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Home Affairs, Civil Service College, MTI and PMO.

He has also served a two-year stint at Shell Eastern Petroleum and was appointed as principal private secretary to the Prime Minister in 2014.

He became a managing director of the Economic Development Board in 2017.

In 2021, he was concurrently appointed as second permanent secretary in MCI and SNDGG as well as second permanent secretary for cyber security in PMO.

In May 2023, he was redesignated as permanent secretary for development in MCI and SNDGG, and permanent secretary for development in cyber security in PMO.

MOM’s permanent secretary for manpower Ng Chee Kern said the ministry would like to express its deepest appreciation to Mr Lee for his strong leadership of the CPF Board over the past four years.

“Under Augustin, the CPF Board has scaled new heights in areas such as government grant disbursement, insurance administration and customer service,” he added.

“Augustin has made continual improvements to digitalise CPF services, bringing greater convenience and efficiency to CPF members. Trust in the CPF system has increased under Augustin, as evidenced by increases in the participation rate in voluntary CPF schemes.”