The National Computer Board (NCB) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) have made new appointments at the senior management level. These are in line with the public sector's philosophy to allow officers to develop to ...
Singapore, 30 May 1995 | For Immediate Release
The National Computer Board (NCB) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) have made new appointments at the senior management level. These are in line with the public sector's philosophy to allow officers to develop to their fullest potential with career advancement opportunities within the public service. This also ensures the optimal use of talents. These career moves allow officers to enhance their contributions towards our national economic and information technology development.
Mr Stephen Yeo Siew Chye, former Director, Systems & Computer Organisation (SCO), MINDEF, has been appointed as Chief Executive, NCB, with effect from 1 July 1995. He succeeds Mr Ko Kheng Hwa who has been appointed Deputy Managing Director (International) in the EDB, with effect from 1 July 1995. Mr Ko will be based in the EDB's New York office.
Mr Yeo is a Public Service Commission Scholar holding a B.A. (Honours) in Engineering Science from Oxford University (UK), a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the National University of Singapore, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California (USA).
Starting off as a system engineer in SCO in 1980, Mr Yeo rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming Head of the SAF Unit Computerisation Group in August 1982 and then Assistant Director of MINDEF's Computer Division IV in June 1986. In April 1987, he was Assistant Director of Computer Division V which was responsible for introducing command and control systems for the military. He was appointed Deputy Director of SCO in August 1989 and held a concurrent appointment as Assistant Director, Technical Services Division. He became Director SCO in May 1993. Mr Yeo has been a member of the NCB Board since August 1993.
Mr Yeo was well-noted for his role in refining the Executive Agency system for SCO which resulted in greater flexibility and management accountability; establishing a facility management and a software factory mechanism that substantially freed up manpower for system development work and increase production efficiency; and SCO's attainment of ISO 9001 in February 1994. He was instrumental in introducing the smart card technology into MINDEF and was active in expanding SCO's collaboration with external agencies, establishing joint projects in many areas.
Mr Ko is a President and Colombo Plan Scholar with a First Class Honours in Engineering from Cambridge University (UK) and a Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He is a Dual Career Officer in the Singapore Administrative Service.
Mr Ko started his career in 1979 as a system engineer in SCO where his last appointment was Head, Computerisation Department 3. He joined the NCB in 1981 as Project Director at the Ministry of Home Affairs where his team mapped out and developed major computer systems for the various departments in the ministry. In his 14 years with the NCB, he has been closely associated with many ground-breaking projects and government initiatives in IT applications with sectoral and nation-wide impact. In 1986, he was appointed the NCB Director to spearhead the promotion of IT applications in the private sector. Among his projects was TradeNet, for which he won the 'Partners in Leadership' award of the US Society for Information Management in 1989.
In the NCB, Mr Ko was appointed Acting Chief Executive on 15 June 1990 and Chief Executive on 1 October 1991. He played a leading role in the formulation and implementation of the IT2000 plan to tranform Singapore into an Intelligent Island. Under him, major sectoral IT projects, such as the Student's & Teacher's Workbench, were initiated in key industry sectors. The scope of the Civil Service Computerisation Programme expanded significantly to exploit new technologies and integrate inter-ministry applications to provide new and better services to the public. Various new programmes were introduced to upgrade capability, product and service quality, and R&D in the IT industry. He also played a leading role in formulating the Library 2000 vision and plan to enable library services to serve Singaporeans better in the emerging information society.
Mr Ko will continue to maintain his links with the NCB as a member of the NCB Board.
The NCB wish to express our deep appreciation to Mr Ko for his leadership and significant contributions to the NCB and the national computerisation effort in the last 14 years.
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