SingTel appoints 17-year veteran as chief exec

SingTel appoints 17-year veteran as chief exec
Bryan Lee, Telecoms Correspondent

Prime News

22 September 2006, Straits Times

AFTER a two-month global search, SingTel has appointed one of its own, Ms Chua Sock Koong, as its new chief executive.

Ms Chua, 49, currently SingTel's finance head, joins a select band of women to head a major Singapore company.

On April 1, Ms Chua takes over the top job from Mr Lee Hsien Yang, 48, who surprised many by announcing his resignation in July after 11 years in the job.

Ms Chua has been with the telco for 17 years and has played a key part in its push to expand abroad given the local phone market is saturated.

She was also project director of SingTel's stock market listing - the biggest in Singapore history.

Her promotion to the top job was widely expected by market watchers who said that as chief chief financial officer (CFO) and international CEO, she was well qualified.

She is regarded by colleagues and even executives at rival telcos as exceptionally astute, but also a boss who takes time in the corridor to ask how a colleague has been.

She has been named by Fortune magazine as among the 50 most powerful women in business outside the United States for at least three years including last year.

She has also won a swag of prestigious corporate awards.

An analyst at investment bank Macquarie Ramakrishna Maruvada said: 'Ms Chua will be able to keep a tight leash on costs, which is key for the company as it faces the prospect of less rapid revenue growth. She is also very experienced in handling SingTel's overseas investments.'

Ms Chua joins Temasek Holdings' Ms Ho Ching and SMRT's Ms Saw Phaik Hwa in a rarefied group of women leading large companies here.

At a media conference, SingTel chairman Chumpol NaLamlieng said she was the best of three final candidates interviewed by the board.

He described her as a good leader and a 'well proven product' and said she was also picked as she is well-accepted by colleagues.

'So in looking at candidates, not only was personal capability and brilliance important, we look also at the ability to lead the team.'

Mr Chumpol dismissed suggestions that a poor pay package hindered the company from hiring an outsider.

Interviews with overseas candidates never even reached the stage of discussing pay levels, he said.

Mr Lee added that as South-east Asia's biggest telco SingTel had little trouble attracting global talent.

The company did not disclose Ms Chua's salary, saying it will do so later when the terms are finalised.

The hunt is now on for a new CFO, which could come from within if speculators are right about Optus CFO Jeann Low and SingTel group financial controller Koh Kah Sek.

The handover from Mr Lee to Ms Chua will take place over the next six months but Ms Chua was already comfortably answering questions about challenges that she will need to address as CEO.

She brushed aside suggestions that the telco would shy away from future overseas investments given the ongoing political unrest in Thailand, where it has a stake in mobile operator Advanced Info Service.

Still, some analysts wonder if SingTel's choice of CEO might be too conservative.

'It's a tough industry and there are a lot of changes,' said Mr Hugh Young, Singapore managing director of Aberdeen Asset Management.

'You have to be nimble and what is good 10 years ago isn't necessarily good today,' he told Bloomberg News.