A well-known face in Singapore and regional shipping circles Tan has represented the Lion City’s shipping industry for 29 years. His successor Michael Phoon was announced on Thursday following the association’s annual general meeting (agm).
Surprising some members we spoke to at the cocktail reception following the agm Phoon does not come with a shipping background but from the IT industry where he enjoyed a successful career with Hewlett Packard (HP).
The choice of Phoon was a unanimous one by the SSA Council according to honourary secretary Esben Poulssen as the association seeks to run on more “business-like lines”.
“The process of choosing a successor to the Association’s long-serving and extremely talented executive director Daniel Tan has been a big challenge, given how difficult it will be for anyone to succeed such an illustrious and well respected industry figure as Daniel,” Poulssen said.
Commenting on the choice of Phoon he said: “His track record as a results driven person, with excellent people management skills will, we believe, enable him to lead the SSA to the next level.
“There is a clear trend for Associations around the world to be run along more business-like lines and in this respect, the SSA in the future will be no exception.”
SSA was formed 1985 and today has 470 member companies from across the spectrum of the shipping industry.