SINGAPORE — Land transport giant ComfortDelGro Corporation (CDC) has appointed Cheng Siak Kian as the chief operating officer of its Singapore-based bus and rail subsidiary, SBS Transit.

In a media release on Monday (22 April), it said that the 49-year-old Cheng, who is currently the chief executive officer of CDC New South Wales, will assume the appointment on 1 July.

He will assist ComfortDelGro managing director/group CEO Yang Ban Seng, who is also helming SBS Transit as executive deputy chairman and CEO, in the day-to-day running of the company.

Cheng, a former brigadier-general and commander of the Republic of Singapore Air Force, takes over the currently vacant position, after SBS Transit’s previous COO, Gan Juay Kiat, resigned last December due to an incident of “personal indiscretion”.

Cheng joined CDC in September 2015, and spent a year in SBS Transit learning about the bus business, prior to his appointment in Australia.

CDC also announced that, with Cheng’s SBS Transit appointment, its business in Australia has undergone an organisational restructure. A new country head position has been set up, and 48-year-old Nicholas Yap will take on the role from 1 July. Yap was previously the CEO of CDC Victoria.

Yap has been with the ComfortDelGro Group since 1994, and spent 12 years in bus service development and corporate development before moving to Australia in 2007 to join ComfortDelGro Cabcharge. He was appointed CEO of CDC Victoria in 2014.



Related story:

SBS Transit CEO Gan Juay Kiat resigns over ‘inappropriate relationship’: report