Cheong Choong Kong (; born 9 June 1941) is a

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n businessman and former

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines ( abbreviation: SIA) is the flag carrier airline of the Republic of Singapore with its hub located at Singapore Changi Airport. The airline is notable for highlighting the Singapore Girl as its central figure in corporat ...

. After the collision of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 during take-off, he appeared as the public face of the airline. He is currently the chairman of the

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited (), often known as OCBC Bank (), is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in OCBC Centre, Singapore. OCBC Bank was born out of the Great Depression t ...

and has recently had a cameo appearance on MediaCorp TV Channel 5 television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

The Yang Sisters as San Poh.

Education

After completing his studies at the Methodist Boys' School in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

, Cheong obtained a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Mathematics from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

in 1964. He studied in Australia as a

Colombo Plan The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri L ...

scholar. He also received a Master of Science (1966) and a Ph.D. (1968) in Mathematics from

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

. His main fields of study were random processes and related areas of applied and theoretical probability.

Career

He began his career as a mathematics lecturer in the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

(1968), eventually becoming associate professor and serving as head of the department. He left academics in 1974 to work with Singapore Airlines. He spent 29 years at Singapore Airlines; he eventually became the company's CEO. In 1998, '' Fortune'' named him Asian Businessman of the Year, noting that SIA had an "unbroken 27-year record of profitability through turbulent economic times." He was first appointed to the board of OCBC on 1 July 1999. He served as vice chairman from 26 March 2002 to 30 June 2003. On 1 July 2003, he was elected chairman of the board. He is now a Director of several companies, including Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, Great Eastern Holdings Ltd, Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Ltd and Overseas Assurance Corporation Ltd. On August 31, 2014, Kong retired as the chairman of OCBC Bank veterans board of directors. In February 2018, BRIEF-Frasers Centrepoint Trust announced the appointment of Kong as the new chairman.

Affiliations

He served as Chairman of the

Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Mediacorp Pte. Ltd., doing business as Mediacorp and stylised as mediacorp, is a media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media prope ...

and of its successor, Singapore International Media from July 1989 to September 1995. He has also served as the Chairman of the Council of the National University of Singapore. His service was for two consecutive two-year terms ending on July 31, 2004. He has served as Vice-Chairman of the Singapore-US Business Council. Finally, Cheong has held directorships in companies which include Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, Great Eastern Holdings Ltd and United Eagle Airlines Co Ltd.

Bibliography

*Berger, Nancy and Michael Marquardt (2000). ''Global Leaders in the Twenty-first Century''. Albany: State University of New York Press. *Singh, Kulwant et al. (2004). ''Business Strategy in Asia: A Casebook''. Singapore: Thomson. *Tjosvold, Dean and Kwok Leung (2004). ''Leading in High-Growth Asia''. Singapore: World Scientific.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheong, Choong Kong 1941 births Living people Australian National University alumni Malaysian chief executives Malaysian people of Chinese descent Singapore Airlines people Singaporean people of Chinese descent University of Adelaide alumni