Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Oon Jin Teik to be appointed new Sports Hub CEO

SINGAPORE — After holding the fort for more than seven months during a period of upheaval at the Singapore Sports Hub, Mr Oon Jin Teik,

Former national swimmer Oon Jin Teik will be taking on the role of CEO of the Singapore Sports Hub. TODAY FILE PHOTO

Former national swimmer Oon Jin Teik will be taking on the role of CEO of the Singapore Sports Hub. TODAY FILE PHOTO

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — After holding the fort for more than seven months during a period of upheaval at the Singapore Sports Hub, Mr Oon Jin Teik, its acting chief executive officer (CEO), has now been entrusted with the top job, TODAY has learnt.

The parent company of the Singapore Sports Hub, SportsHub Pte Ltd (SHPL), is expected to announce the appointment of Mr Oon, 54, as its new CEO at a media conference on Tuesday (Jan 23).

Mr Oon was the Sports Hub’s chief operating officer before he had to step in temporarily as acting CEO when Mr Manu Sawhney resigned suddenly on May 25 last year.

Before he joined the Sports Hub, Mr Oon was a senior executive for environmental solutions company Hyflux from 2011 to 2014, and was the CEO of national sports governing body Singapore Sports Council (SSC) — now renamed as Sport Singapore — from 2004 to 2010.

The former national swimmer has also been the secretary-general of the Singapore Swimming Association since June 2014.

Mr Oon could not be reached for comment on the latest development.

When asked about the upcoming media conference, which will be hosted by SHPL’s chairman Bryn Jones — a spokesperson said that “corporate announcements and updates related to the Singapore Sports Hub” will be made, but it could not give details ahead of the event.

Mr Oon will be the first Singaporean, born here, to helm the Sports Hub, which is one of the largest sports infrastructure in the world that is run under a public-private partnership.

Frenchman Philippe Collin-Delavaud was the CEO from March 2011 to December 2015, while Mr Sawhney, a Singaporean who was born in India, was appointed in October 2015.

Mr Sawhney’s departure came during an internal investigation over allegations pertaining to his management style, his treatment of employees, and his commercial decisions. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing after the Sports Hub investigated the complaints and decided that no action was warranted.

During Mr Sawhney’s 19-month stint, there were a number of resignations from SPHL’s senior management and staff members.

The most notable departures came in December 2015, when two senior management members from equity partner Global Spectrum Pico — managing director Mark Collins and Ms Daphne Letournel, director of contracts and compliance — left SHPL.

Their moves were said to have been sparked by disagreements over the directions taken during discussions with event organisers and partners in staging events at the Sports Hub.

In February 2016, media reports said that SHPL, led by one of four equity partners InfraRed Capital Partners, was proposing to terminate the contract of Global Spectrum, its venue operation partner, as the SHPL board was reportedly unhappy with the commercial deals undertaken or signed by the latter.

The S$1.33 billion facility was initially plagued by a number of issues after opening its doors in June 2014.

These included the National Stadium’s initial pitch problems and organisers’ complaints about high costs, as well as criticism of its lacklustre events calendar.

But it appears to have resolved its pitch issues since, with the turf drawing praise in recent times for its look and ability to handle heavy usage.

Its calendar of events has also been beefed up, with the National Stadium hosting the sold-out Coldplay concerts, Singapore-Argentina international football friendly, and the International Champions Cup featuring European football sides Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan last year.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.