Widdows to retire from NOL at year’s end

Widdows to retire from NOL at yearÆs end Singapore-based NOL Group, parent company of container line APL, on Monday outlined a transition of power from current group president and chief executive officer Ron Widdows to Ng Yat Chung at the end of 2011.
   Widdows is retiring at the end of the year but will remain as a senior advisor to the company.
   Ng will be appointed as an executive director to NOL’s board of directors May 1 and ‘will be working closely with Mr. Widdows before assuming full responsibilities as the group president and chief executive officer on Jan. 1, 2012,’ the company said.
   Ng is a senior executive with Temasek Holdings, the Singapore state-owned sovereign wealth fund that owns a majority share of NOL. He spent 28 years in leadership roles in Singapore’s Armed Forces and was chief of the country’s defense force from 2003 to 2007. He most recently headed Temasek’s energy and resources portfolio and was co-head of the fund’s Australia & New Zealand investments and co-head of strategy.

Widdows

   ‘Mr. Ng’s appointment stemmed from the company’s ongoing succession planning and leadership renewal process,’ NOL said.
   “NOL has progressed steadily on its strategic course,’ said NOL Chairman Cheng Wai Keung. ‘With Yat Chung’s appointment, the board is confident of continuing leadership in the company, and of NOL’s firm commitment to its customers and employees. Yat Chung brings with him exceptional credentials and has demonstrated outstanding leadership and management abilities. He is a strong team leader and a skillful people developer. His leadership experience will broaden and deepen our expertise, to help us achieve greater organizational excellence. With Ron’s assistance in the transition period, Yat Chung will build upon the present team we have, taking the Group into the next phase in its exciting future.”
         Widdows has spent the last three decades with NOL and APL (the Singapore company acquired APL in 1997). A frequent representative of the container shipping industry as a whole, Widdows has spent the last three years as NOL Group CEO, and before that was CEO of APL from 2003 through 2008. He is also chairman of the World Shipping Council and past chairman of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement.
   “I’ve devoted most of my professional life to this company and am proud of the team that we have built up over the years and what we have achieved,’ he said. ‘I will work closely with Yat Chung in the transition period to ensure that NOL is strongly positioned for long-term success. In my role as senior advisor, I will be able to contribute to the company in other ways.”