Surbana Jurong Group Appoints Sean Chiao as Group CEO
Singapore, 9 March 2023 – Surbana Jurong (SJ) Group has named Sean Chiao Group Chief Executive Officer and a member of its Board of Directors, effective 1 April 2023. With this appointment, the Group is well-positioned to accelerate its transformation into a global consulting leader in urban, infrastructure and managed services.
Mr Chiao brings to Surbana Jurong more than 35 years’ experience in design and engineering consulting for the built environment as well as global business leadership. Previously, he led the Asia Pacific operations of one of the world’s largest infrastructure, design and engineering companies. A passionate urbanist and firm advocate of collaboration to create holistic solutions, Mr Chiao has spearheaded many iconic projects in the region harnessing multidisciplinary expertise.
Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman, Surbana Jurong Group said of Mr Chiao’s appointment: “The Board undertook a rigorous global search for a Group CEO with a clear objective: to grow Surbana Jurong into a global platform and drive lasting positive change through leadership. Sean has extensive Asia Pacific as well as global experience, deep insights to the industry and an outstanding track record of business results. We are confident that we have found in Sean the right leader for Surbana Jurong as we advance the implementation of SJ 2.0, the Group’s roadmap to becoming one of the top urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firms in Asia Pacific.”
Surbana Jurong Group is built on an impressive 70-year track record of delivering complex design, engineering and managed services projects around the world. The Group is ranked 23rd in Engineering News-Record’s 2022 Top 225 International Design Firms and 13th in World Architecture 100 2023.
Mr Chiao said: “I am honoured and humbled to be appointed as Group CEO of Surbana Jurong, to lead the Group in fulfilling its compelling purpose of enriching lives and building a better future. In recent years, I’ve watched Surbana Jurong accelerate its strategy around client focus, sustainability, and data-driven solutions, delivered by talented and dedicated teams who come together to help clients solve their most complex problems.
Mr Chiao added: “I’m inspired by the SJ 2.0 strategy to position Surbana Jurong for leadership in an era of sustainability and digital transformation, and as an employer of choice in the built environment, and I’m looking forward to working with the team to fulfil these aspirations. In becoming a leading urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm, Surbana Jurong will be able to provide the full scope of our global expertise to clients and communities everywhere.”
On his priorities, Mr Chiao said: “The climate emergency continues to be the greatest challenge of our time. One of my first priorities will be to ensure that Surbana Jurong’s teams forge a collective approach for innovative, effective action to build a better future for generations to come. This is the right thing to do.”
Mr Chiao holds a degree in architecture and a Master of Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University.
About Surbana Jurong Group
Surbana Jurong Group is a diverse collective of problem solvers for the built environment, continually reimagining ways to create a smart and sustainable future.
We’re a global urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm, with over 70 years of track record in successful project delivery. Headquartered in Singapore, the group has a global talent pool of 16,000 in Surbana Jurong and our member companies AETOS, Atelier Ten, B+H, KTP, Prostruct, Robert Bird Group, SAA, Sino-Sun and SMEC, based in more than 120 offices in over 40 countries. They include architects, designers, planners, engineers, facilities managers and other specialists driven by progressive thinking and creative ideas to shape a better future.
Our technical experts deliver sustainable solutions that cover the entire project life cycle from planning and design, through to delivery and management. We also provide a full suite of multidisciplinary consultancy services across a diverse range of sectors including transportation, water, aviation, healthcare, hospitality and renewables, as well as services such as industrial solutions and parks management.
Surbana Jurong has built more than a million homes in Singapore, created master plans in more than 60 countries and developed over 100 industrial parks globally. Our tag line “Building Cities, Shaping Lives” expresses how every project or undertaking is, for the Group, an opportunity to fulfil aspirations and enrich lives. By designing and delivering quality housing, workspaces, roads, rail, hydropower, dams, underground and coastal protections and other critical infrastructure needed by our clients, we are redefining cities and transforming them into sustainable and liveable spaces where communities and businesses, present and future, can thrive.
The Group is #23 in Engineering News-Record’s 2022 Top 225 International Design Firms, #13 in World Architecture 100 2023, and Asia Pacific FM Technology Provider of the Year 2022, awarded by International Facility Management Association.
Examples of notable projects
- Building more than a million public housing homes in Singapore
- Designing Woodlands Health Campus to support a new care model for the future, integrating community care, green spaces and digital technology
- Designing Shenzhen Children’s Hospital Science and Education Building, a model for biophilic design
- Engineering Atal Tunnel, a gamechanger for India as the world’s longest highway tunnel over 10,000 feet above sea level
- Engineering Snowy 2.0 in New South Wales, Australia, one of the world’s largest hydropower storage plants
- Engineering Australia 108, the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere
- Designing Illuminated River, London, the world’s longest public art installation; and
- Securing Woodlands Checkpoint, the world’s busiest land crossing, where historically, an average of 300,000 travellers and 130,000 vehicles cross between Malaysia and Singapore daily.
For media queries, please contact:
Karen YEW
Group Chief Communications & Branding Officer
Email: [email protected]
Geraldine CHEONG
Director, Group Communications & Branding
Email: [email protected]
CHAN Yee Chun
Assistant Manager, Group Communications & Branding
Email: [email protected]
