Ron Tan of Cityneon Holdings Pte Ltd clinches Executive of the Year - Media & Entertainment at the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2018

Cityneon Holdings brought the immersive experience of Jurassic World: The Exhibition to worldwide audiences.

As Executive Chairman & Group Chief Executive Officer of Cityneon Holdings Pte Ltd, Ron Tan managed to transform the company to become one of the fastest-growing companies in Singapore. Aside from stirring Cityneon Holdings to stronger financials, Tan also forged strong relationships with international movie studios like Disney, Marvel, Hasbro, Universal Studios, Lionsgate amongst others. He also partnered with multinational companies and government agencies globally for the company's four divisions. Most recently, Tan brought to Madrid, Spain, Jurassic World: The Exhibition. Based on one of the biggest blockbusters in cinematic history, Jurassic World: The Exhibition immerses audiences of all ages in settings inspired by the groundbreaking film franchise Jurassic World. For bringing these immersive experiences to life, Tan won Executive of the Year-Media & Entertainment at the SBR Management Excellence Awards 2018. 

Jurassic World: The Exhibition blends real-world science and education with the very best in high-quality entertainment. Not only will visitors be able to see real dinosaur fossils, they will be able to imagine what it would have been like to walk amongst these breathtaking animals. Featuring the closest simulation of dinosaurs ever created, the Exhibition was developed in close collaboration with renowned paleontologist Jack Horner, who served as the Paleontological Advisor on Jurassic World. Jurassic World: The Exhibition was produced in conjunction with Universal Brand Development and Victory Hill Exhibitions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cityneon Holdings Ltd. It is also infused with interactive educational elements inspired by the real-world science of dinosaur DNA that allowed Jurassic World to come to life. Visitors to the Exhibition will travel to Isla Nublar. As VIP guests, they get to explore a towering Brachiosaurus, come face-to-face with a Velociraptor, and get a rare up-close look at the most vicious dinosaur of them all, the Tyrannosaurus rex. Visitors can get closer to these incredible prehistoric creatures than ever before in Jurassic World: The Exhibition.

Under his helm, Cityneon Holdings’ market capitalisation has grown more than 15-fold from below S$20 million to over S$300 million today. Its net profit jumped 163.6% to S$17.4 million. Gross profit increased 83.6% to S$63.8 million in FY 2017, and gross profit margin rose to 54.7% from 36.0%. Revenue in FY2017 increased 20.7% to S$116.7 million, of which the IPR segment saw a 187.3% increase to S$50.7 million in sales compared to the previous year.

The Singapore Business Review Management Excellence Awards was held on November 22, 2018 at the Conrad Centennial Singapore. The award honours the country's most outstanding business leaders, including trailblazing individuals and teams whose initiatives have brought tangible business gains for their company's operations.

The 2018 nominees were judged by a panel consisting of Henry Tan, Managing Director at NEXIA TS; David Chew, Executive Director, Risk Advisory Deloitte Southeast Asia, Lim Wei Wei, Partner, Practice Leader, Governance, and Risk at Baker Tilly TFW; Pardeep Singh Khosa, Director of Dispute Resolution at Drew & Napier; and Yang Eu Jin, Partner and Co Head of Capital Markets Practice at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP.

If you would like to join the 2019 awards and be awarded as one of the most outstanding management executives of Singapore, please email julie@charltonmediamail.com.