Singapore sound card maker Creative Technology says its late founder Sim Wong Hoo’s nephew, Sim Li Ern will be taking over as the company’s CEO.
In a bourse filing on Jan 5, the company says its board of directors has reviewed and approved the nominating committee’s recommendation to let Li Ern take over as CEO.
Li Ern was most recently Creative’s vice president for sales and marketing. Before that, he was the regional sales manager overseeing Asia from 2018 to 2023 and a regional sales manager for the company’s India and subcontinents division from 2014 to 2018. He graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a diploma in electronic and electrical engineering and went on to earn a first-class honours degree in electronic engineering from the University of Sheffield.
Aside from serving as CEO, Li Ern is one of the persons entitled in distribution of the estate of the late Sim and is administrator of his estate. He is deemed to have an interest of about 22.4 million shares in the company held by the Sim’s estate. Sim founded Creative in 1981 and was its chairman and CEO until he passed away three years ago on Jan 4, 2023.
Li Ern’s appointment comes after Creative said on Nov 21 that his predecessor, Tan Jok Tin, will be stepping down as executive chairman and interim CEO to focus on other business and personal commitments.
Tan became interim CEO in July 2025 after Freddy Sim, the late Sim’s younger brother and Li Ern’s uncle, stepped down for health reasons just two months after taking on the job in May 2025. Freddy continues to serve as a non-independent and non-executive director at Creative.
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Creative closed 0.86% higher at 59 cents on Jan 5, before the company announced Li Ern’s appointment as CEO. The company’s shares were down by over 48% in 2025.
