The appointment of Mr Shaw, who concurrently holds the voluntary role of corporate advisor to the Singapore Environmental Council, highlights Halcyon’s commitment to achieving the highest standard of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

The Halcyon Group, a Singapore-headquartered investment holding company, today announced that it has appointed Howard Shaw as its senior vice president of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Formerly the executive director of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), Mr Shaw is a well-known champion of environmental sustainability in Singapore, and a firm advocate of the green movement. At Halcyon, he will oversee its environmental management systems, conduct environmental impact studies, engage company stakeholders on its CSR activities, ensure proper living and working standards for all levels of employees, and reach out to the surrounding communities as well as relevant international organisations and/or committees.

Initially, Mr. Shaw will focus on Halcyon’s natural rubber processing plants in Indonesia. Subsequently, he will widen his scope to Halcyon’s offshore and marine businesses in Singapore and China.

Mr Shaw said: “I’m very excited to be part of the Halcyon team. We share the same vision for the company to become a leader in CSR practices within the mid-stream resource industry and to be globally recognised for our economic, social and environmental ‘triple bottomline’ approach.

A major challenge in the ‘greening’ of any company is not only the hardware, but the ‘heartware’ of the company. So apart from legal compliance, I will focus on ensuring that Halcyon continues to maintain a proactive role in creating a culture that embraces CSR in every aspect of our behaviour, from positive contributions to the communities in which we operate to daily practices that contribute towards environmental sustainability.”

Mr Shaw will continue to be actively involved in driving the environmental movement in Singapore through voluntary roles in various organisations and committees, including being a corporate advisor to the Singapore Environment Council.

Robert Meyer, CEO of the Halcyon Group, said of his appointment: “Halcyon Group has always viewed CSR as an integral part of any successful company. We firmly believe that companies today cannot focus only on economic results, the social and environmental impact of our business is equally important. With Howard on board, we are pushing our CSR commitment up another notch and we hope to contribute even further to the communities in which we operate.”