Grab president ‘Batman’ Maa to step down in April

Outgoing Grab president Ming Maa / Photo credit: Grab

In a major management reshuffle, Ming Maa will step down as president of Grab at the end of April 2024.

The Singapore-based super app is not seeking a replacement for Maa, who cited personal reasons for his departure. “The truth is my family hasn’t always been able to come first over the past years. My children are growing, and I’d like to be there for more of it,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Maa’s duties will be assumed by other executives at the company, Grab said in a statement.

In an internal note to employees, Grab co-founder and CEO Anthony Tan compared Maa to Batman, explaining how he never flinched at the need “to fly across the world to meet an investor or partner if he believes it drives the right outcomes” for the super app.

“We are still working on this and have not concluded on the next steps with Ming,” Tan added in his note, which was reviewed by Tech in Asia.

Meanwhile, Ong Chin Yin, chief people officer at Grab, will be appointed to its board of directors effective January 1, 2024. Yin will replace co-founder Hooi Ling Tan, who will formally exit from Grab’s board on December 31 and move into an advisory role.

Grab will also be expanding its board of directors from six to seven members, with an independent director yet to be identified.

Maa joined Grab from Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group in 2016. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, he has over 12 years of experience in private equity investing across the US and Asia.

See also: Grab’s latest lineup of top executives (update)