Great Malaysian CEOs Part 2

Well, I got a lot of feedback on the CEO issue following my mentioning of Nazir Razak. There have been naysayers who reminded me that the family name and connections played a significant part. I have to say that there are plenty of people who got to the top with just connections and by having the right family name - but the crux is what do you with it.

I have extended the list, its not just GLCs CEOs, but after surveying the CEOs of listed companies in the country, these 4 would be part of the top 5. Hassan Merican would have easily made the list as well but let's just look at the current crop.

Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas

was formerly the President / Chief Executive Officer of MISC Berhad and just recently appointed to the top post of Petronas. I can tell you that a lot of observers breathed a sigh of deep relief when his appointment was confirmed as the stewardship of Petronas assets was at stake.

Shamsul holds a degree in Political Science from Science University of Malaysia, a Masters of Science Degree (MSc.) in Energy Management from University of Pennsylvania, USA and a Technical Diploma in Petroleum Economics from Institute Francaise du Petrole (IFP), France. He joined PETRONAS in 1975 and has held various senior management positions in PETRONAS including Vice President, Petrochemical Business, Vice President, Oil Business, Vice President, Exploration and Production Business and Vice President, Logistics & Maritime Business. On 1 July 2004, he was appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of MISC.

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Jamaludin Bin Ibrahim

Jamaludin Ibrahim joined Axiata Group Berhad (formerly known as TM International Berhad) on March 2008 as the President and Group Chief Executive Officer. He is also a board member of Axiata Group. Prior to that, Jamaludin was with Maxis Communications Berhad, which he joined in 1997 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in the same year, and Chief Executive Officer in 1998. In 2006, he was redesignated the Group Chief Executive Officer to reflect Maxis’ international footprint. He retired from Maxis in July 2007 but remained as a Board member till February 2008.

During Jamaludin’s decade of leadership with Maxis, the company’s revenue grew more than twenty-fold to about USD2.3 billion, net profit grew to about USD600 million and market capitalisation swelled to more than USD11 billion in 2007 (before the privatisation).

Before joining Maxis, he spent 16 years in the IT Industry. He was Managing Director and CEO of Digital Equipment Malaysia (a Malaysian branch of Digital Equipment, then the second largest IT Company worldwide) from 1993 to 1997. Jamaludin also spent 12 years in IBM (1981-93), the first five years as Systems Engineer and then in various positions in Sales, Marketing Support and Management. Prior to IBM, he was a lecturer in Quantitative Methods at California State University, United States in 1980. Jamaludin graduated from California State University in 1978 with a B.Sc. in Business Administration and minor in Mathematics. He obtained his MBA from Portland State University, Oregon in 1980.

Jamaludin is the Chairman of Celcom Axiata Berhad (formerly known as Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad), the second largest mobile company in Malaysia, and sits on the board of PT XL Axiata Tbk (XL) Indonesia, MobileOne Ltd (M1) Singapore, as well as one local university. In 2008, Jamaludin was appointed board member of the GSMA (the global World GSM Association). He was also appointed board member of Multimedia Development Corporation Malaysia (MDeC) in 2009.

Jamaludin earned the accolade of Malaysia’s ‘CEO of the Year’ 2000 by American Express & Business Times and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for ‘Services to the Mobile Telecommunications Industry’ by Asian Mobile News in 2004. He was also named Asian Mobile Operator CEO of the Year by Asian Mobile News Awards 2007.

Amir Hamzah Bin Azizan was appointed President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of MISC Berhad on 1 January 2009. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management (majoring in Finance and Economics) from Syracuse University, New York. He had also attended the Stanford Executive Programme at Stanford University, USA and the Corporate Finance Evening Programme at the London Business School, United Kingdom.

Amir Hamzah joined MISC in 2000 and was the Group's General Manager, Corporate Planning Services. Subsequently in 2004 he was the Regional Business Director (Europe, Americas, Africa and FSU) of MISC based in London, UK before being appointed President / CEO, AET Tanker Holdings Sdn Bhd on 1 April 2005.

Prior to joining MISC, he served the Shell Group of Companies for ten years in various capacities including Head of Financial Services and Manager, Planning & Support at Sarawak Shell Berhad, Marketing Credit Accountant at Shell Singapore Ptd Ltd, Internal Auditor at Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd and Senior Treasury Advisor at Shell International Ltd, London. Amir Hamzah is Chairman of the Boards of major subsidiaries of MISC Berhad, among which includes Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn Bhd, MISC Integrated Logistics Sdn Bhd, Malaysian Maritime Academy Sdn Bhd and MISC Agencies Sdn Bhd.

Amir Hamzah is also Deputy Chairman, AET Tanker Holdings Sdn Bhd. He is also Director of Bintulu Port Holdings Berhad and NCB Holdings Berhad. Amir Hamzah is Board member of UK P&I Club, PETRONAS Maritime Services Sdn Bhd, as well as Executive Committee member of INTERTANKO. He is also council member of the American Bureau of Shipping, and General Committee Member of Bureau Veritas. He is also a member of Management Committee of PETRONAS.mir Hamzah bin Azizan was appointed as the President / Chief Executive Officer of MISC Berhad on 1 January 2009.





Raised in a fishing village, Chia Song Kun graduated from University Malaya with a B Sc (Hon) degree majoring in Mathematics and worked as a lecturer with Mara Institute of Technology before venturing into private education business and co-founded Inti College (now Inti Universal Holdings Berhad). Having been there and done that, Chia decided to return to his roots - the fishery business, and together with his family members, started QL Group.

Chia nurtured and transformed the business into a diversified agro-based Group with interests in processing of marine products, livestock farming and palm-based activities. Adopting a "win-win" approach, QL Group has now become the largest distributor of animal feed and surimi-based products manufacturer in Malaysia, the largest producer of surimi in Asia, as well as a leading poultry egg producer in Malaysia. Its products could also be found in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Under his visionary leadership, QL was listed on Bursa Malaysia in 2000 and since then, the Group recorded a healthy turnover and net profit 5-year CAGR of 18% pa and 22% pa respectively. Today, QL Group has sales of more than RM1.4 billion, employing more than 3,000 employees.

Under the leadership of Mr Chia Song Kun, QL has developed a business model that has the following sustainability:
• Stable, broad-based and ample opportunity for growth.
• All 3 core activities are based on Malaysian agriculture resources.
• Food-based business is resilient and has full of value adding and export potential.
• Well aligned with government’s initiatives to grow the fisheries & agriculture industry.
• Able to enjoy tax incentives that are available under the agricultural & fisheries sectors.

Verdict On New Petronas CEO

It was going to be a critical decision, although nobody in the mainstream media would dare to admit the repercussions and consequences if we made a not so "correct" choice. Petronas is not just a company, it basically sustains a large portion of the country's fortunes and livelihood. Imagine if we were not oil rich or Petronas was just one tenth the size it is now - I wonder where would we fund our infrastructure and fiscal budget.

Mahathir threw a spanner into the works when he said that the new Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) chief executive officer (CEO) must be from within the conglomerate to ensure continuity - strong words coming from the company's adviser. He added that this was also necessary because the new CEO would be familiar with the operations. “Most importantly, we have done business with so many countries. We know heads of governments and an entirely new person will find difficulty in establishing contact with the people we are doing business with,” he added.

Tan Sri Hassan Marican’s tenure as chief executive officer of Petronas is over. He will be replaced next week by Datuk Shamsul Azhar Abbas, a surprise choice given that he, like Hassan, is 57 years old and was not one of the senior Petronas officials identified as part of the succession planning. Besides Shamsul, also considered were Petronas stalwarts Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, Anuar Ahmad and Ahmad Nizam Salleh.

By appointing Shamsul, who has had a long history in Petronas, the government will hope to minimise some of the criticisms that could come their way over the manner in which Hassan’s position has been handled. Shamsul retired last January as managing director of MISC, a Petronas subsidiary. Among the senior positions held in Petronas, Shamsul had been vice-president in the petrochemical, oil exploration and production, as well as logistics and maritime businesses. He joined Petronas in 1975, and had served previously as executive assistant to former chairman Tan Sri Azizan Zainal Abidin, who died in 2004.

My verdict on the choice of the new CEO, excellent - judging from his stint at MISC, diligent, professional and astute. Although I wished Hassan Marican could have been engaged to sign on for another 5 years. I think he was one of the best CEOs among all the top oil companies, and this is not just my view but just ask around the industry. He has shored up the reserves and gone into strategic joint ventures to ensure Malaysia's future is secure (to an extent). For all his contribution, I think the government could have treated the non-renewal of his contract a lot better. He certainly deserves to be treated a lot better.

Many of the brickbats thrown at Petronas were unwarranted. People have to learn to distinguish Petronas' role as a custodian, they do not set the prices at the gas pump. If there had been an inefficient allocation and management of resources, blame the right parties, not Petronas. Its like you have a bank account, and then frivolously took the funds out and spent it all "ineffectively", then had the gall to go to the bank and blame the bank for allowing you to spend it all.