Board of Directors
TAN SRI DATO’ SERI SIR DR. JEFFREY CHEAH KBE AO
Founder and Chairman, Sunway Group
Tan Sri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah is the visionary founder and chairman of Sunway Group, one of Southeast Asia’s leading conglomerates with core interests in property, construction, education, healthcare, hospitality, and leisure.
He is also the founding trustee of Malaysia’s largest education-focused social enterprise, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, which makes quality education accessible to as many deserving students as possible through scholarships. His lifelong dedication to sustainable development is evident in the host of thriving communities throughout Sunway’s integrated developments and townships totaling more than 5,000 hectares across Malaysia.
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Dr. Philip Yeo Liat Kok
Senior Independent Non-Executive Director
Dr. Philip Yeo holds a Master in Business Administration from Harvard University and Master of Science (Systems Engineering) from University of Singapore. He also earned his Honorary Doctor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Science (Industrial Engineering) from University of Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Philip Yeo is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Economic Development Innovations Singapore (EDIS) Private Limited. Established in 2013, EDIS is an economic development management services company founded by Dr. Philip Yeo that provides strategic advice and undertakes the development and management of integrated industrial and urban areas. In addition, he is also the Chairman of Accuron Technologies Limited, Advanced MedTech Holdings and i-Globe Partners. Accuron Technologies Limited is a global precision engineering and technology group headquartered in Singapore with operations in major markets in Asia, Europe and the USA, serving the aerospace and industrial markets. Advanced MedTech Holdings is a high growth medtech company in Southeast Asia and a global medical technology leader with a core focus in urology devices and services. As for i-Globe Partners, it is a Singapore-based private venture capital fund.
He sits on the Board of City Developments Ltd, Singapore’s largest property developer, Kerry Logistics Network Ltd which is listed in Hong Kong and Supervisory Board of Directors of Baiterek National Managing Holding JSC of Kazakhstan.
His previous appointments included serving in the Singapore Administrative Service from June 1970 to 31 March 1999. From June 1970 to December 1985, he served in various appointments in the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), including Permanent Secretary for logistics, defence research & development and defence industries (September 1979 to December 1985). He left MINDEF to assume the appointment of Executive Chairman of Economic Development Board (EDB) in January 1986. He also served as the Founding Chairman of the National Computer Board (now known as Infocomm Media Development Authority) of Singapore from 1981 to 1987.
He played a leading role in formulating and championing Singapore’s first national computerisation plan to evolve the nation into the information age.
He was the Executive Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) from February 2001 to March 2007. A*STAR is a Singapore government agency focused on building up public scientific research capabilities. He then assumed the position of Chairman of Standards, Productivity and Innovation for Growth, Singapore (Spring Singapore) from April 2007 to 31 March 2018. He was also appointed the Senior Advisor for Science and Technology to the Ministry of Trade and Industry from April 2007 to September 2008. In his role as Special Advisor for Economic Development in the Prime Minister’s Office from April 2007 to August 2011, he assisted the Prime Minister’s Office in establishing new economic links with foreign governments who value Singapore’s development experience, and provide strategic inputs to establish strategic partnerships and open up opportunities with other fast-growing economies.
He was a member of World Health Organisation Expert Working Group on Research & Development Financing from January 2009 to January 2010. He was a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts in Public Administration (CEPA), established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 2010 to 2013.
Dr. Philip Yeo was appointed to the Board of Sunway on 9 April 2020, and also serves as Chairman of the Nomination Committee as well as a Member of the Remuneration Committee.
He is also a trustee in the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.
Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan
Independent Non-Executive Director
Datuk Zaiton is a Fellow and Council Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), United Kingdom, and was the Deputy Chair of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Advisory Group. Datuk Zaiton’s exposure at the international level in looking at the role of accountants in value creation and building sustainable businesses has led to her strong commitment to the sustainability agenda.
She is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
She started her career as an auditor in PricewaterhouseCoopers. She then moved into banking, including serving Malaysia’s largest bank, Maybank for 12 years in various senior positions in Treasury, International Operations and Group Strategic Planning.
She was selected by the Central Bank of Malaysia to set up the country’s second rating agency, Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad where she was president for eight years.
She was also chairman of the Board Risk and Audit Committees of Bank Islam and chairman of the Board Governance and Audit Committee of Tabung Haji (Malaysia’s pilgrim fund) from 2018 to 2020.
Datuk Zaiton had also served as the chairman of the Development Bank of Malaysia. She had led the Board and Management, assisted by the World Bank, to a new direction and strategic business model to assess projects applying for funding from the Bank using an Impact Assessment Framework, measuring impact to national development on one dimension and contribution to the achievement of the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the other.
She was previously the chairman of the Board Governance and Audit Committee of public listed Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, the world’s largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil. She is also a member of the Sustainability Committee which oversees the formulation of strategic and implementation plans in various areas such as climate risk.
She is an active member in Malaysia’s accounting fraternity. She is currently the chief executive officer of a not-for-profit institution, the Malaysia Professional Accountancy Centre (MyPAC), which focuses on giving the opportunity and funding for students from underprivileged B40 families to pursue professional accountancy qualifications.
Datin Paduka Sarena Cheah
Executive Deputy Chair, Non-Independent Executive Director
Sarena Cheah graduated from University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) Degree in 1994 and obtained her Master of Business Administration from Melbourne Business School in 2001.
Sarena has been with Sunway Group since 1995, starting her career in the Corporate Finance and Group Internal Audit and Business Development divisions. In 2000, she left to pursue her Master of Business Administration at Melbourne Business School. Upon her return, she joined the Education and Healthcare divisions as Business Development Manager. In 2003, she rejoined the Corporate Finance division to lead the asset-backed securitisation exercise for Sunway City Berhad. In 2006, she became the Sales & Marketing General Manager in the Property Development division, before holding the position of Director of Strategy & Corporate Development in 2009, during which she oversaw the successful merger and integration of Sunway Holdings Berhad and Sunway City Berhad. She assumed the position as Executive Director of Strategy & Corporate Development in August 2011. Effective 1 May 2013, she was promoted to Managing Director of Strategy & Corporate Development and was appointed as Joint Managing Director of Property Development Division, Malaysia/Singapore.
On 1 May 2015, Sarena was redesignated to lead Sunway’s property arm, taking on full responsibility as Managing Director of Property Development Division, Malaysia/Singapore.
Sarena was appointed to the Board of Sunway on 18 November 2010. She is a Board Member of Sunway REIT Management Sdn Bhd, the Manager of Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust, as well as a member of the National Committee of Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia (REHDA). She is a Fellow Member of Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (ASCPA) and also holds a Capital Markets Services Representative’s License (CMSRL).
Her directorships in other public companies include SunREIT Capital Berhad, SunREIT Unrated Bond Berhad and SunREIT Perpetual Bond Berhad.
Dato’ Sri Idris Jala
Non-Executive Co-Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director
Dato’ Sri Idris Jala graduated from University Sains Malaysia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Development Studies and Management in 1982. He obtained his Master’s Degree in Industrial Relations from Warwick University in 1986.
Dato’ Sri Idris is the President and Chairman of PEMANDU Associates. Previously, he was Advisor to the Prime Minister, National Transformation Programme and the Managing Director of Big Fast Results (BFR) Institute and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PEMANDU, a unit in the Prime Minister’s Department tasked with spearheading Malaysia’s transition towards high income status by 2020. He also served as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for six years from 2009 to 2015.
He is a renowned transformation guru, having turned around companies’ performance through his big fast results methodology and transformational strategies that are innovative, rigorous and relevant to today’s constantly changing demands. He has continuously delivered sustainable socio-economic reforms which sees him ranked by Bloomberg as one of 2014’s top 10 most influential policy makers in the world.
Dato’ Sri Idris is also the Founder and Executive Chairman of the Global Transformation Forum, the world’s singular platform for influential, global leaders to engage and share experiences, as well as best practices on how to drive transformation.
In addition, Dato’ Sri Idris is an Expert Resource Speaker at the Harvard Health Leaders’ Ministerial Forum and a Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. He also served on the Advisory Panel for the World Economic Forum on New Economic Growth, as well as the Advisory Panel of World Bank.
Prior to his stint with the Malaysian Government, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala was Managing Director/CEO at Malaysia Airlines (MAS) for three years. He was brought on board to turn around the airline whose performance was affected by a prolonged bout of losses due to operational inefficiencies.
Before MAS, he spent 23 years at Shell, rising through the ranks to hold senior positions including Vice President of Shell Retail International and Vice President of Business Development Consultancy, based in the UK. His other accomplishments include successful turnarounds for various businesses in Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Dato’ Sri Idris was appointed to the Board of Sunway on 11 August 2017. He also serves as a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees.
His directorships in other public companies include Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad, Big Fast Results Institute, Heineken Malaysia Berhad, and Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.
Evan Cheah
Deputy President, Alternate Director to Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah KBE AO
Evan Cheah is currently the Group CEO for Digital and Strategic Investments at Sunway Group. He has more than 10 years of experience in general management, investments and technology across various businesses within Sunway Group.
Prior to his current role, he was the CEO of Sunway Group’s China operations responsible for its China Corporate Office. Concurrently, he was the executive vice president – President’s Office driving new business growth and synergies for Sunway Group. He was also a non-independent non-executive director of Elite Commercial REIT Management Pte Ltd, the Manager for Elite Commercial REIT, a real estate investment trust listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited from the period from August 2019 to January 2024.
Evan sits on the board of Sunway Construction Group Berhad, a company listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad, as a non-independent non-executive director. He currently also sits on the boards of various private operating companies including as Chairman of the Board for Credit Bureau Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Sunway Money Sdn Bhd, Multicare Health Pharmacy Sdn Bhd and Tianjin Eco-City Sunway Property Development Co. Ltd.
Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr.) Chew Chee Kin
President, Non-Independent Executive Director
Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr.) Chew graduated with a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) from University of Malaya in 1974. He also attended the programme in Management Development at Harvard Business School in 1980.
Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr.) Chew started his career as a Trainee Executive in UMW (Malaya) Sdn Bhd in 1974. Prior to joining Sunway Group, he was the General Manager of UMW (Malaya) Sdn Bhd. He joined Sunway Group in 1981 as General Manager. In 1984, he was promoted to Group General Manager (Operations) and was subsequently promoted to Deputy Group Managing Director (Operations) in 1989. In 1995, he was promoted to Group Managing Director and to President in 1999. He has more than 30 years of experience in general management, quarrying, construction, building materials, trading and manufacturing businesses.
Tan Sri Dato’ (Dr.) Chew was appointed to the Board of Sunway on 17 June 2011.
His directorships in other public companies include Gopeng Berhad and Sunway Construction Group Berhad.
Datuk Anuar Taib
Deputy President, Non-Independent Executive Director
Datuk Mohd Anuar Bin Taib joined the oil and gas industry in 1990 with Sarawak Shell Berhad, the Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary in Malaysia. He then joined PETRONAS as the Vice President of Development and Production, PETRONAS and Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd where he was instrumental in the improvement in the delivery of capital projects, reduction in operating costs and the set-up of the successful low-cost and marginal field subsidiary, Vestigo Petroleum Sdn Bhd.
Presently, he is the Group Chief Executive Officer of Sapura Energy Berhad (“SEB”) since 23 March 2021. He joined SEB Group as an Independent Non-Executive Director on 27 August 2020, and redesignated as Group Chief Operating Officer on 1 October 2020.
He has more than 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry with Shell, PETRONAS and Sapura Energy Berhad in various technical, commercial, and leadership positions covering upstream regulatory functions, exploration and production, refinery, gas and LNG, downstream marketing commercial functions, and integrated service company with national, regional and global coverage.
Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria
Independent Non-Executive Director
Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria graduated from the University of Malaya in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature. She received a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration from the National Institute of Public Administration (“INTAN”), Malaysia in 1981. She also has a Master of Science (Counselling) from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now known as Universiti Putra Malaysia) in 1992. Subsequently, Tan Sri Dr. Rebecca obtained her PhD from the University of Georgia, Athens in 2000.
Tan Sri Dr. Rebecca began her career in the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Service in 1981 and served in various capacities in the then Ministry of Trade and Industry.
She retired as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (“MITI Sec-Gen”) on 2 July 2016. As MITI Sec-Gen, a post she was appointed to in December 2010, she provided oversight for the formulation and implementation of Malaysia’s international trade policies and positions. This involved Malaysia’s participation in bilateral, regional (ASEAN, APEC, OIC) and multilateral fora (World Trade Organisation), as well as bilateral and regional trade negotiations. On the regional front, she played a key role in ASEAN economic integration and chaired the ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting in 2015 as well as the ASEAN High Level Task Force for Economic Integration from June 2011 to June 2016.
In the academic field, she was awarded the Malcolm Knowles Award for best PhD dissertation in the field of Human Resource Development by the American Academy of Human Resource Development in 2000. She was also awarded “Professional Achievement Awards” by School of Education, University of Georgia in 2013.
She was Chair for the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry till 31 December 2018.
Tan Sri Dr. Rebecca currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the MyKasih Foundation, Director of IDEAS, and took office as an Executive Director of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) secretariat on 2 January 2019.
Tan Sri Dr. Rebecca was appointed to the Board of Sunway on 1 March 2018. She also serves as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee as well as Member of the Audit, Nomination and Risk Management Committees.
Her directorships in other public companies include Hartalega Holdings Berhad, Eco World International Berhad and Dialog Group Berhad.
Datuk Tong Poh Keow
Independent Non-Executive Director
Datuk Tong Poh Keow graduated from Kolej Tunku Abdul Rahman with a Diploma in Commerce. She also has a qualification from the Institute of the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK.
Datuk Tong began her career as secretarial assistant with Siva, Heng & Monteiro in 1978 and was promoted to manager of secretarial services and audit in 1980. She left the firm in 1981 to join Shapadu Holding Sdn Bhd as accountant and company secretary until March 1983.
In November 1983, she joined Highlands & Lowlands Berhad as accountant and assistant company secretary. In 1985, she joined Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad and held various senior positions within the organisation until her promotion as chief financial officer (CFO) in April 2003. In October 2007, following the completion of the merger of Sime Darby Berhad, she was appointed as CFO of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad. In June 2008, she assumed the position of Group CFO of Sime Darby Berhad. She held this position for about 9 years, until her appointment as Executive Director and Group CFO of Sime Darby Property Berhad in November 2017, after the completion of the demerger of Sime Darby Berhad. She retired as Group CFO of Sime Darby Property Berhad on 31 March 2019 and as Executive Director on 31 May 2019, respectively.
Currently, Datuk Tong is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Malaysian Advisory Committee since 1 January 2020, as well as a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.
In addition, she was awarded Best CFO in Malaysia for 2014, 2015 and 2017 by the Institutional Investor Corporate Awards – Alpha Southeast Asia and Best CFO for Investor Relations (Large Cap) for 2013, 2014 and 2017 at the Malaysia Investor Relations Awards.
Datuk Tong was appointed to the Board of Sunway as the new Independent Non-Executive Director of Sunway Berhad on 21 September 2020. She also serves as Chairman and Member of the Audit Committee, and Member of the Risk Management and Nomination and Remuneration Committees, as well as Member of the Sustainability Committee.
