TM appoints 4 new board members and new Chief Human Capital Officer

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) announced the appointment of four (4) new Directors effective 3 October 2018 to further strengthen the Board composition in taking the TM Group to the next level and also as part of its Board refresh.

The new Directors are Dato’ Asri Hamidin @ Hamidon, Dato’ Mohd Naim Daruwish, Hisham Zainal Mokhtar and Saheran Suhendran.

The appointments followed the resignation of David Benello as an Independent Non-Executive Director with effect from the same date.

TM also announced the appointment of Farid Basir as its new Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) effective 1 October 2018, taking over the position previously covered by Suhaimi Sulong as the Acting CHCO since early this year.

The Group Chairman of TM, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Sulaiman Mahbob, welcomed the new board members and CHCO saying: “On behalf of the Board and Management, I am very pleased with the appointments and welcome the new directors on board. This is a distinguished line up of individuals who will be able to take TM forward into the future. The board and the senior management have, between them, vast experience and the expertise necessary in their respective fields – ranging from strategic management, economics, corporate finance and restructuring to law. This strengthens the composition of the TM leadership bench as we move forward with our ongoing transformation. I look forward to working with all of them and am excited to see them contribute their knowledge and wisdom.”

“The Board wishes to extend our utmost gratitude to David for his counsel and advice during his time as a Director in TM. He lent his valuable expertise on the telecommunications industry particularly in corporate and ICT strategy. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” Tan Sri Sulaiman added.

Dato’ Asri Hamidin @ Hamidon is appointed as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director representing the Special Shareholder, Minister of Finance (Incorporated) in the Board line-up.

Dato’ Asri is currently the Deputy Secretary General (Investment), Ministry of Finance. He has previously held various positions in Government Departments and its agencies, including the Economic Planning Unit at the Prime Minister’s Department in 1994, Anti-Corruption Agency in 1998, Public Service Department Malaysia in 2003, before joining the Ministry of Finance in 2006.

Dato’ Asri holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from University of Malaya and Masters in Economics from Hiroshima University, Japan. He has also attended the Harvard Premier Business Management Programme in 2010.

Dato’ Mohd Naim Daruwish is also appointed as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of TM, representing the interests of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) as a major shareholder of the Company.

Dato’ Mohd Naim is currently the Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) of EPF, the role that he assumed since 2014. He started his career in the Judiciary and Legal Services as a Magistrate from 1985 until 1992. He joined EPF in 1992 as a Manager in the Prosecution/Litigation Division and has held several positions, including as Head of the Enforcement Department, the Legal Department and the Contributions Department. From December 2011 to September 2014, he was seconded to the Companies Commission of Malaysia as Chief Executive Officer and later resumed service with EPF as Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) beginning October 2014.

He received his Bachelor of Law (LLB) from University of Malaya.

Hisham Zainal Mokhtar is appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director on TM

Board. He is currently a Director in the Group Managing Director’s Office at Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad Group since July 2018 and a Business Coach at Asia School of Business since August 2018.

He was previously the Chief Operating Officer of Astro Overseas Limited from July 2014 to June 2018. Prior to that, he has served Khazanah Nasional Berhad in the Investments Department from 2005 until 2014 in various ranks. He also has vast working experience in the field of corporate finance and has assumed the role of research analyst in equity and investment for various business sectors in several research organisations.

He holds a Master of Business Administration from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, United States of America (USA) under the Sloan Fellows Program at the MIT Sloan School of Management, Master of Science (Mathematics) from Illinois State University, Illinois, USA and Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) from the same institution. He is also a certified financial analyst (CFA) charter holder.

Meanwhile, Saheran Suhendran is also appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director. Saheran is currently a Consultant at Messrs. Chua Associates, a law firm specialised in corporate and commercial law. He has been practicing law for over 33 years including as a partner at Zul Rafique & Partners and Kadir Andri & Partners before joining Messrs. Chua Associates in 2015.

His expertise and extensive experience include corporate and commercial disputes, corporate restructuring, insolvency work, takeovers & mergers and corporate compliance.

Saheran holds a Master of Laws (LLM) from University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Bachelor of Law (LLB) from University of London, United Kingdom. He is a Barrister-at-Law of Gray’s Inn and admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1983, Malaysian Bar in 1985 and Singapore Bar in 2007.

Prior to his appointment, Farid Basir was the Chief Human Capital Officer at Bank Rakyat for almost three (3) years. Before that, he has assumed various human resource-related roles at several organisations including Etiqa and Nestle.

During his 11-year tenure at Nestle, Farid took on several key positions and assignments abroad, continentally at its home-base Switzerland and South Africa, and regionally, in the Philippines. He is an alumnus of International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland and Cambridge Islamic Finance Programme. Under his belt are four (4) global professional certifications, namely Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI)-HR Management Professional, HRCI-Global HR Professional, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)-Senior Certified Professional and Global Remuneration Professional.

Commenting on the new appointment, Datuk Bazlan Osman, Acting Group Chief Executive

Officer, TM said: “We are excited to welcome Farid on board to lead Group Human Capital Management as our new Chief Human Capital Officer. Farid is no stranger to TM; he was a TM scholar and started his career here back in 1994. With his experience in TM as well as in various other industries, I am confident that Farid is fully capable to give the boost the Company needs as we continue our journey and face the challenging road ahead.”

“At the same time, on behalf of the management of TM, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Suhaimi Sulong for stepping up to hold the reins at Group Human Capital Management division, especially during the critical period when we first started our Performance Improvement Plan 2018 (PIP 2018) journey. Under his supervision, we have introduced many new and out-of-the-box initiatives to help increase the Company’s productivity and flexibility,” added Datuk Bazlan.

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