EM NED Navigator: Exploring Board Opportunities – Malaysia Edition

Explore the dynamic landscape of board membership in Malaysia in this insightful online event for Impact Boards EM members. Designed for aspiring and current board professionals, this session will unpack the region's unique challenges and opportunities while offering practical guidance on securing a board position.

Key topics

• Understanding the landscape: Legal, economic and cultural factors influencing board roles in the Malaysia region

• Navigating risks: Governance, compliance and political dynamics in the region

• Embracing opportunities: Driving impactful decisions and leveraging growth potential

• Finding a board position in Malaysia: Leveraging on professional networks and recruitment platforms, using direct approaches, establishing your personal branding, etc

Moderator

Reema Desai is Co-Founder of Impact Boards EM.

Speakers

Grainne Dooley is an Independent Chair and Non-Executive Director for investment funds (UCITS and AIF's), sovereign wealth funds and fund management companies. She has over 25 years experience in financial services and active investment management with a deep knowledge of a broad spectrum of the investment universe - especially fixed income - spanning across global markets, with a focus on Europe and Asia.

Grainne serves as Chair for EPIC Investment Partners and Key Capital, Independent member of the Board of Guardians for the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Future Fund in Malaysia, and INED for Interactive Brokers (Ireland) and Waystone Management Company (Ireland).

She is deeply engaged in the sustainable finance transition, recognising the opportunities and challenges that the move to a net zero world entails, from both an investment and regulatory perspective. Grainne is passionate about encouraging more diversity in the investment industry, particularly women in investment management.

Prior to her NED career, Grainne spent 2 years as the COO of a London based start-up Clearmacro, helping it secure a strategic funding to build out its platform for institutional investors. Before that she spent 11 years at Pioneer Investments managing global fixed income with a focus on Asia and 6 years at UBS in London.

She has a BA from Trinity College Dublin and an MSc (Economics) from the London School of Economics. She is a CFA charter holder (2006) and became a Certified Investment Fund Director in 2021.

View Grainne's LinkedIn profile here

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Zuhaida Zulkifli is experienced board director and senior business leader with extensive experience in financial stewardship and strategic oversight across complex organisations. She currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director of Petra Energy Berhad, CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad and Orkim Berhad, bringing broad board experience across the energy, banking and maritime sectors. At Petra Energy, she is Chairperson of the Board Sustainability Committee and also serves on the Audit and Nomination & Remuneration Committees. At Orkim, she chairs the Audit Committee and serves on the Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

A Fellow of Chartered Acountants Australia and New Zealand and member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, Zuhaida has held senior leadership roles within the PETRONAS Group, including Chief Financial Officer positions and strategic finance oversight roles. Her combination of senior corporate leadership and multi-sector board experience gives her a valuable perspective on governance, sustainability, risk and long-term value creation, as well as the opportunities and challenges facing directors in Malaysia.

Zuhaida graduated from Monash University, Melbourne in 1997 and has a Master of Strategic Communication from the University of Western Australia.

View Zuhaida's LinkedIn profile here

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Raj Kumar Paramanathan co-founded Kestria Malaysia: CnetG Asia originally in 2001 in Malaysia and 8 years later also in Thailand. As a Partner of the firm, Raj has a strong focus on diversity recruitment.

He is a Board Member of Kestria Institute, a thought leadership platform for CEOs and executive leaders to gain insights on best practices and experiences of global leaders around leadership and inter-cultural management. He is also is the Secretariat Member of Malaysia Women In Energy, an industry campaign he helped form, to increase women participation in the energy sector, together with the oil majors, contractors and service providers.

Raj also actively promotes building of board-ready women pipeline as part of the 30% Club Malaysia, a business campaign that promotes increased women participation on boards of public listed companies in Malaysia. Through this platform, Raj and other members have conducted board awareness programmes to C-suites in public listed companies and senior members of professional bodies such as ACCA and MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants).

As a member of the Global Diversity Practice of Kestria, Raj believes that a diverse and inclusive organisation not only delivers better performance and returns but also harnesses upon the skill sets of a wider pool of talents.

Raj holds a Master of Science degree in Quality and Productivity Improvement, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics, from University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

View more information on Raj here