Sime Darby announces leadership line up for the three Pure Play

Sime Darby Plantation and Sime Darby Property are on course for listing at the end of this year. All three companies will be helmed by individuals who have the required skills and experience to manage large, complex organisations and are highly regarded for their integrity and business acumen. 

“We are confident that all three pure plays have the right leadership to take the companies forward in these challenging times. Their task is to grow the businesses and their challenge is to achieve this while delivering consistent returns for all their stakeholders,” Sime Darby Berhad Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Othman said.

The New Leadership

1. Sime Darby Berhad

• Chairman: Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah
• President and Group Chief Executive: Jeffri Salim Davidson 
• Managing Director, Sime Darby Motors: Dato’ Lawrence Lee Cheow Hock
• Managing Director, Sime Darby Industrial: Scott William Cameron
• Managing Director, Sime Darby Logistics: Timothy Lee Chi Tim

The new leadership of Sime Darby Berhad will reflect the global nature of the business with 80% of revenues generated from outside of Malaysia. This Malaysian multinational works with some of the best known and most prestigious global brands such as BMW, Caterpillar and Rolls Royce, and is a leader in all its sectors. With a footprint in 16 countries and 4 territories, and a workforce of approximately 20,000 employees, Sime Darby Berhad will be a more nimble organisation, able to take advantage of its leadership position in all its key sectors, setting the stage for an exciting future of growth and potential new revenue streams.

Sime Darby Berhad, through its two wholly owned subsidiaries, Sime Darby Motors and Sime Darby Industrial, is a world leader in the distribution of luxury automobile marques and industrial equipment. Sime Darby Motors is the world’s second largest dealer of BMW cars, and with over 40 years of experience in the industry, has become a major player in the Asia Pacific region, representing 29 brands and with presence in 10 countries. 

Sime Darby Industrial is among the world’s largest Caterpillar dealers and has presence in 14 countries and 4 territories across the Asia Pacific. The partnership between Sime Darby and Caterpillar, the world’s number one manufacturer of heavy equipment and power systems, goes back nearly 90 years to 1929. Its main areas of business are in the mining, engineering, construction, power generation, forestry, marine, plantation and oil & gas sectors.

Sime Darby Logistics is involved in ports, logistics and water management in the province of Shandong, in the Eastern China region. It operates four ports in the region including Weifang Sime Darby Port, the largest modernised multi-purpose and comprehensive port in the Yellow River Delta, and an important feeder port within the Bohai Rim. 
Sime Darby Berhad also has a 50% stake in the Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care group, a joint venture with the Ramsay Health Care group which is one of the world’s leading healthcare providers. Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care has six hospitals, three each in Malaysia and Indonesia.

2. Sime Darby Plantation Berhad

• Chairman: Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Ghani Othman
• Executive Deputy Chairman and Managing Director: Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh
• Chief Advisor and Value Officer: Datuk Franki Anthony Dass
• Chief Financial Officer: Renaka Ramachandran 

Sime Darby Plantation's new executive leadership will reflect the stature of the company, its scale and breadth, and its aspirations to further enhance its upstream productivity and operational excellence, as well as aggressively grow its downstream sector. Sime Darby Plantation is a fully integrated plantation company with world class assets strategically located in key markets globally.

Over the last 10 years, Sime Darby Plantation has established itself as the world’s largest producer of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO), and is an acknowledged world leader in the sustainable production of edible oils. Sime Darby Plantation produces about 3 million tonnes of CSPO, which is nearly one quarter of global production. It has 11 refineries and counts among its customers, some of the world’s largest and best known brands. 

 Sime Darby Plantation has some of the best research and development capabilities in the global palm oil industry, having developed some of the best planting materials in the world and advanced processing technologies to produce superior oils and fats. The company won the coveted Edison Award in 2017 for sustainability with its ultra-advanced Genome Palm Select planting material which has oil yield potentials of more than 11 metric tonnes per hectare.

3. Sime Darby Property Berhad

• Chairman: Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar
• Managing Director: Dato’ Sri Amrin Awaluddin 
• Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer: Datuk Tong Poh Keow

The new executive line up of Sime Darby Property will reflect the tremendous opportunities presented by its strategic land bank, combined with the immediate need to turnaround and rescale its operation

Sime Darby Property is one of the largest property developers in Malaysia and owns tracts of land along key strategic growth corridors, such as Malaysia Vision Valley and the High Speed Rail link from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore. 

It has an illustrious history as Malaysia’s leading township developer and has won numerous accolades over the years. Some of the townships it has developed have become part of the foundations upon which Malaysia’s vibrant Klang Valley is built upon.
Sime Darby Property is also a 40% investor in the iconic Battersea Power Station redevelopment project in London.

Meet the Leaders

Sime Darby Berhad

Chairman: Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah
Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah, is the current Deputy Chairman of Sime Darby Berhad. He is 65, a Malaysian, and a nominee of Permodalan Nasional Berhad. He has served the Sime Darby Board since 10 December 2012 and was appointed its Deputy Chair on 31 July 2015.

Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz holds a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree in Applied Economics from the University of Malaya and a Master’s degree in Philosophy in Development Studies from the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex in the UK. Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz obtained his PhD in Business Economics from the School of Business and Economic Studies, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School in the USA.

Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz began his career in 1975 as Assistant Director of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department. He was later promoted to the position of Senior Assistant Director, Macro-economics in 1984, and subsequently to the positions of Senior Assistant Director, Human Resource Section and Director of the Energy Section.
He was later appointed as an Alternate Executive Director of the World Bank Group in Washington D.C., USA (on secondment by the Government of Malaysia) representing Southeast Asia Group from 1998 to 2001. He was also appointed as the Executive Director of the Islamic Development Bank and the Islamic Trade Finance Corporation based in Jeddah from 2011 till 2013.

From 2001 to 2006, he held various positions such as Deputy Secretary in the Economics and International Division of the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Director General (Macro) of the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department and Deputy Secretary General of Treasury (Policy), Federal Treasury in the Ministry of Finance. In 2007, he was appointed Secretary General of Treasury in the Ministry of Finance, a position he held until his retirement in August 2012.

Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz is currently the Chairman of Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Berhad, Sime Darby Motors Sdn Bhd and several other private limited companies. He is also a member of the Board of Permodalan Nasional Berhad, RAM Holdings Berhad and Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA).

President & Group Chief Executive: Jeffri Salim Davidson
Jeffri Salim Davidson, 51, is the current Deputy Group Chief Financial Officer of Sime Darby Berhad. He started his career in Sime Darby in 1992 as an Accountant. He “took a break from the world of Sime Darby” to see what is out there, but came back to the fold in 2004 as the Finance Director of Tractors Malaysia Holdings Berhad in the Industrial Division. 

On 1 January 2016, Jeffri climbed the corporate ladder into his current role, before which he was the Senior Vice President, China, Singapore & Power Systems, Industrial Division. In that role, he developed the distribution network in China, doubled the business size in four years, nationalised provincial leadership, constructed Centres of Excellence in all provinces, and oversaw a major roll out of safety programmes. 

He has held various senior leadership positions in Sime Darby Berhad including Managing Director of China Engineers Limited.

Jeffri began his career with Coopers & Lybrand. Jeffri holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from University College London, United Kingdom and he is a Chartered Accountant and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. He attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Management School in 2009.

Managing Director, Sime Darby Motors: Dato’ Lawrence Lee Cheow Hock
Dato’ Lawrence Lee Cheow Hock, 63, is a true blue Sime Darby employee, having served the Group in various capacities for 35 years. Respected for his business acumen throughout the industry, Lawrence oversaw the growth of the Motors Division from revenues of RM7 billion  in 2007 when he took charge, to what it is today, with revenues of nearly RM20 billion. Today Sime Darby Motors operates in 10 countries and represents 29 brands.

Lawrence was also the Managing Director of the subsidiaries within the Hyundai Group of Kumpulan Sime Darby Berhad’s (KSDB) Motors Division and has held senior managerial roles in KSDB’s Motors Division in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau.

Lawrence is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. 

Managing Director, Sime Darby Industrial: Scott William Cameron
Scott William Cameron, 58, joined the Group 25 years ago from PricewaterhouseCoopers, after assisting Sime Darby on the successful acquisition of one of Australia’s largest Caterpillar dealers, Hastings Deering. He was headhunted by Sime Darby’s senior management to become the new Finance Director of Hastings Deering after which he steadily climbed the ladder in the Malaysian multinational.

In 2006, Scott took over the reins of Sime Darby Industrial Berhad, and oversaw its growth into one of the world’s largest Caterpillar dealers, with a presence in 14 countries and 4 territories. He led the successful acquisitions of Caltrac and Bucyrus, doubling revenues in 6 years between 2007 and 2013. In the last 10 years, Scott has presided over the division during the dizzying climb of commodity prices to unsurpassed heights and the subsequent industry carnage when prices plummeted and the equipment industry shrunk by more than 50% over a harrowing 60 months. 

Scott began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Brisbane, Sydney and New York before joining Hastings Deering in June 1992. Currently, he is also the Dealer Principal of the Hastings Deering Group. He holds a degree in Commerce from the University of Queensland, Australia and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He attended the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Management School in 2002.

Managing Director, Sime Darby Logistics: Timothy Lee Chi Tim
Timothy Lee Chi Tim, 52, was appointed in December 2011 to helm the then Energy & Utilities Division (China) to manage Sime Darby’s ports and logistics and water management business units located in the Shandong province in the People’s Republic of China. Following the integration of the Industrial Division with Energy & Utilities Non-China Operations on 1 July 2016, Timothy was designated as the Managing Director, Logistics Division. 

Since coming on board, Timothy has doubled the Group’s ports business. The division currently operates several sea and river ports, as well as a water treatment plant, with plans to become a leader in its respective sectors.

Timothy has over 20 years of operational experience in the ports and container terminal management industry in Hong Kong, one of the world’s busiest ports. Prior to joining Sime Darby, he was the Operations Manager for the Hong Kong business unit of Modern Terminals Limited, the second largest port operator in Hong Kong, where he was responsible for ensuring optimum performance levels of terminal operations. Timothy was formerly the Chairman of the Sea Cargo Customer Liaison Group in 2010, a committee organised by the Hong Kong Customs & Excise Department to gather industry expertise to improve port competitiveness. Timothy holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.

Sime Darby Plantation Berhad 

Chairman: Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Ghani Othman
Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Ghani Othman, 70, is the incumbent Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Sime Darby Berhad. He was appointed to the Board on 1 July 2013.

Tan Sri Abdul Ghani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (Honours) from the La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia and a Master’s degree in Political Economy from the University of Queensland, Australia.

Tan Sri Abdul Ghani began his career in 1974 as a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, University of Malaya and later served as the Dean for the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya from 1980 to 1984. He was appointed as a Member of the Senate in December 1984 and subsequently elected as a Member of Parliament for Ledang in August 1986. He was later appointed the Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post in May 1987 and thereafter became the Deputy Minister of Finance in 1990. In December 1993, he was appointed the Minister of Youth and Sports and served in that capacity until March 1995.

Tan Sri Abdul Ghani served as the Chief Minister of the state of Johor from March 1995 to May 2013. He was also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Johor Corporation from May 1995 to May 2013.

Tan Sri Abdul Ghani is the Chairman of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad. He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation and an Advisor of City University College of Science & Technology.

Executive Deputy Chairman and Managing Director: Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh
Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Mohd Bakke Salleh, 63, is the incumbent President & Group Chief Executive of Sime Darby Berhad, a position he has held for the last seven years. He took over the reins at Sime Darby when the group was in need of a turnaround man, a task he undertook with zeal. 

He oversaw the rationalising of the Group’s businesses which included exiting the oil & gas business at the top of the cycle and encouraging the businesses to focus on what they do best.

Prior to joining Sime Darby, Mohd Bakke was the Group President & Chief Executive Officer of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad and had also served as the Group Managing Director of Felda Holdings Berhad, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lembaga Tabung Haji and a Director, Property Division of Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad.

Mohd Bakke has also worked with several companies within the Permodalan Nasional Berhad Group. He was the Managing Director of Federal Power Sdn Bhd, Managing Director of Syarikat Perumahan Pegawai Kerajaan Sdn Bhd and Group General Manager of Island & Peninsular Group.

Mohd Bakke holds a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree from the London School of Economics, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Chief Advisor and Value Officer: Datuk Franki Anthony Dass
Datuk Franki Anthony Dass, 61, is the incumbent Managing Director of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad. He is an industry veteran who has served the Plantation Division for more than 35 years going back to the days of Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad where he started his career as a cadet planter.

Franki took over at the helm of Sime Darby Plantation in May 2010 when he returned to Malaysia from his previous role as the Chief Executive Officer of PT Minamas Gemilang in Indonesia.  

He has overseen the transformation of Sime Darby Plantation into the world’s largest producer of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil and the turnaround of the Downstream business of the Division.

Franki started his career in Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad in 1980. After various postings across Malaysia, he assumed the post of General Manager of PT Minamas Gemilang in Indonesia in 2002. He subsequently became the Chief Operating Officer of PT Minamas Gemilang in 2004, before becoming its Chief Executive Officer in 2007.
 
Franki holds a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Agriculture from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and has attended management programmes with the Malaysian Institute of Management and the Master of Business Administration Short-programme with the Asian Institute of Management. He is currently Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Association. He is also a member of the Plantation Advisory Council of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, a Consultative Panel member of Malaysia Productivity Corporation, and a Fellow of the Incorporated Society of Planters.

Chief Financial Officer: Renaka Ramachandran
Renaka Ramachandran, 49, is presently the Chief Financial Officer of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, a position she has held since joining the Group in April 2011. Renaka was already familiar with the Division as she had, by then, audited its operations for 10 years, first as an audit manager, then as audit senior manager and finally as executive director of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Her current role now includes the oversight of finance and IT functions of the companies within the Plantation Division. 

Renaka has over 18 years’ experience with PricewaterhouseCoopers, in providing audit and business advisory services to clients; both private and public listed companies as well as multinationals in various industries, but with focus on auditing companies in the plantation and automotive sectors.

Renaka has been actively involved as a member in working groups of both the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board and the Malaysian Palm Oil Association in the introduction of the Agriculture Standard in Malaysia. She attended a senior executive education development programme with the London Business School in 2013 amongst various other management programmes whilst with both Sime Darby Plantation Berhad and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Renaka is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Sime Darby Property Berhad

Chairman: Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar
Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, aged 53, was appointed as Group Chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad on 1st August 2016 following completion of his terms as a Senator and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Economic Planning from June 2013 to June 2016. Prior to his cabinet appointment, Abdul Wahid Omar was appointed President and CEO of Maybank, Malaysia's largest banking group and one of the leading banking groups in Southeast Asia, from May 2008. He was also the Chairman of the Association of Banks in Malaysia. He is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (UK) as well as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

Maybank was the third major organisation that he has led as CEO. Prior to joining Maybank, he was Group Chief Executive Officer of Telekom Malaysia Berhad from July 2004 until its demerger with Axiata Group Berhad in April 2008. He was also formerly Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UEM Group Berhad as well as Executive Vice Chairman of PLUS Expressways Berhad.

Abdul Wahid Omar has received numerous awards throughout his career. This includes Malaysia's CEO of the Year 2006 award from Business Times/American Express, The Asian Banker's 2013 Leadership Achievement Award for Malaysia and The Edge Value Creator 2013. He was also awarded the Honorary Doctorate in Economy from Multimedia University, Malaysia in 2014.

Managing Director: Dato’ Sri Amrin Awaluddin
Dato’ Sri Amrin Awaluddin, 51, will be the Managing Director of Sime Darby Property Berhad.

He has been described as a turnaround man, one who understands the complexities and intricacies of organisational transformation. Highly regarded for his integrity and straight talking style, Amrin will take over the helm at Sime Darby Property during a challenging time for both the industry and the company, a task he is well equipped to handle given his past experience.

He was appointed Group Managing Director of Media Prima on 1 September 2009. Media Prima Group is the largest integrated media group in South-East Asia with operations in television, radio, out-of-home, content production, newspapers and online media assets. 

He joined the Media Prima Group on 1 November 2001 as the Chief Financial Officer of Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3), with responsibilities, amongst others, to implement the restructuring and turnaround of TV3 and The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad. Two years later, following the successful restructuring of these former media assets of Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad, Media Prima was incorporated and Amrin was appointed its Group Chief Financial Officer. He played a pivotal role in transforming Media Prima into an integrated media group. 

He started his career in the financial services industry with Development and Commercial Bank Berhad and Amanah Merchant Bank Berhad among other institutions. He also had stints with major property developers Renong Berhad and Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours in Finance) from the Acadia University, Canada and a Masters of Business Administration (Distinction) from the University of Hull, United Kingdom. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, United Kingdom (CIMA).

Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer: Datuk Tong Poh Keow
Datuk Tong Poh Keow, 62, is currently Sime Darby Berhad’s Group Chief Financial Officer, a position she has held for the last 9 years, since June 2008. A highly respected CFO, she has won awards and accolades and is widely regarded as one of the best professionals in her field, in the region.

Madam Tong, as she is fondly known by all who work with her, started her career with the Group in 1983 as an accountant cum assistant company secretary for Highlands & Lowlands Berhad, which became a subsidiary of Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad (KGB) in 1985. At the time of the merger that created the current Sime Darby in 2007, she was the Chief Financial Officer of KGB.

Madam Tong is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom and was a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, United Kingdom. She was appointed a member of the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB) on 1 October 2013.

About Sime Darby Group
Sime Darby is a Malaysia-based diversified multinational involved in key growth sectors, namely, plantation, industrial equipment, motors, property and logistics. Founded in 1910, its business divisions seek to create positive benefits in the economy, environment and society where it has a presence.

With a workforce of over 120,000 employees in 25 countries and 4 territories, Sime Darby is committed to building a sustainable future for all its stakeholders. It is one of the largest companies on Bursa Malaysia with a market capitalisation of RM64 billion (USD15 billion) as at 27 July 2017.

For further information, please contact:

Leela Barrock
Group Head – Communications
Sime Darby Berhad
Tel: 03-2711 1676 (Off), 019-213 2236 (HP) 
Email: leela.barrock@simedarby.com