Board of Directors

Board of Directors

TAN SRI DATO’ SERI SIR DR. JEFFREY CHEAH KBE AO

Founder and Chairman, Sunway Group

Tan Sri Dato' Sri Jeffrey Cheah

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.

Read more
Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria
Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria

Independent Non-Executive Director

Tan Sri Datuk Dr Rebecca 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 an M.S. (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. In the course of her civil service career, she had a brief stint as the Chief Administration and Procurement Officer of the ASEAN Plant Quarantine and Training Centre, and contributed to human capital development at INTAN.

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 as well as the ASEAN High Level Task Force for Economic Integration.

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 Chairman of 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. She is also Chairman of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).

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 RHB Bank Berhad, Hartalega Holdings Berhad, and Eco World International Berhad.

Datuk Tong Poh Keow
Datuk Tong Poh Keow

Senior 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. After two years, 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 was Best CFO for Investor Relations (Large Cap) for 2013, 2014 and 2017 at the Malaysia Investor Relations Awards.

Datuk Tong currently serves on the Board Audit Committee, the Board Risk Committee, and is Chairperson of Board Whistle-Blowing Committee for Velesto Energy Berhad since 29 August 2019.

Datuk Tong Poh Keow 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.

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 ABDUL WAHID BIN OMAR

Non-Executive Co-Chairman, Independent Non-Executive Director

Tan Sri Abdul Wahid bin Omar is the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Cypark Resources Berhad and IOI Corporation Berhad. He completed a five-year tenure as Chairman of Bursa Malaysia Berhad on 30 April 2025. Prior to this assignment, he served as Group Chairman of Permodalan Nasional Berhad, following the completion of his term as a Senator and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Economic Planning.

Prior to his cabinet appointment, Tan Sri Abdul Wahid served as the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maybank. Before joining Maybank, Tan Sri Abdul Wahid was the Group CEO of Telekom Malaysia Berhad until its demerger with Axiata Group Berhad in 2008.

He was also formerly the Managing Director and CEO of UEM Group Berhad, marking his first CEO role at the age of 37. He successfully led the turnaround of UEM Group, following its takeover by sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Berhad in 2001.

Tan Sri Abdul Wahid is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA).

Tan Sri Abdul Wahid currently serves as the Chairman of WWF Malaysia (World Wide Fund for Nature, Malaysia) and the MySDG Foundation, Pro Chancellor of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and INCEIF University, Adjunct Professor of University Poly Tech Malaysia (UPTM), and as the Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, United Kingdom.

Sarena Cheah Yean Tih, S.M.S.
Datin Paduka Sarena Cheah

Executive Deputy Chairman, Non-Independent Executive Director

Ms Sarena Cheah graduated from University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting and Finance) Degree in 1994 and obtained her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Melbourne Business School in 2001.

Ms Cheah has been with Sunway Group since 1995, starting her career in the Corporate Finance and Group Internal Audit divisions. In 2000, she left to pursue her Master’s Degree in 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. 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, Ms Cheah was redesignated to lead Sunway’s property arm, taking on full responsibility as Managing Director of Property Development Division, Malaysia/Singapore.

Ms Sarena Cheah 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 the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Manager.

Her directorships in other public companies include SunREIT Capital Berhad, SunREIT Unrated Bond Berhad, SunREIT Perpetual Bond Berhad, Institute of Corporate Directors’ Malaysia, and Yayasan Raja Muda Selangor.

Datuk Anuar Taib
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.

Datuk Zaiton Mohd Hassan
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 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 PriceWaterhouse Coopers. 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 Pilgrims 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 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) on another dimension.

She is currently 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.

Back to Board of Directors