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Speakers/panellists
DR. MAHANI ZAINAL ABIDIN
Dr. Mahani was appointed Director-General, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia in May 2007.
Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin was Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya. She obtained a Ph.D (development economics) from the University of London in 1992. Her research interests are in the areas of industrial policy, international trade and regional groupings and economic structural transformation. In January 1998, Dr. Mahani was appointed a member of the Working Group for the National Economic Action Council, a body established by the Malaysian Government to formulate measures to initiate recovery from the economic and financial crisis. Dr. Mahani is the Deputy President of the Malaysian Economic Association. She is also Member of International Steering Committee Pacific Trade & Development (PAFTAD) (18 December 2007 - present) and Associate Research Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. She was a Board Member of the Malaysia Employees Provident Fund (1998-2000). In April 2001, Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Head, Special Consultancy Team on Globalisation of the National Economic Action Council.
Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Economic Adviser to the Bank Industri & Teknologi Malaysia Berhad from 2003 - 2005. She also served as Deputy Chairman of the National Accreditation Board from May 2003 until October 2007.
In 2005, Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Deputy Director-General, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia.
She was invited as a Distinguished Vising Scholar to the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia in February 2008.
MR. MALKIT SINGH MAAN
Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad ("Bank Islam") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Malkit Singh Maan as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") with effect from 1 January 2008.
Mr. Malkit Singh Maan holds a Bachelor of Business (Accounting) degree from Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia. He is also a full member of Australian Society of Chartered Practising Accountant ("CPA") and a Chartered Accountant of Malaysian Institute of Accountants ("MIA") with approximately 16 years' working experience in finance within a banking environment.
Prior to joining Bank Islam, Mr. Malkit Singh Maan served ABN-Amro Bank (Malaysia) Berhad as CFO. His vast experience in Islamic banking gained him the responsibility for the setting up of the ABN-Amro Bank's Islamic banking window. He was also involved in the setting up of RHB Islamic Bank during his tenure as the Vice President of Finance at RHB Bank Berhad. Prior to RHB, he had also served Pacific Bank Berhad as Assistant Vice President of Finance & Accounts.
Mr. Malkit Singh Maan will share with Bank Islam his hands-on experience and vast knowledge in Accounting Standards, Central Bank guidelines and Bursa Malaysia Listing requirements on reporting and tax compliance. He also brings with him years of experience in Strategic Planning, Forecasting and Projection skills, Capital Expenditure Appraisal and Budget coordination and control; reconfiguration of delivery channels and monitoring of performance, variance and trend analysis to enhance profitability and cost savings initiatives.
Let us provide our fullest support and cooperation to Mr. Malkit Singh Maan in carrying out his roles and responsibilities as the Chief Financial Officer.
Kamarul Bahrin
Kamarul Bahrin is the face of Astro Awani prime time talk show called Sudut Pandang. He goes on air every Monday to Friday evening with subject matter experts to discuss in-depth local and international issues.
Kamarul also anchors Astro Awani weekly round table on hot topic of the week show called Analisis Awani together with Suhaimi Sulaiman and Nazri Kahar. Analisis Awani was evolved from the very successful Analisis Pilihanraya 2008 which exploded Astro Awani on to the local broadcasting scene.
As a Senior Editor in Astro Awani, he plans and supervises the editorial supremacy of three daily live talk shows and two weekly ones.
Kamarul believes in K-economy empowerment and harnessing the power of Web 2.0 in ensuring all the talk shows are well researched and the best available subject matter experts interviewed.
Whenever that is not enough, he falls back on old school journalism based on his 15 years experience in the Malaysian newspaper and TV industry. As a journalist, Kamarul has covered both the news and current affairs assignments in politics, international relations, science & technology, globalization trends, international events like the Nobel Laureate Awards and youth and lifestyle issues.
He has produced and anchored the country's top current affairs TV shows like Majalah 3, Malaysia Hari Ini, The Brand, Remaja and Mystical Malaysia documentary series in TV3 before joining Astro.
As a strong believer of media convergence, Kamarul has also had the invaluable experience of pioneering new media efforts like being among the first to dabble with internet TV in Malaysia with the Cyberjaya TV and Pilihanraya.cc initiatives.
Program background
Sudut Pandang is Astro Awani's flagship prime time talk show discussing international issues and topics from a local perspective. It is mainly targeted at the thinking audience groups such as the young working adults and PMEBs (professionals, managers, executives and businessmen).
The core viewers will be the urban dwellers and opinion leaders from the non urban areas. Astro currently has a subscriber base of over 2 million people and Astro Awani since it's maiden transmission last September has been growing fast into the news & information channel of choice with intellectual discourse shows like Sudut Pandang, Perspektif Kita and Analisis Pilihan Raya 2008 paving the way.
Anne Edwards
Anne Edwards is not new to the media world. She began her career in journalism by writing for The Star in all areas of interest particularly politics, security and crime.
Broadcasting seeped in a few years later when Anne saw it as a means to express herself better and present a story with more impact and zest.
There was no turning back from then onwards.
Having gained recognition as a front liner in news gathering, presentation and live crossovers in TV3, RTM and NTV7, Anne has secured a vast circle of contacts and networking among politicians, the business fraternity and experts in their respective fields.
She has gone through 4 general elections, covered international conferences including the Asean Ministerial Meeting, World Economic Forum, Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), Non-Alligned Movement (NAM), G-8 and International Conference on Terrorism, and still finds the biggest challenge in journalism is as trying to be as objective and balanced as possible, especially in a country where freedom of the press is somewhat curtailed.
In MRI (Astro Ria), Anne is looked upon as making a comeback after having left the media scene for almost 4 years to serve former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at his think-tank, the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya.
She is responsible for tracking down the powers-that-be to obtain their feedback on how best to resolve an issue.
Unlike others who do not necessarily have tertiary education in journalism, Anne has from the very beginning set her heart and mind on this profession.
Her deep interest and passion towards journalism has earned her a Masters of Arts (MA) in Journalism from Iowa State University, U.S.
Her first degree, Bachelor of Arts, and subsequently, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Journalism was obtained from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi.
She has won the Environmental Journalism Award and the Entrepreneurial Award for her special reports in these areas.
Currently, she anchors, hosts and produces the daily stock news segments plus a talkshow called "Biztalk" on Bernama TV.
Mr Tay Kay Luan
Tay Kay Luan is the ACCA Director for ASEAN and Australasia. He is overall responsible for the effective execution and delivery of ACCA global strategy and performance for the Asia Pacific markets.
He has more than 25 years of advisory, consulting and implementation experiences, in change management, business realignment and integration across a broad range of service industries.
He is one of the founding members of the Institute of Corporate Responsibility, Malaysia, and a joint chairperson for the business roles in the Business Council for Sustainable Development Malaysia. He is also a regular speaker and writer on sustainability and corporate responsibility issues and challenges. He was recently appointed to the Board of Studies for Sustainable Development and a member of the advisory panel for MBA programme at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Tay Kay Luan was previously with Price Waterhouse, Andersen Consulting and the Hay Group.
Stephen Oong
Stephen Oong is a technical partner of Ernst & Young Malaysia. Stephen is also the Malaysian member of Ernst & Young Far East's International Financial Reporting Standard Desk. Stephen has extensive experience in auditing and corporate advisory work in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Stephen also conducts regular seminars for clients and external parties on financial accounting and reporting standards matters. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Accounting degree from the University of Malaya and is a member of MIA, MICPA, ACCA and CPA Australia. Stephen is very actively involved in financial reporting and accounting standards activities in Malaysia and is:
- Council member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA)
- Chairman of MIA's Financial Statement Review Committee
- Member of MIA's Financial Reporting Standards Implementation Committee
- Member of MIA's Public Practice Committee
- Former member of MIA's Investigation Committee
- Member of several of the Working Group of MASB's accounting standards issued by the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB)
- Member of MASB's Interpretation Committee
- Member of the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountant's (MICPA) Accounting and Accounting Technical Committee.
- Member of National Annual Corporate Reporting Award Adjudication Committee.
Dr Susela Devi
Dr.Susela started her career with Hanafiah Raslan & Mohamad in 1981 in audit with a Bachelor of Accounting from University of Malaya. She qualified as a member of MICPA in 1984. In 1987, she joined University of Malaya as a lecturer. However, she continued as a technical consultant to HRM until 1990.
She obtained her PhD in the area of "Accounting Standard Setting in Malaysia" in 1996 From University of Waikato, New Zealand and continued to serve University of Malaya. She served as Technical Advisor to MIA delegation to the IASC in 1998. She was seconded from University of Malaya to be Executive Director of Malaysian Accounting Standards Board in May 2009.
Dr Susela has been actively involved in the profession in various capacities. She has been examiner of MICPA Financial Accounting and Reporting Paper (1990-1992; 1996-2002; 2008 to present), facilitator of MICPA Module D Workshops (2004-2007); Council member of MIA (2001-2002; 2006-2008); Chairman of MIA Education Committee (2006-2008); Member of the National Accreditation Board Panel of Assessors (1999-2002); Member of the Malaysian Qualification Agency Panel of Assessors (since 2008). She was a member of the Task-Force set up by the Ministry of Higher Education that drafted the Hala Tuju 1 and Hala Tuju 2 that set the benchmark curriculum for Accounting Degree programs offered by Public Institutions of Higher Learning. She has served as project manager for many projects in MASB including the Conceptual Framework .
At the international front she has been actively involved in presenting over 70 conference and seminar papers in over 20 countries. Since late 2001 she has been actively involved in the issue of financial reporting for SMEs at the UNCTAD level, participating in the UNCTAD's ISAR Working Group of Experts. She has been particularly focused on issues of convergence since 2002. In 2002 she was consultant to ADB-CAPA project on "Train the Trainers" on IASs and facilitated training workshops in Bangladesh and Viet Nam for participants comprising academia, regulators, preparers and practitioners from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan and Viet Nam. She completed two research projects for the Confederation of Asia Pacific Accountants (CAPA) on "Differential Reporting" and "Competency Education" in 2003 and 2004 respectively. In 2003 she facilitated a session on "convergence and issues for developing countries" to regulators and members of INTOSAI at a workshop organized by ADBI in Manila. She served as Advisor to the CAPA SME Task Force and represented CAPA at the IASB roundtable discussion on SME in October 2005 in London.
Irene M Dorner
Deputy Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad
Age 55. Ms Dorner graduated from St. Anne's College Oxford with MA in Jurisprudence in 1976. A Barrister by profession, Dorner first joined the banking industry as an in-house lawyer.
In 1982, she was the in-house lawyer of Samuel Montagu & Co Limited, the merchant banking arm of Midland Bank, which was later acquired by the HSBC Group. She was appointed the Chief Operating Officer of Treasury and Capital Markets of HSBC Midland in 1995, then went on to head Treasury and Capital Markets Sales in 1998. In 1999, she was appointed General Manager, Marketing of HSBC Bank plc, and was subsequently appointed as General Manager, Human Resources in 2001. She then had responsibility for HSBC Bank plc's branch network in the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland comprising some 380 branches and 3,900 staff in 2003 to 2006, prior to holding the post of General Manager, Premier and Wealth Management of HSBC Bank plc until May 2007.
Ms. Dorner was appointed Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad on 1 June 2007.
Memberships:
Chairman of HSBC Amanah Malaysia Berhad
Chairman of HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
President of Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI)
Council Member of The Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM)
Institutional Member of Institute of Bankers Malaysia (IBBM)
Trustee of Aged European Fund (AEF)
Zaiton Mohd. Hassan
Puan Zaiton is a Fellow member of ACCA and a member of MICPA. She served as an auditor with Pricewaterhouse and thereafter joined Bank Pembangunan (M) Bhd. She then served Maybank for 12 years in various senior positions including Treasury and International, Branch Operations and Group Strategic Planning.
She was responsible for setting up Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC) in 1996 and was its President until September 2004 when she left to set up her own financial advisory firm, Capital Intelligence Advisors Sdn Bhd.
She is a Commission Member of the Companies Commission of Malaysia, and a Board member of Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia Berhad and Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad. She is also a director of public listed Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad (MIDF), Mesiniaga Berhad, Amanah Millenia Fund Berhad and BIMB Holdings Berhad.
Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad
Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad is the President of ACCA Malaysia Advisory Committee (MAC). He was appointed to the post in March 2009 after having served in the committee since 2003, providing advisory input particularly on the areas relating to small and medium enterprises and accounting standards.
Datuk Mohd Nasir is currently attached with Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad (PUNB) as its Chief Executive Officer. PUNB is a government owned company entrusted to develop Bumiputera entrepreneurs in SMEs and retail businesses. This objective is consistent with the government's New Development Policy of creating a Bumiputera Industrial and Commercial Community.
A Fellow of ACCA, Datuk Mohd Nasir started his career in 1979 with Lembaga Letrik Negara (now known as Tenaga Nasional Berhad). He was later seconded to Malaysia Transformer Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (MTM), a subsidiary of LLN, in 1993 as its Financial Controller/Company Secretary. In 1994, Datuk Mohd Nasir was appointed as Chief Executive of MTM before assuming the position of Managing Director in 1997. Prior to joining PUNB as its Chief Executive Officer, he held similar position at Sharikat Permodalan Kebangsaan Berhad.
Datuk Mohd Nasir is also the Chairman of ADFIM (Association of Development Finance Institution of Malaysia) and he serves as advisory panel to universities, banks and corporations.
He also holds a masters degree in business administration.