Chairman

As a native Kelabit from the Bario highlands of Sarawak, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala made a conscious decision in his early years to excel in his academic pursuit to enable himself the means to forge a highly successful professional career. Today, he lends his extensive experience to global public and private sector in their transformational journey.

Formerly a Minister under the Prime Minister’s Department from 2009 to 2014, he spearheaded the participation of both the private and public sectors in co-creating a cohesive environment for Malaysia towards high-income status by the year 2020.

With a notable track record in moving markets and shaping policies, Bloomberg acknowledged him as one of the top 50 most influential policy makers in the world in 2014. This also saw PEMANDU named as one of the top 20 most innovative Government agencies in the world by NESTA in the UK. Under his leadership, PEMANDU was also named by NESTA, UK and Bloomberg Philanthropies as one of the Top 20 Most Innovative Government Agencies in the world. Today, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala works with governments all over the world.

Dato’ Sri Idris Jala is no stranger to the global corporate world having worked at Shell for 23-years, where he engineered business turnarounds for the Sri Lankan and Malaysian units as appointed CEO. He continued to demonstrate transformational leadership in his role as appointed CEO of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) by the Government, where he enabled the company to achieve a record profit of US$250,000 million 2 years after its worst losses at that time. He was awarded the CAPA Airline Turnaround of the Year in 2006 for his success.

As a man with a chequered career journey, Dato’ Sri Idris Jala is a popular public speaker. He founded the Global Transformation Forum (GTF) – the world’s singular platform for iconic global leaders to engage and share experiences on best practices of driving transformation. In addition, he continues to empower leaders as an Expert Resource Speaker at the Harvard Health Leaders’ Ministerial Forum and a Visiting Fellow of Practice at the Oxford Blavatnik School of Government. He also served on the Advisory panel for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on New Economic Growth and on the Advisory Panel of World Bank.

Managing Director

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Nishan MPR Veera Kumar is not a stranger to the ‘Delivery Brand’. Rolling sleeves and walking through the trenches, whilst having an entrepreneurial approach are his key strengths in ensuring success.

Prior to taking this role, Nishan was the first Chief Operating Officer of PEMANDU Associates and has been key in helping to establish the firm, breaking new grounds and exploring uncharted territories.

Formerly, as Head of the Program Management Team for the Performance Management and Delivery Unit under the Prime Minister’s Department, he spearheaded the participation of both the private and public sectors in co-creating a cohesive environment for Malaysia towards high-income status by the year 2020.

With a track record in shaping policies and programmes, Nishan has delivered programmes in various countries across continents i.e.. Asia, Europe, Caribbeans and Oceania (~24 countries).

To date, Nishan’s focus with Perintis Akal is on Trading, primarily focusing on oil and gas/energy and personal protective equipment. Nishan is also involved in the environment, sustainability and governance (ESG) space.

He also leads the group’s portfolio for internal and external investment, and operational take over to turn around organizations.