KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 28): Khazanah Nasional Bhd today announced several new appointments and changes to its senior leadership team, which will have 21 members led by managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar

In a statement, the state-owned strategic investment fund said the 10 roles that were reshuffled will supplement its ongoing institutionalisation efforts, which are a key focus for the organisation.

The reshuffling is also in preparation for the departure on July 31 of  Khazanah’s executive director for investments Datuk Dominic Silva who has served the group for nine years.

Dominic will continue to represent Khazanah as a nominee non-executive director on the board of Avicennia Capital Sdn Bhd, the investment fund's wholly-owned insurance holding company.

As a transition from Dominic’s departure and to facilitate longer-term succession planning, Khazanah said its executive director (investments) Datuk Noorazman Abdul Aziz and Khazanah Nasional Consulting (Beijing) Co Ltd executive director Datuk Ben Chan will jointly lead the investments division, for an interim period until the end of this year.

Noorazman will be appointed as executive director, co-head of investments (divisional management), while Chan is appointed as executive director, co-head of investments (transactions).

Another executive director in the investment division, Ahmad Farouk Mohammed, will also be leaving on April after 11 years of service.

Ahmad Farouk will continue to represent Khazanah as a nominee non-executive director on the board of Cenviro Sdn Bhd, another wholly-owned unit under the state-owned fund.

Meanwhile, he will also assume the role of chief strategy officer at Avicennia Capital.

Khazanah  has promoted two of its directors in the investment division, Nik Rizal Kamil and Serena Tan Mei Shwen, to executive directors with effect from April 1.

Nik Rizal joined Khazanah in April 2011 as senior vice president, investments. He started his professional career as an accountant and auditor with Coopers & Lybrand United Kingdom before joining Arthur Andersen & Co.

Tan, on the other hand, joined Khazanah as vice president, investments in 2005.

Prior to Khazanah, she was with Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co. She had also served with Lippo Bank in Indonesia, under secondment from Khazanah for two years.

Khazanah has also appointed its executive director, finance and chief financial officer (CFO) Datuk  Mohd Izani Ghani, to the investment division as another executive director, with effect from June 1.

His responsibilities in the division will include overseeing the operations of Khazanah Turkey Regional Office.

In the meantime, Khazanah’s director of finance, Faridah Bakar Ali, will be appointed as CFO from June 1.

Faridah joined Khazanah as assistant vice president, finance in May 2006.

Prior to joining Khazanah, she was with PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia and BP Malaysia Bhd.

Elsewhere, Khazanah’s managing director’s office director and chief risk officer Ati Othman left the group on Jan 31, after eight years of service.

Ati was succeeded by Suhana Dewi Selamat, who joined Khazanah as senior vice president, investments in November 2012.

Prior to joining Khazanah, Suhana was the director/country head of compliance with Credit Suisse in Malaysia. She has more than 20 years of experience in legal, regulatory and compliance roles.

Incumbent HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd managing director and head of global banking Roni Lihawa Abdul Wahab will rejoin Khazanah as executive director on May 1 this year.

Roni Lihawa’s previous stint at Khazanah was as director, investments from 2005 to 2010. He started his career in investment banking with Capstar Partners Inc and JP Morgan Securities Inc in New York.

He has also worked at UEM Group and at Credit Suisse, where he was director, head of Malaysia Coverage.