KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): S P Setia Bhd announces the appointment of Datuk Zaini Yusoff as its new chief operating officer (COO), effective July 1, 2023.

He is currently the executive vice-president, a position he has held since July 1, 2020. Zaini will report to chief executive officer Datuk Choong Kai Wai, and be responsible for strengthening the company's operating model to support growth through transformation.

Choong said in a statement: "Promoting Datuk Zaini is part of our internal succession planning. We truly have the best-in-class team, and with him taking on the COO role, I'm confident we will continue to progress strongly in 2023, with a robust operating model that will empower our team to deliver an unmatched calibre of properties and services to our customers.”

Prior to joining S P Setia, Zaini was the COO of I & P Group Sdn Bhd. He started his career at Penang City Council, Asia Control System Impac and Shimizu Corp before joining I & P Group in 1991, and subsequently rose through the ranks within the organisation.

Zaini has 37 years of experience in providing strategic and operational leadership. He joined S P Setia as divisional general manager in 2017, following the acquisition of I & P Group by S P Setia.

Zaini is a civil engineer who earned his BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering from Memphis State University, Tennessee, the US. He is currently the exco member of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) Malaysia and chairman of Redha Selangor (2022 to 2024). He also sits on Lembaga Zakat Selangor Head Office Development Monitoring Committee (MAIS) for the construction of the new Lembaga Zakat Selangor headquarters. He is also a board member of Lembaga Perumahan dan Hartanah Selangor (2023/2024).

S P Setia is well established in Malaysia's three key economic centres, namely Klang Valley, Johor Bahru and Penang, and has a project in Sabah. Its international reach now includes six countries: Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, China, the UK, and Japan.

As of March 31, 2023, the group has 45 ongoing projects, with effective remaining land banks of 7,459 acres valued at a gross development value of RM128.02 billion and total unbilled sales of RM7.17 billion.