KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 15): Malaysian-born businessman Tan Hock Eng has been elected to the board of directors of Meta Platforms Inc, the holding company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
In a statement, Meta said it has also elected former Enron executive and co-founder of Arnold Ventures LLC John Arnold into the board alongside Tan.
"I'm excited to share that [Tan] and John Arnold are joining Meta's board of directors. As we focus on building AGI (artificial general intelligence), having directors with deep expertise in silicon and energy infrastructure will help us execute our long-term vision," said Meta founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta ranks among the largest American IT companies, alongside other "Big Five" corporations including Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.
Tan, who is the president, chief executive officer and a director of US-based semiconductor manufacturing company Broadcom Inc since March 2006, said he is looking forward to working with Zuckerberg, the broader team, and the other board members on Meta's technology and business journey.
"I am pleased to join the Meta board and contribute to achieving the company's vision.
"Meta has an incredible role to play in the next-generation of computing as it evolves its platform and apps offerings for the future," he said.
Tan was born and raised in Penang, and later graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A year later, he earned a master's degree in the same subject from MIT.
He later went on to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard University and returned to Malaysia, where he ran Hume Industries between 1983 and 1988 before moving to Singapore as managing director of Pacven Investment, a venture capital firm.
In 1992, he relocated back to the US as vice-president of finance for PC maker Commodore International, then worked as a senior finance executive at PepsiCo and as a senior executive at General Motors.
Following that, Tan was the president and chief executive officer of Integrated Circuit Systems from June 1999 to September 2005, before serving as chairman of the board of Integrated Device Technology from September 2005 to January 2008.
He also acquired US citizenship.
In 2017, Tan was named as the highest-earning CEO in the US, earning US$103.2 million (RM493.35 million) that year.