KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Sapura Resources Bhd, a property and aviation group, announced several boardroom changes via bourse filings on Friday, including the appointment of Reza Abdul Rahim as its new chief executive officer, with immediate effect.

Just three months earlier on Oct 10, 2024, Reza was redesignated as an executive director and made the group's acting managing director. He was previously the group's non-independent, non-executive director. 

Sapura Resources also named two additions to its board: non-independent, non-executive director Nik Aisyah Amirah Mansor, 36, and independent, non-executive director Aiza Azreen Ahmad, 50.

Nik Aisyah brings extensive experience in strategy, audit, financial planning and management across multinational companies, public-listed entities and private companies in Malaysia, according to Sapura Resources. She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Asia School of Business in collaboration with MIT Sloan Management, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Adelaide.

Aiza Azreen, on the other hand, brings expertise in digital transformation, capacity building and ecosystem development across various sectors such as healthcare, fintech, education and media. Her notable contributions include expanding lifestyle medicine to Gulf Cooperation Council countries, pivoting MySejahtera from a Covid-19 contact-tracing tool to a digital health platform, leading national digitalisation initiatives with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, and pioneering the cashless ecosystem through Boost eWallet by Axiata eCode.

Sapura Resources has been in the spotlight since October 2024, when its former MD, Datuk Shahriman Shamsuddin, was placed on garden leave for nearly two months as the company initiated an investigation against him. He subsequently resigned.

There were previously two stories circulating about Shahriman's leave of absence. One was that it was due to the hiring of an unqualified individual at Sapura Resources. The other was due to potential conflict of interest arising from Shahriman's interest in aviation company Explorer Group Sdn Bhd, in which he has been a director since 2019. Explorer Group is considered a competitor to Sapura Resources' wholly-owned aviation businesses — Sapura Aero Sdn Bhd and DNest Aviation Sdn Bhd.

In November, The Edge Malaysia reported, citing sources, that Sapura Resources' board of directors was considering legal action against Shahriman and two consultants who had been advising the company over the past year.

Shares in Sapura Resources closed unchanged at 22.5 sen on Friday, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM58.33 million.