Corporate Governance

Datuk Nageeb Wahad is currently the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), based in Jakarta.

He served 42 years in the commodity sector in various capacities and exposed in the whole value chain of the different crop mix including oil palm, rubber, cocoa and processing facilities.

Throughout his long career span, he held various positions, among others as the Chief Executive of Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), Senior Vice President of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad, Chairman of the Mechanisation & Automation Research Consortium for Oil Palm (MARCOP) and Chairman of the Federal Land Consolidated & Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA).

Datuk Nageeb also contributed significantly towards the palm oil industry over the years in his capacity as the Deputy President of the Malaysian Agriculture Producers Association (MAPA), member of the National Labour Advisory Council, Board Member of Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), member of the Felda Recovery Task Force and as a member to a committee of the International Tripartite Rubber Council to name a few.

Mohamad Helmy Othman Basha, 55, a Malaysian, was appointed as Group Managing Director in July 2019 to lead the Group in its overall operations. He is also the President of the Malayan Agricultural Producers Association since 2017.

He has held various key positions in the Group since the merger in 2007 including Head of Plantation Upstream Malaysia; Head, Plantation Services and Special Project; Chief Operating Officer, Upstream; and Deputy to Managing Director & Chief Operating Officer, Upstream.

Prior to joining the Group, he was a Trainee Accountant/Auditor with Wellers, Accountants, Oxford, United Kingdom where he started his career in 1988. Between 1991 and 1997, he served in Shell Group of Companies in various positions, including as Area Accountant for Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd (Southern Region) and as Indirect Tax Advisor for Shell Malaysia Ltd.

He joined Guthrie Property Holding Sdn Bhd in 1997 as Finance and Administration Manager and worked with the Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad group of companies until 2007. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of Highlands & Lowlands Berhad and Guthrie Ropel Berhad, two listed companies within the Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad group from 2006 to 2007. In 2001, he was a key member of the team that acquired and later restructured Minamas Plantation, Indonesia.

In 2013, he left the Group to set up Xcellence Alliance Sdn Bhd and Chemara Palmea Holdings Bhd, vehicles for investment in plantation as well as providing investment advisory services. He joined the Group in 2016.

He undertook his Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) studies atTrent Polytechnic (Nottingham Trent University), Nottingham, United Kingdom and later obtained his ACCA qualification from Emile Woolf College of Accountancy, London in 1990. In 1996, he was admitted as a member of the ACCA. He became a Fellow of the ACCA in 2001. He is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and a member of Incorporated Society of Planters since 2006.

Dato' Sri Sharifah Sofianny Syed Hussain is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad.

Dato' Sri Sharifah Sofianny Syed Hussain has vast experience holding various leadership roles in stock broking and global banking. Dato' Sri Sharifah started her career with Shell Malaysia for 11 distinguished years. She then continued her career in stockbroking at K&N Kenanga Berhad. Dato' Sri Sharifah joined Maybank Investment Bank Berhad as Deputy Managing Director, Equities and subsequently become the Managing Director, Client Coverage at Maybank in early 2014.

Dato' Sri Sharifah previously sat on the Board of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS). She is currently on the Board of Maybank Investment Bank Berhad, Maybank IBGHoldings Limited and Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP). She is also the Chairman of KWEST Sdn Bhd, the property arm of KWAP.

Ernest Gangloff was appointed to the NBPOL Board in 2014 and is currently the chairman of the board audit committee.  Mr Gangloff is an accountant, registered with the Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) of Papua New Guinea. He is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors. Mr Gangloff has extensive experience in areas of risk management, internal audit, and corporate governance. He has over 35 years of professional experience with over 20 years in senior management positions. Mr Gangloff retired as a Partner with Deloitte in 2013 and established Gangloff Consulting in the same year.

In addition to his NBPOL directorship, Mr Gangloff is a Director of Heduru Moni Limited, Emstret Holdings Limited, Business Incubation Solution Limited and several family businesses.  Mr Gangloff is also President of the Institute of National Affairs, an Adjunct Professor of Accounting at the Papua New GuineaUniversity of Technology.

Mr Gangloff holds a Bachelor of Technology (Accountancy) from the University of Technology and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a founding member of the Papua New Guinea Institute of Directors.

David Toua is the Principal Private Sector Advisor to the Australia PNG Economic Partnership (APEP). He previously held the role of General Manager for Corporate Affairs at Steamships Trading Company.

A former President of the Business Council of Papua New Guinea, David currently serves on the Board in an ex officio capacity. He also serves as Chairman of the Bank of Papua New Guinea and sits on the Boards of The Employers Federation of PNG, New Britain Palm Oil Limited, The PNG Incentive Fund and the Motu Koita Assembly Advisory Board.

David represented Papua New Guinea on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and was the ABAC Chairman in2018.  

David graduated from the University of Queensland and has completed an Advanced Management Programme at Macquarie University. He is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. David is married to Laka, and they have three adult children and five grand children. He enjoys travelling and golf and is an avid follower of rugby.

Mohd Azlan Shah Mohd Zain, 58, is the Chief Executive Officer of New Britain Palm Oil Limited. Azlan is a career planter having started his career in 1987 as an Assistant Manager in a rubber plantation managed by Harrison Malaysian Plantation Bhd before joining Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd in 1989.

He was promoted to Manager in 1997 and was posted to Jerai Estate. Two years later he was appointed as Estate & Mill Liaison Chairman for the Northern Region of Malaysia, which was later awarded Best Region for the highest Oil Extraction Rate (OER) achievement. In 2002, he was promoted to Senior Manager, before being selected by Guthrie management to carry out plantation audit and feasibility studies for Tabung Haji Plantation Group in Riau, Sumatera.

In 2004, he was promoted to General Manager for Aceh and Riau Selatan under Minamas in Indonesia, leading the Black Belt Team in transforming the Region, which was awarded Best Transformed Region. After returning to Malaysia, he undertook plantation controller duties in Extension Services before moving to lead the mechanisation and precision agriculture approaches after the Sime Darby merger in 2007.  He was then assigned as General Manager - Special Estates in 2009 to improve low yielding estates under a yield enhancement programme and was transferred to Perak South Zone in 2010. With the structural change in upstream operations in 2014, Azlan was appointed as Regional CEO in the Central East region taking charge of Selangor and Pahang estates based in Carey Island, Malaysia.  In December 2018, he was assigned as NBPOLWest New Britain’s General Manager and in January 2021 he was promoted to be NBPOL’s CEO.