Dagang NeXchange Berhad (“DNeX”) has announced the appointment of Dato’ Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir as its Group Managing Director effective 1 October 2020. He was previously appointed as Independent Non-Executive Director of the Group on 1 July 2020.

Chairman Tan Sri Abd Rahman Mamat said the appointment is part of efforts to drive the Group’s business in response to changing economic conditions with fresh new ideas.

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dato’ Sri Syed Zainal as Group Managing Director of the Group as we build a performance-based culture that leads to value creation for shareholders. It is imperative that we attract high calibre candidates with deep industry experience to the Group’s Board and management team,” he said.

“We believe Datuk Seri Syed Zainal has what it takes to lead the Group to greater heights. He brings large corporate and public company experience with proven track record of success in various industries, and this is vital to ensure DNeX’s business growth moving forward,” he added.

Dato’ Sri Syed Zainal was a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of Petronas Dagangan Bhd, a position he retired from on 10 June 2020. He began his career as a Project Engineer with Petronas Gas Sdn Bhd in 1987, before joining Petroliam Nasional Berhad in 1992 as Senior Executive of the company’s Corporate Planning & International Business Development unit.

He then left to join HICOM Holdings Berhad in 1995, where he assumed various senior positions in the company. He lent his expertise to PERODUA when he was appointed Senior General Manager in 1999. Subsequently, he was appointed Executive Director of PERODUA Auto Corporation Sdn Bhd in 2002, and later promoted to Deputy Managing Director of PERODUA in October 2005.

Thereafter, he also held various key positions in established corporations including Proton Holdings Berhad as Group Managing Director, RHB Bank Berhad and RHB Islamic Bank Berhad as Independent Non-Executive Director and Petronas Dagangan Bhd as Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Universiti Teknologi MARA.

He also serves as Chairman of Dagang Net. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from University of Maryland, United States of America.

DNeX also announced the redesignation of Encik Mohd Azhar Mohd Yusof as the Group’s Executive Director, Group Corporate Services effective 1 October 2020. He has close to 20 years of experience in the field of capital markets and corporate finance where he was involved in fundraising exercise via equity and debt capital market, debt recovery, corporate restructuring and turn-around, valuation, financial modelling, financial due diligence and merger and acquisitions (“M&A”).

He also sits on the Board of Dagang Net. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Universiti Malaya and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (Finance) from MARA University of Technology.