Leadership

Datuk Kamarudin bin Meranun, male, Malaysian, 60, is a co-founder of AirAsia. He was appointed as a Non-Independent Executive Chairman of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 30 March 2018.

He is also a Non-Independent Executive Chairman of AirAsia Berhad (AAB), taking the lead in engaging with the government, aviation regulators and airport authorities of Malaysia. Before being designated as Executive Chairman, he was AAB's Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.

In December 2001, Datuk Kamarudin, together with Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, Dato' Pahamin Ab Rajab and Dato' Abdel Aziz @ Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar, acquired struggling domestic airline AirAsia and, with the help of Conor McCarthy, relaunched it as a pioneer of budget travel in Asia, building AirAsia into the world's best low-cost carrier. In 2020, amidst the global Covid-19 pandemic, AirAsia pivoted from just an airline to a unified digital and e-commerce platform with its airasia Superapp, powered by technology and data.

Prior to setting up AirAsia, Datuk Kamarudin worked at Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bank from 1988 to 1993 as a Portfolio Manager, managing both institutional and high net-worth individual clients' investment funds. In 1994, he was appointed Executive Director of Innosabah Capital Management Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Innosabah Securities Sdn. Bhd. He subsequently acquired the shares of the joint venture partner of Innosabah Capital Management Sdn. Bhd., which was later renamed Intrinsic Capital Management Sdn. Bhd.

He holds a Diploma in Actuarial Science from University Technology MARA (UiTM) and graduated with a BSc with Distinction (Magna Cum Laude) majoring in Finance in 1986 and achieved an MBA in 1987 from Central Michigan University.

He received the Darjah Panglima Jasa Negara (PJN), which carries the title Datuk, from the Malaysian King in November 2013.

Datuk Kamarudin is also a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of AirAsia X Berhad, a Director of Red Giants Football Club and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Mahathir Science Award Foundation.

Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, male, 58, is a co-founder of AirAsia. He was appointed as a Non-Independent Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 30 March 2018.

Tan Sri Tony is one of Asia's most recognisable entrepreneurs, best known for co-founding low-cost carrier AirAsia and democratising air travel in the region.

In December 2001, Tan Sri Tony, together with Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Dato' Pahamin Ab Rajab and Dato' Abdel Aziz @ Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar, acquired struggling domestic airline, AirAsia, and with the help of Conor McCarthy, relaunched it as a pioneer of budget travel in Asia, building AirAsia into the world's best low-cost carrier.

He studied in the UK and qualified as an Associate Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1991, then as a Fellow Member in 1996. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). An accountant by training, he began his career in Virgin Group before returning to Malaysia as Warner Music Group's Vice President for Southeast Asia before venturing into the airline business.

Tan Sri Tony has received numerous honours and awards over the course of his career. These include the Honour of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire, conferred by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2011, and the Commander of the Legion d'Honneur, awarded by the French Government for outstanding contributions to the economy of France through the aviation industry. He also received the Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM) award conferred by Yang Di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, which carries the title Tan Sri.

Dato' Fam Lee Ee, male, Malaysian, 61, was appointed a Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 30 March 2018. He is a member of the Audit Committee, and Chairman of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Safety Review Board of Capital A.

He received his BA (Hons) from the University of Malaya in 1986 and LLB (Hons) from the University of Liverpool, UK in 1989. Upon obtaining his Certificate of Legal Practice in 1990, he has been practising law since 1991 and is currently a Senior Partner at Messrs Gan & Zul.

Dato' Fam used to sit on the Board of Trustees of Yayasan PEJATI from 1996 to 2007. Since 2001, he has served as a legal advisor to the Chinese Guilds and Association and charitable organisations such as Yayasan SSL Haemodialysis Centre in PJ. He is also an Honorary Adviser of the Perlis Chinese Chambers of Commerce.

Dato' Fam is also a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director of AirAsia X Berhad and a Director of the Malaysia-China Business Council.

Dato' Abdel Aziz @ Abdul Aziz bin Abu Bakar, male, Malaysian, 68, was appointed a Non-Executive Director of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 30 March 2018. He is the Chairman of the Risk Management and Sustainability Committee and a member of the Audit and Nomination and Remuneration Committees of the Board of Capital A.

In December 2001, Dato' Aziz together with Datuk Kamarudin Meranun, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Dato' Pahamin Ab Rajab acquired struggling domestic airline, AirAsia, and with the help of Conor McCarthy, relaunched it as a pioneer of budget travel in Asia, building AirAsia into the world's best low-cost carrier.

Dato' Aziz served as Chairman of Performance and Artistes Rights Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PRISM), a collection society for performers of recorded music, and the Academy of Malaysian Music Industry Association (PAIMM) for more than 10 years until end 2012 and January 2011, respectively.

From 1981 to 1983, he was the Executive Director of Showmasters (M) Sdn Bhd, an artiste management and concert promotion company. He subsequently joined BMG Music and was General Manager from 1989 to 1997, and Managing Director from 1997 to 1999. He received a Diploma in Agriculture from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in 1975, a BSc in Agriculture Business from Louisiana State University, USA in 1978, and an MBA from the University of Dallas, USA in 1980.

He is also currently a Director of Yayasan Astro Kasih and the Non-Executive Non-Independent Chairman of Pegasus Heights Berhad, a member of its Audit Committee and a member of its Nomination and Remuneration Committee.

Dato' Mohamed Khadar bin Merican, male, Malaysian, 65, was appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 30 March 2018. He is the Chairman of the Audit Committee, and a member of the Risk Management and Sustainability Committee and Safety Review Board of Capital A.

Dato' Mohamed Khadar is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and is also a Chartered Accountant of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Dato' Mohamed Khadar has more than 40 years' experience in financial and general management. He served as an auditor and a consultant in an international accounting firm, before joining a financial services group in 1986. Dato' Mohamed Khadar has held various senior management positions in the then Pernas International Holdings Berhad, a company listed on Bursa Malaysia, between 1988 and April 2003, including those of President and Chief Operating Officer. In 2013, Dato' Mohamed Khadar, in his capacity as the Chairman of RHB Capital, was named "Chairman of The Year" by the Minority Shareholders Watch Group at its Asean Corporate Governance Index Awards 2013.

Dato' Mohamed Khadar's other directorships in public companies are Iris Corporation Berhad and Rashid Hussain Berhad (In Members' Voluntary Liquidation) and he is the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of BNP Paribas Malaysia Berhad. He was also appointed the Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Tune Protect Group Berhad, a company listed on Bursa Malaysia, on 5 October 2021. In addition, he is a Director of Asia Aviation Public Company Limited, a company listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

Surina binti Shukri, female, Malaysian, 46, was appointed an Independent Non-Executive Director of Capital A Berhad (formerly known as AirAsia Group Berhad) on 31 January 2022. She is a member of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Capital A.

Puan Surina spent the bulk of her career in New York City, USA before returning to Malaysia in 2019 to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the lead government agency for digital economy development in Malaysia, where she played a central role in developing programmes to nurture Malaysia's digital ecosystem and advised the government on digital economy policy and economic recovery plans.

She began her career in financial services as an investment banker, strategist and leader and made JPMorgan Chase & Co. her home for 17 years. There she served as the Head of Strategy, Innovation and Business Management for Middle Market Banking, Head of Strategy for Commercial Banking, Chief Staff to the CEO of Commercial Banking and Executive Director of Natural Resources Investment Banking.

In 2018, she pivoted her career to start SheNovation Ventures, a transformation and growth venture studio where she advised fintech and blockchain startups on growth strategy and capital raising and consulted business leaders on culture change and transformation.

Puan Surina is a globally recognised and respected thought leader in digital transformation, innovation and diversity and is a fierce advocate of women empowerment. She was named among the World's 50 Most Influential People Revolutionising Governance in the inaugural Agile 50 list by Apolitical and World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Agile Governance.

She graduated from University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Management & Technology dual degree programme with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Puan Surina is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of CIMB Investment Bank Berhad and a Director of Accelerate Global, a social enterprise aimed at tackling youth unemployment issues worldwide.

Tharumalingam Kanagalingam, better known as Bo Lingam, male, 57, is Capital A Berhad's President (Airlines) and AirAsia Aviation Group Limited's Group Chief Executive Officer ("GCEO").

Bo joined AirAsia in 2001 as a Ground Operations Manager, responsible for the implementation of the low-cost concept in operations and procurement. Since then, he has held several key positions including Purchasing and Supplies Senior Manager, Regional Guest Services Director, and President & Group Chief Operating Officer, where he supervised AirAsia's operations in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, drove process improvement and set up new airlines in the region for the Group.

Prior to joining AirAsia, and upon completing his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, he worked extensively in the publication and music industry at various production houses, including as Production Controller at EMI Music Malaysia as well as Operations Manager and Promotions Manager at Warner Music Malaysia.

As Group CEO of AirAsia Aviation Group Limited, Bo leads AirAsia's Airline businesses, overseeing the four airlines in the Group (AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia Philippines, AirAsia Thailand and AirAsia Indonesia) as well as related shared services divisions including AirAsia Consulting, corporate services division AirAsia SEA, the Santan food group and the ground handling services joint venture business called GTR.

Colin Currie, male, 53, is the President (Commercial) of Capital A and the Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Digital Sdn Bhd. He is responsible for the development and implementation of the Group's five-year strategy which will drive and maximise revenue and profitability across Capital A's broad portfolio of airline and digital businesses.

He oversees the overall brand and sales performance across the airline and digital businesses and drives supporting functions of Tech, Data and Communications in order to accelerate and solidify Capital A's success as a leading digital tech and lifestyle company in Asean.

Colin was the former Managing Director of Adidas Asia- Pacific and Greater China, covering regions such as South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and Pacific. He was responsible for making Adidas one of the hottest consumer brands, as well as making Asia-Pacific and Greater China the largest and most profitable region in the group.

Prior to Adidas, Colin worked in the music and entertainment industry as Managing Director of Sony BMG Music Malaysia. Colin was also in key marketing positions with Citibank, Ansett Australia and Telstra Mobile in Hong Kong and Australia.

Colin received a Bachelor's degree in Hospitality Management from Leeds Metropolitan University and a post-graduate diploma in Marketing from Schiller International University.

As President and the Chief Executive Officer of RedBeat Capital, Aireen Omar, female, 48, is responsible for Capital A's ventures builder pillar (Ventures) strategy, promoting innovation throughout the Group and encouraging collaboration across AirAsia's businesses and markets.

She is also a Non-Executive Director of Tune Protect Group Berhad.

Aireen joined AirAsia in January 2006 as Director of Corporate Finance. Her portfolio expanded rapidly to include Insurance, Treasury, Fuel Procurement and Investor Relations functions. Taking on these roles, she was instrumental in shaping the development of AirAsia into one of the fastest growing and most highly-acclaimed airlines globally. In 2012, Aireen was appointed as AirAsia Berhad's Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer.

She began her career at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, where she served as an Associate from 1997-2000 in New York and London, her last position being at the Equity Arbitrage Proprietary Trading Desk focusing on international equities, equity derivatives and equity-linked products. After returning to Malaysia in 2001, she served in several major local financial institutions including the Maybank Group, the country's largest banking and financial services group.

Her accolades include Outstanding CEO Achievement Award by Malaysian Women of Excellence, Corporate Treasurer's 25 Most Influential Women in Treasury, Masterclass Woman CEO of the Year by Selangor Excellence Business Awards, Eminent Leaders in Asia at the Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Awards (ACES), and APAC CEO of the Year 2017 by Aviation 100 Awards. Under her leadership, AirAsia was awarded Digital Transformer of the Year in Malaysia at the IDC Digital Transformation Awards (DXa) 2019.

Aireen is an Economics graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science and holds a Master's in Economics from New York University.

Pattra Boosarawongse, female, 52, is responsible for Group Finance, Investor Relations, Internal Audit, Group Procurement, and Group Tax.

Pattra has over 8 years of extensive experience in managing multicultural teams in Capital A, she joined Capital A in March 2014 as the Chief Financial Officer of AirAsia Thailand and Asia Aviation PCL; and was appointed as Capital A Group's Chief Financial Officer on 1 September 2016. She successfully implemented Oracle ERP supports by shared service center to the whole Capital A and aggressively drives wide standardisation of financial policy, management reporting, eSourcing, boosting finance and procurement's role in managing data, data engineering and data visualisation by implementing dashboards to support all finance and procurement functions by use of technology, AI and RPA. Pattra supports Capital A CEO on investment strategies to generate the value for the entities under Capital A, she also leads tax strategy and planning.

In 2019, Pattra was named Asia's Best CFO at the 9th Asian Excellence Recognition Awards.

Pattra is a Certified Public Accountant, having started her career as a senior auditor at Ernst & Young. She then joined Sony Music as its Finance Director and rose to become its General Manager. Pattra graduated from Thammasat University in Thailand with a Master's in Finance and Accounting.

Rozman Omar, male, 59, serves as a Director of Asia Aviation Capital Limited (our captive aircraft leasing subsidiary in Labuan) and AirAsia SEA Limited (our International Business Centre (IBC) in Thailand) and is currently based in Bangkok. He also sits on the Boards of Asia Aviation PCL and Thai AirAsia Limited. In his present role, Rozman oversees the Group Treasury, Aircraft and Corporate Finance functions of Capital A and its companies.

He joined the Group on a full-time basis in 2004 as the Chief Financial Officer of PT Indonesia AirAsia having prior involvement with the Group such as the acquisition of AirAsia by Tune Air Sdn Bhd (2001), the listing of AirAsia Berhad (on the then KLSE, now Bursa Malaysia) in 2004 and the launch of our associate airlines, namely AirAsia Thailand and AirAsia Indonesia.

Prior to joining AirAsia, Rozman gained extensive experience in investment banking since 1984 having past stints with institutions such as Arab-Malaysian Merchant Bank Berhad (now AmInvestment Bank), Bumiputra Merchant Bankers Berhad and Innosabah Corporate Services Sdn Bhd.

Rozman is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Mahesh Kumar, male, 37, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of ADE in September 2020. In this role, he leads the transformation of AirAsia's Engineering department into a comprehensive Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) service provider driven by data and technology serving AirAsia and third party commercial airlines in the region.

Prior to this appointment, Mahesh was the Head of Fleet & Technical Asset Management at AirAsia. During that time, AirAsia sealed two major aircraft portfolio deals with BBAM and Castlelake LP for a combined value of USD3.6 billion which won the 2018 Air Finance Journal Award and 2019 APAC Airline Economics Award. In 2015, he was appointed as a pioneering Senior Vice President, Technical of the newly set up Asia Aviation Capital Limited, the aircraft leasing arm of AirAsia.

Mahesh joined AirAsia's Engineering department in 2009 and since then has been involved in various engineering projects including defining and selection of aircraft and engine type, setting up AirAsia India Engineering and transforming Zest Airways into AirAsia Philippines.

Mahesh holds a Bachelor's in Aeronautical Engineering.

Pete Chareonwongsak, male, 34, is CEO of Teleport, the technology-enabled logistics venture that is committed to enabling delivery anywhere in Asean in under 24 hours.

From 2012 to 2016, Pete was AirAsia's Group Head of Business Development, based in Jakarta and later in Kuala Lumpur. During that time, he worked to set up airlines in India with Tata Group and in Japan with Rakuten Inc, as well as joint ventures in Training, Ground Handling and Leasing. He also handled mergers & acquisitions (M&A) for the Group covering Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and India.

In August 2016, he was appointed AirAsia's Regional Chief Operating Officer, where he led the successful turnaround of AirAsia Philippines.

Prior to Capital A, Pete worked as an Investment Banking Analyst with CIMB, and as the official advisor to the Thailand Trade Representative Office, where he was tasked with promoting inbound and outbound international trade and investment, with specialist focus on crossborder foreign direct investment through M&A, joint ventures and project finance.

Pete holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge where he was a Cambridge Overseas Trust Scholar. He also holds a Master's (ALM) in Finance from Harvard University. He is a 40 under 40 Honoree from ZICO ASEAN, which recognises outstanding individuals addressing regional trends or challenges through their work.

He is a Board member of Teleport, Freightchain Technologies, AirAsia India and EasyParcel, a regional e-commerce and parcel delivery startup.

John Cheing, male, 43, is responsible for corporate finance and investments in Capital A.

John joined Capital A in May 2020 as a Senior Manager of Investments and was subsequently promoted to the Head of Investments of AirAsia Digital in April 2021. He has worked on various corporate exercises, which include the recent acquisition of Gojek's business in Thailand, SK's investment in BigPay and Teleport's acquisition of DeliverEat.

Prior to joining AirAsia, John was with Usaha Tegas where he was the Senior Manager of Investments, overseeing the company's investments in the telecom and media sectors. He has also held strategy and operational roles in telcos in Malaysia, and was part of the pioneering team from Maxis responsible for setting up Maxis' first joint venture overseas, AXIS Indonesia, in 2004. John holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, a Master's from the University of Nottingham and First-class Degree in Chemistry from the University of Manchester.

Attila Emam, male, 53, is responsible for ensuring that Capital A's goals and the day-to-day business practices of its portfolio of companies are consistent with its stated purpose, vision and values. A significant part of his role involves driving continuous improvement of the employee experience with the aim of creating a workplace where Allstars can grow themselves, understand how they contribute to the organisation's strategic goals and enjoy collaborating with each other.

Attila joined AirAsia in 2013 to set up the Group Enterprise Risk Management function and manage Asean affairs. Before AirAsia, he was head of risk and strategy for the capital markets regulator working on, among other things, international regulatory standards and systemic risk assessment. He began his career as an economist with the Central Bank of Malaysia, and read economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and at Birkbeck College London, as a Chevening Scholar.

Mohamad Hafidz or fondly known as 'Mo', male, 53, is appointed as the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of airasia Superapp effective 1 April 2023.

He was previously the Chief Fintech Officer where he led the travel Superapp’s FinTech transformation. As the CEO, he will continue to drive the company’s fintech vision across enterprise payments, financial services and wealth that will further help to boost the Superapp users’ choices and bring more revenue to the business.

Mo joined AirAsia in June 2019 and is also responsible for the overall payments orchestration infrastructure for the Airlines as well as the Digital business verticals and financial services for the airasia Superapp.

With more than 30 years in the payments industry, he began his career with Citi where he held various appointments in payments operations and the card businesses, notably spearheading Citibank’s Regional eCommerce business in 2000. During his tenure, the division grew into a strategic US$250M/year business.

A strong advocate for payments technology and security, he joined VISA in 2008 as their Asia Pacific Head of E-commerce and was responsible for the Asia Pacific Region. During this time, he advised regulators in China, India, Japan, and around ASEAN on authentication technologies such as 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) as a more secure way to drive e-commerce growth. Together with AKKI in Indonesia, he launched their first in-cloud countrywide issuer authentication platform in 2010.

Based out of Tokyo in 2015, he was responsible for the redesign and implementation of MasterCard’s new domestic processing network ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He was also part of the payments acceptance team that helped The Reserve Bank of India develop a low-cost acceptance solution during the India Demonetization in 2016.

While in Mastercard he jointly patented an IoT payments solution and also was responsible for the adoption of MasterCard’s Tap2Phone and their Global Network Installments solutions currently used today.

He pursued his studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and graduated with a Bachelor of Business in Economics and Finance and also holds a Masters of Finance from the same.

Arul Kumaravel, male, 49, is the Chief Technology Adviser for Capital A. Arul works with Capital A's portfolio of companies to introduce best product practices and to enhance our technology architecture across all of our digital portfolio companies. He oversees our technology ecosystem to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive and industry leading technology strategy, contributing to Capital A's long-term digital vision.

Arul works with our technology leaders to set the strategic course for the Group based on advanced innovations, developing marketable technologies to improve revenue and sales opportunities, and manage costs more efficiently through the use of technology.

With more than 25 years' experience in the field of software engineering and development, as well as an MBA from the Wharton School, Arul combines a strong background in both business and technology. He is a founder of Tazapay, a platform for enabling trust in conducting cross-border commerce transactions for small and medium-sized businesses. He has been the head of engineering at Grab and for Amazon's mobile platform. He spent 15 years with Microsoft in Seattle and was involved in the development of bCentral, Sharepoint, Windows PowerShell and the MS' Startup Business Group. He also co-authored "Professional Windows PowerShell Programming", a reference book published by Wiley & Sons.

Azita Nazrene, female, 36, was appointed Chief Strategy Officer for Capital A in June 2021. In this role, she leads the development of Capital A's overall corporate strategy and strategic playbook, fosters collaborations and synergies across the company and oversees the execution of strategic initiatives and achievements of short- and long-term goals.

Prior to this appointment, she was the Head of Financial Strategy since January 2020. During this time, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, she led the financial planning & budgeting team for the group and worked on various fundraising, cost-cutting, restructuring and corporate exercises including the Gojek acquisition in Thailand, and was instrumental in the Group's turnaround strategy.

Azita joined the Group in 2019 as an investment manager for Redbeat Ventures (now airasia digital). She became Head of Investor Relations for Capital A later that year, a role she continued to perform in communicating the strategy to the investment committee until March 2022.

Prior to joining the Group, Azita was the lead regional transport, infrastructure and logistics analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities in Singapore. Together with three years as an investment banker at AmInvestment Bank, she has over 10 years of experience in sell-side corporate advisory, corporate finance, debt fund-raising and equity research.

Azita holds a Bachelor of Financial Engineering (Honours) from Multimedia University, Malaysia.