THE Malaysia’s CEO of the Year award is the highest level of recognition for corporations in Malaysia. It is given to honour and reward exceptional business leaders who successfully lead their company through the ever-changing business world. On February 16th, 2009, Dato’ Sri Che Khalib bin Mohamad Noh, CEO of Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) was bestowed
the award ‘Malaysia’s CEO of the Year’ 2008. Chosen from a pool of 92 nominations, Che Khalib accepted the award with humility and attributed his success to the company.
“This is really something that I had wanted for my staff in TNB because this is recognition of the good work we have been able to achieve in the past five years,” said Che Khalib.
The event held at Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur was graced by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Yang Amat Berhormat Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak. Other leaders of the corporate world who added a dash of prestige and glamour to the evening was Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah of Sunway Group, 1996 award winner, John Madsen of Micro and Macro Approach Sdn Bhd, 1997 award winner, Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar of Maybank, 2006 award winner and Dato’ Dr. Abdul Halim Harun of UMW Holdings Bhd, 2007 award winner.
At an earlier briefing, chief judge and Deloitte Malaysia Sdn Bhd Managing Director Azman Mohd Zain said the search for Malaysia’s CEO of the Year 2008 began in September last year.
“The pinnacle of it all is the style of leadership. The stamina as to which leadership deals with the many obstacles it faces,” Azman said.
Others sitting at the judging table were, Minority Shareholders Watchdog Group Bhd CEO, Abdul Wahab Jaafar Sidek, Matrade CEO, Datuk Noharuddin Nordin, Business Times executive editor Mustapha Kamil Md Janor, moderator Bernard Thamboo and Amex head of commercial cards, Asia Pacific, Ashutosh Agrawal. These panel of independent judges are appointed every year from key government agencies and the corporate sector to ensure professional and unbiased judging.
Some of the mention-worthy achievements of Che Khalib is his leadership of TNB to register a record profit of RM4.2 billion in financial year 2007. He also introduced various management initiatives, which have led to a total saving or value creation of more than RM2.6 billion since taking over in 2004.
Che Khalib received the coveted Malaysia’s CEO of the Year 2008 Trophy, a premium watch from EPOS by Woo Hing and an exclusive complimentary American Express platinum charge card membership.
The 14th edition of the Malaysia; CEO of the Year Award was organised by Business Times, the business section of the New Straits Times, in association with Maybank, the sole issuer and manager of the American Express® charge cards. Other official partners include Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, Hewlett Packard and watchmaker EPOS.