KUALA LUMPUR (April 12): Datuk Mohammad Zainal Shaari has been appointed non-independent and non-executive chairman of both DRB-Hicom Bhd and Pos Malaysia Bhd, replacing Tan Sri Mohd Khamil Jamil who stepped down from the position at the two companies on April 1.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, DRB-Hicom said Mohammad Zainal, 54, is currently the group managing director of Tradewinds (M) Bhd, a position he has held since June 2014.

Prior to that, he was the executive director (ED) and chief operating officer of Khazanah Nasional Bhd between 2004 and 2013. In the same period, he served on various boards as a director on Khazanah’s stable of companies, inter alia, Proton Holdings Bhd (2004 to 2008) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (2007 to 2014). 

He was also formerly the ED of BinaFikir Sdn Bhd before joining Khazanah in October 2004.

Meanwhile, tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary appears to be putting in motion his succession plan at DRB-Hicom, with the appointment of his 24-year-old daughter Sharifah Sofia Syed Mokhtar Shah as non-independent and non-executive director of the diversified group effective tomorrow. Sharifah Sofia takes on the same role at Pos Malaysia, whose holding company is DRB-Hicom.

She is currently a director in Lotus Advanced Technologies Sdn Bhd.

According to DRB-Hicom, Sharifah Sofia joined Pos Malaysia as special officer to the chief executive officer (CEO) from January to October last year. At Pos Malaysia, shadowing the group CEO, she completed a rotational placement within the organisation where she learnt the operations and achieved a greater understanding of the postal and courier, logistics and aviation industries.

Prior to that, Sharifah Sofia was an external consultant to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from October 2015 to May 2016, where she produced an integrated index to measure women’s empowerment and submitted a list of realistic recommendations on empowering women at various age groups, it added.

DRB-Hicom shares closed down 14 sen or 5.79% at RM2.28 today, with 3.95 million shares done, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM4.41 billion. Pos Malaysia’s share price, meanwhile, settled three sen or 0.8% lower at RM3.74, valuing it at RM2.93 billon.