KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 13): Bank Negara Malaysia’s governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been awarded the Wharton Dean’s Medal, the highest honour from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).

“Dr. Zeti is a leader of amazing accomplishments. She has successfully navigated the Malaysian economy through more than one financial crisis.

"She is dedicated to good governance and has been a trailblazer with her widely recognised work in both regional financial integration and internationalisation of Islamic finance,” said Wharton dean Geoffrey Garret in a press release today.

“Dr. Zeti is an incredible policy maker, central banker, and person, and we are proud to count her as a friend of the Wharton school,” he added.

Zeti was appointed central bank’s governor in 2000 and played an important role in managing the Malaysian economy during the Asian Financial Crisis in the late 1990s as well as the recent global financial crisis.

She also had an extensive role in the global development of Islamic finance, in particular in the establishment of the Islamic Financial Services Board and International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation.

The Dean’s Medal was created in 1983 to recognise outstanding leaders of private enterprise, public service, and academia.

The awardees were chosen for their contributions to the enlargement of the global economy and to improvement in the lives of people worldwide.

Previous recipients of Wharton Dean’s Medal include Lewis E. Platt, former chairman and CEO of Hewlett Packard Company in 2000; Geoffery T. Boisi, CEO
of JP Morgan Chase and Company in 2003; Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of US Fed Reserve in 2005; Leonard A. Lauder, chairman Estee Lauder Companies in 2006; Ronald S. Lauder, chairman, Clinique Laboratories in 2006; Bong-Suh Lee, former Minister of Trade and Industry, Republic of Korea in
2010; and Jay H. Baker, former president and director of Kohl’s Corporation.