KUALA LUMPUR: Boustead Plantations Bhd has appointed Zainal Abidin Shariff as its new chief executive officer (CEO) effective from July 12.

Zainal previously served as the group CEO of Main Market-listed plantation group TDM Bhd from 2019 to 2020, chief executive of The Incorporated Society of Planters between 2018 and 2019, as well as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Felcra Bhd from 2016 to 2018.

A prominent figure in the plantation industry, Zainal holds a master of fnance from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia and a diploma in advanced sccounting from Luton College of Higher Education, United Kingdom. 

Zainal started out his career with an accounting firm, Coopers & Lybrand, which later became PricewaterhouseCoopers. 

Boustead Plantations chairman Datuk Ismail Lasim said the group was pleased to welcome Zainal to lead its reinvented plantation business. 

Ismail said Zainal brought a wealth of experience to the group, developed over three decades in corporate management, strategic management, transformation and finance across industries including plantation, property and banking.

“As we steer Boustead Plantations towards a more robust, sustainable and digitally focused plantation business, we are confident that Zainal will be able to take up the mantle, in line with Boustead Holdings Bhd’s Reinventing Boustead strategy,” he added.

Source: NST