Key Management

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Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam Bin Abdullah

Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director

Eddie Lee Mun Tat

Chief Executive Officer

Vijaya Kumar Puspowanam

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Tan Wei Chun

General Manager, Information Technology

Nanthakumar Murokana

General Manager, Marketing & Conventional

Ahmad Damanhury bin Ibrahim

Head of Engineering

Nadarajan A/L Krishnan

Head of Planning Department

Megat Amirul Zameer bin Megat AB. Rahman

Head of Finance

Muhammad Imran Kunalan bin Abdullah

Head of Human Resource

Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam Bin Abdullah
 (Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director – Age 47, Male, Malaysian)

Datuk Ruben Emir Gnanalingam bin Abdullah was appointed as Director of the Company on 5 July 2005.

He attended Victoria Institution between 1989 to 1993 and later, Eton College in the UK from 1994 until 1995. Datuk Ruben graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the UK, in 1998. He also holds a diploma in Port Management, awarded by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. Datuk Ruben has also attended various Executive Education Programmes under the Harvard Business School, including the Senior Manager Development Programme and the Programme for Leadership Development.

Datuk Ruben started his career as a trainee in WMSB in 1999 before leaving WMSB to set up a start-up incubator known as The Makmal Group in 2000 until his departure in mid-2005. He then rejoined the Company as a Director in 5 July 2005 and was later appointed as Chief Executive Officer on 15 January 2009, a position he held until 31 December 2017 before being appointed as the Group Managing Director for Westports Holdings Berhad on 1 January 2018. Datuk Ruben was appointed as Executive Chairman and Group Managing Director on 20 July 2023.

Datuk Ruben is the Owner and Vice-Chairman of Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPRFC), which participates in the English Football League (EFL). He is also a founder and Board Member of the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) which is a member of the US Major League Soccer (MLS). He also serves as an Executive Council Member of the Football Association of Selangor (FAS).

Outside his professional engagements, Datuk Ruben has involvement in many other business and industry-related groups. He is the President of Kuala Lumpur Business Club (KLBC), a Member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for Malaysia and on the Steering Committee for the CEO Action Network (CAN). He currently also sits on the Boards of the Malaysian Productivity Corporation (MPC) and the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE).

From a charitable perspective, he also serves as the Chairman of the QPR Community Trust. He has been appointed to the Westports Foundation on 5 September 2019 and joined the CEO Action Network (CAN) as one of the Steering Committee members since 2020.

He is the eldest son of our late Executive Chairman, Tan Sri Datuk G. Gnanalingam. He is also a Director of Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd and Semakin Ajaib Sdn Bhd, which in turn hold shares in the Company. Datuk Ruben is also a shareholder of Semakin Ajaib Sdn Bhd. He attended all four Board Meetings held during the financial year.

Lee Mun Tat (Eddie)
 Chief Executive Officer/ Acting Chief Financial Officer – Age 52, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Lee Mun Tat (Eddie), Chief Executive Officer of WMSB, is primarily responsible for controlling and overseeing across multiple divisions covering Commercial, Finance, Marketing, Legal, Corporate Communications and Engineering of WMSB. He has been appointed as a Director of WMSB on 9 June 2023.

Prior to his current role and responsibility with WMSB, Mr. Eddie has demonstrated his competency by holding different management roles including the Senior General Manager (in 2017), Head of Commercial (from 2006 to 2016) and Finance Manager (from 2003 to 2005).

Before joining WMSB, Mr. Eddie started his career with Matsushita Electronics Components (M) Sdn Bhd, after which he joined Jutajaya Holdings Berhad and All Best Furniture (M) Sdn Bhd with his last position as Group Finance Manager.

All these previous roles have equipped him with extensive working experience in the areas ranging from commercial affairs, business development, terminal service contracts, pricing, and statistics as well as credit control.

Mr Eddie received a Bachelor Degree in Business at Edith Cowan University in Australia. He has been active in undertaking the professional programme, including participated the Senior Management Development Programme organised by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in collaboration with senior faculty members of the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, in 2004, and also attended the General Management Programme in Boston US in 2016. In addition, he is an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Eddie is also recognized as a qualified Chartered Accountant from Malaysia Institute of Accountants and a member of the Certified Practising Accountants in Australia (CPA Australia).

Mr. Eddie has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

Vijaya Kumar Puspowanam
 Deputy Chief Executive Officer – Age 47, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Vijaya Kumar Puspowanam joined the Westports Group in January 2000 as a Gate Operations Executive and has since served under various departments such as gate, vessel operations and terminal planning before being appointed as the Head of Container Marketing in January 2008. He then took additional responsibility for handling business development activities for the Conventional business and Customer Service IT in 2010 before assuming the position of General Manager, Marketing and Conventional, in January 2017. He led the business development, which saw volume grow to its peak of 10.9 million TEUs in 2019, and digitalisation and innovation initiatives to achieve 100% online transactions with all stakeholders in 2021. Having served under the Port Klang Authority (“PKA”) and the Ministry of Transport Task Forces, he is well-versed in the logistics industry.

He left Westports in May 2022 to be the Managing Director of Talke Logistics Malaysia Sdn Bhd, part of Alfred Talke Logistics Services of Germany. The latter decided to invest in Malaysia in 2019, and they appointed Vijaya Kumar to lead the development of building the state-of-the-art chemical warehouse and setting up all the business operations. Operations commenced in February 2023. The new facility subsequently began in September 2023.

Mr. Vijaya Kumar rejoined Westports as the Deputy CEO in May 2023. He is responsible for various departments such as Container Operations, Container Planning, Container Marketing, Maintenance & Repair and the Port Police. He was also appointed as a Director of the Port Klang Cruise Terminal (PKCT) from 1 October 2023, representing WHB, which holds a 50% shareholding in PKCT.

Mr. Vijaya holds a Business Administration (International Business) Degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He attended the Harvard Business School’s Senior Management Development Programme organised by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in collaboration with the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, in 2004.

Mr. Vijaya has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

Tan Wei Chun
 General Manager, Information Technology – Age 49, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Tan Wei Chun has been an integral part of the Westports Group since September 1998, commencing his journey as an Operations Executive. Throughout his illustrious career with the company, he has demonstrated versatility and expertise by contributing to various departments such as operations, customer services, gate and logistic operations, berth planning, vessel planning, and yard planning. In October 2019, he assumed his current role as the head of the Information Technology department at Westports.

Mr. Tan holds a Degree in Transportation and Logistics from the Chartered Institute of Transport since 1997. His commitment to continuous learning is highlighted by his participation in the Senior Management Development Programme organized by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in collaboration with senior faculty members of the Harvard Business School in 2004. Additionally, he attended Linkage’s Global Institute of Leadership Development (GILD) in 2017.

With an impressive 25 years of experience, Mr. Tan has excelled in various domains including terminal capacity planning, strategic yard planning, vessel stowage planning, cargo terminal operations, control room operations, systems project management, and operations information system development. His expertise played a pivotal role in successfully implementing key critical systems such as the new Terminal Operating System (TOS), remote P-check system (RPS), reefer management system (RMS) and manpower deployment system (MDS). His responsibilities also extend to overseeing strategic internal software and IoT development, ERP, Customer Service IT, Operations IT and Infra Support and spearheading initiatives in digitalization and automation for Westports.

Prior to joining the Westports Group, Mr. Tan contributed significantly to Kontena Nasional Berhad from 1993 to 1998, where he held various positions involving haulage operations, customer services, warehousing, and container depot management.

Mr. Tan currently holds no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. There are no family relationships with any directors and/or major shareholders of the Company. Importantly, he maintains a clean record with no convictions for any offences within the past five years, reflecting his commitment to ethical and professional standards.

NANTHAKUMAR MUROKANA
 General Manager, Marketing & Conventional – Age 51, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Nanthakumar A/L Murokana @ Murugan joined the Westports Group in May 1999 as a management trainee focusing on yard planning. Thereafter, he was transferred to the container operations department in 2003 to manage the operations team. In 2006, he headed the container department as Head of Container Operations overseeing the planning, operations and resource functions. In 2015, he was made Head of Container Logistics department before returning as Head of Container Operations department in 2016. He also focuses on succession planning and competencies development through constant coaching and training. He is currently holding the post of General Manager for Conventional Business which covers both Marketing and Operational aspects of Conventional business.

Mr. Nanthakumar has 24 years of experience in Container Operations and in areas of capacity planning, yard planning, Training & Development, Logistic section, Control room operations and Project management . Prior to joining the Westports Group, he worked for Wal Mart in Detroit, USA, as an Assistant Manager in 1998 before returning to Malaysia in 1999.

He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Western Michigan University, USA. He did his Major in Operation Management and Minor in Economics.

He attended the Senior Management Development Programme organised by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in collaboration with senior faculty members of the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, in 2006. He also obtained a Diploma and Port Management from the University of Cambridge, Local Examination Syndicate in 2001.

Mr. Nanthakumar has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

Ahmad Damanhury bin Ibrahim
 Head of Engineering – Age 56, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Ahmad Damanhury joined the Westports Group in July 1995 as a Civil Engineer and assumed his present position in 2007. Mr. Ahmad has performed various key roles for the port infrastructures and facilities, ranging from facilities planning and designs management, constructions management and contracts administrations, and commercial and economic evaluations as head of projects. He is currently fully involved in all techinal matters for the the designs, planning and management of the planned constructions works for the 4.8km Wesports 2 Expansion projects development, besides rendering technical supports to the existing port infrastructures and facilities, hydrography and maintenance dredging works.

He holds a Degree in Civil Engineering from Syracuse University, New York, a Diploma in Port Management from the University of Cambridge Local Examinations and a Masters of Science in Facilities Management. He is a member of the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Board of Engineers Malaysia and Project Management Institute (PMI), USA. He attended the Harvard Business School’s Senior Management Development Programme organised by the Harvard Business School in collaboration with senior faculty members of the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, in 1998.

He started his career in 1990, working with a UEM Group subsidiary involved in the project management of the PLUS and Metramac’s Kuala Lumpur highway projects, and thereafter, attached to a consultancy firm from 1992 to 1995 involved in the designs and constructions management of the Subang Airport Redevelopment and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport projects.

Mr. Ahmad has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

NADARAJAN A/L KRISHNAN
 Head of Planning Department – Age 48, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Nadarajan A/L Krishnan joined the Westports Group in November 1999. He had started his career as a Traffic Executive and was transferred to container operation as a shift Operation Executive. He subsequently moved to the Planning Department as a Yard Planning Executive. In 2005, he was promoted as the Operation Planning Manager. In 2011, he was assigned to the Yard Planning Section as a Head of Yard Planning section. Currently, he is heading the Planning Department, and he is responsible for the overall yard planning, berth planning, vessel planning and operations of the container gates. He is also involved in succession planning and competencies development for his team members through coaching and training.

Mr. Nadarajan has 22 years of experience in container operations and yard planning. He holds a Bachelor of Urban Planning and Economy from University Malaya, and started his career as a Town Planner with the Shah Alam Municipal. He has also attended the Senior Management Development Programme organised by the Harvard Business School Alumni Club of Malaysia in collaboration with senior faculty members of the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, in 2015.

Mr. Nadarajan has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

Megat Amirul Zameer bin Megat AB. Rahman
 Head of Finance – Age 33, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Megat Amirul joined the Westports Group in November 2019 as a Senior Finance Manager and he assumed his current position with effect from August 2020 with the responsibility for overseeing financial related matters of Westports. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Accounting and Finance from University of New South Wales, Australia.

Mr. Megat has more than ten years of experience in the field of accounting and finance. He started his career as an auditor with Ernst & Young in 2012. Subsequently, he joined Schlumberger as a Senior Financial Analyst in 2015, overseeing the region of Algeria, Tunisia and Libya for BITS and Drilling Tools Segment, and subsequently became the Head of Finance in KAT Technologies Sdn Bhd, the main distributor of CELCOM for Peninsular Malaysia in 2018 prior to joining Westports.

Mr. Megat has no directorships in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no convictions for any offences within the past five years.

Muhammad Imran Kunalan bin Abdullah
Head of Human Resources Age 56, Male, Malaysian

Mr. Muhammad Imran Kunalan bin Abdullah joined Westports Group in April 2023 as the Head of Human Resources at Westports Malaysia.

A graduate of the Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (1991), Mr. Imran brings more than 30 years of experience in the field of human resources. His industry exposures as an HR practitioner are from KFC Holdings (QSR), HSBC, British American Tobacco, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC) and Huawei Technologies in Shenzhen, China. Imran was also exposed as HR Managing Consultant in Accenture and KPMG, servicing a range of industries in Malaysia and Indonesia. He was also exposed to leadership assessment planning through his stint at NBO Leadership.

Apart from corporate exposure, Mr. Imran was directly involved in the Malaysian digital transformation agenda ecosystem through various portfolios in the public and private sectors, mainly as one of the Senior Leadership Team of MDEC, driving the Malaysian Digital Economy for eight years. He was involved in driving the digital talent development for Malaysia and has good exposure and working relationships with multiple government stakeholders.

Mr. Imran formally trained in HR Metrics & Benchmarking from PWC-Saratoga Institute, London. His expertise in the HR field is reflected through his appointments and engagements such as the European Union e-Skills Expert Panel in Brussels, the Board of Advisory of ILMIA (MOHR) in data analytics for Malaysia and a consultant for EPU in digital transformation project in collaboration with Korea Development Institute (2020) and ADB.

Mr. Imran’s HR expertise is recognized via HR Excellence Awards from Times Accent in Mumbai (2017), Bangalore (2009) and Malaysia (2023).

Mr. Imran has no directorship in other public companies and listed issuers. He does not have any family relationship with any director and/or major shareholder of the Company. He does not have any conflict of interest with the Company and has no conviction for any offences within the past five years.