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The Petrosains Board

Petrosains Board

We have always been guided by outstanding leaders from PETRONAS with impressive credentials throughout the years. They have inspired us to build a unique and creative platform to help unravel science to make it accessible and credible which has positively impacted the younger generation. Their support and their influence have helped shape Petrosains into what it is today – an important supporting component in the nation’s education landscape and presence in the community as an authority in informal learning, specifically in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

On behalf of all Petrosains staff, we would like to express our sincere and heartfelt gratitude to the Chairman and Board Members of the Petrosains Board for their strong stewardship and their continued commitment towards our efforts to spark and nurture the learning of science among citizens of Malaysia.

Datin Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz

Chairman

Anita joined PETRONAS in 1989 and spent her early years in the marketing and trading of crude oil before joining the gas and power business. After almost two decades in the commercial business, she was entrusted to lead PETRONAS Motorsports in 2008, where she was pivotal in negotiating the deal to sponsor the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 team.

In 2014, Anita expanded her portfolio as Head, VP & Venture Director Office, Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) – PETRONAS’ largest downstream investment in Malaysia. At Pengerang, she subsequently took on the role of Head, Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Management, PETRONAS Refinery and Petrochemical Corporation Sdn Bhd (PRPC) for over four years before returning to Kuala Lumpur in 2020 as Head, Stakeholder Relations & Communications, President’s Office, orchestrating the communications for the new president of PETRONAS.

She was appointed as Head, Group Strategic Communications effective 1 January 2021, where she provides stewardship and orchestrates integrated communications strategy encompassing brand management, media relations, communications management, change management and stakeholder relations for PETRONAS groupwide.

She serves as the Chairman of PETROSAINS Board of Directors, Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS Board of Trustees and Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra Board of Directors. She is also a member of Yayasan PETRONAS Board of Trustees, PETRONAS Lubricants International Board of Directors, PETRONAS Integrity Awareness Committee, PETRONAS Sustainability Development & HSSE Council and PETRONAS Lubricants International Nomination & Remuneration Committee.

Anita holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Wolverhampton (The Polytechnic Wolverhampton), United Kingdom.

Dr. Mahpuzah Abai

Board Member

Mahpuzah joined PETRONAS in 1996 and started her career at PETRONAS Research. During her 25-year career, she has been involved in a widespan of technology-related activities from R&D, strategy, planning, innovation up to commercialization. She also had few specific opportunities in pioneering the use of new chemistries for PETRONAS applications which have successfully developed into commercialized products. Prior to her current position, she led the Fluid Technology Solutions team which provides the world-class fluids for PETRONAS lubricants, fuels, and motorsports (F1 and MotoGP).

Her current portfolio sees her bringing PETRONAS’ technology to both internal PETRONAS & external markets through the innovative approach. This aims to bring PETRONAS technology commercialization to create greater values to PETRONAS operations and create a significant revenue stream for the company.

Mahpuzah holds a BSc. in Chemical Engineering (Northwestern University, Illinois, USA), MSc. in Process & Project Engineering (University of Nottingham UK), PhD. in Chemistry (Queen’s University Belfast UK). She is a Fellow Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Adjunct Professor for Institut Sel Fuel, UKM and Board Member for Petrosains Sdn Bhd.

Wan Shamilah Wan Muhammad Saidi

Board Member

Wan Shamilah is currently the Head of PETRONAS Group Corporate Finance. A PETRONAS Scholar, she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Accounting from University of Bristol, England. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) and a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants. She also attended the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School in 2016.

Shamilah joined PETRONAS in 1993 and has served in a variety of roles across several business segments. She gained early exposure to strategic C-suite conversations in leading several mergers and acquisition projects. Subsequently, she was the Chief Financial Officer for three key subsidiaries within the group, being PETRONAS Gas Berhad, MLNG and PETRONAS Chemicals Group. She has also held the position of Senior General Manager for Crude Oil Marketing & Trading and Corporate Strategic Planning of PETRONAS. Prior to her current role, she also led the digital transformation for PETRONAS as Chief Digital Officer.

Amongst her notable contributions include the successful listing of PETRONAS Chemicals Group in 2010 and steering groupwide transformation, in the wake of lower crude oil prices, through Project Cactus in 2015. Shamilah also led and steered the successful transformation of Prince Court Medical Centre, as Chairman of PCMC’s Board from June 2016 to August 2018. As Chief Digital Officer, Shamilah orchestrated and curated the interwoven threads that were needed to accelerate digital adoption at scale – from driving the shift in culture and mindset to embrace new ways of working; to the focused execution of key building blocks that are prerequisites such as cybersecurity, cloud and data; to the new skillsets needed to power up digital adoption.

Shamilah currently serves as a Board Member for PETRONAS Hartabina Sdn Bhd, Petrosains Sdn Bhd., PETRONAS Assets Sdn Bhd., PRBF Holdings, PRBF Properties Sdn. Bhd., PETRONAS Capital Limited, PETRONAS Global Sukuk LTD., and Petrofibre Network (M) Sdn. Bhd.

Syed M Muhafiz Syed M Bakar

Board Member

Syed Mohammad Muhafiz holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business Administration majoring in Finance. He has 23 years of working experience in human capital and retail business, of which he spent 15 years in PETRONAS. Syed has vast experiences in human capital transformation, strategic workforce planning and talent management matters at PETRONAS Group HRM. In 2016, he was appointed as Senior Manager, People Strategy and Planning for Upstream Business, where he was involved in driving and planning on leadership development for Upstream top talents and developed a long-term workforce plan for Upstream Business. Syed led the HR stream to establish an Upstream presence in Argentina and Brazil and led the HR team to design and implement a talent exit plan for the Vietnam upstream operation. 

In 2018, he was appointed as HR Strategy and Planning Manager for Engen Petroleum Ltd and was appointed as HR Skill Group Advisor from 2019-2021. During his tenure in Engen, he formulated and designed the Diversity and Inclusion strategy and Employment Equity Plan to support the South Africa Black Economic Empowerment agenda. His last project in Engen was to lead the HR team to redesign its process and enable the human capital management platform to be implemented for Engen’s operation in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mauritius, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Eswatini.

Today, Syed is entrusted to steer and shape effective PETRONAS’ Human Capital Investment through strategically networking and partnering with key industry partners, including managing external as well as internal stakeholders’ expectation in supporting PETRONAS’ Statement of Purpose whilst holding several other Board Membership:

  • Board Members of Petrosains
  • Board Member of Petronas Technical Training Sdn. Bhd. (PTTSB)