PENANG, 24 August 2016 - Businessman and corporate figure with extensive experience in the private sector, Chin Chun-Yean, 72, has been appointed by the Minister of Higher Education, Dato' Seri Idris Jusoh as a member of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Board of Governors, for three years beginning 1 August 2016 as a representative of the private sector.

Born in Penang, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering (1966) from the Technical University of Nova Scotia and a Master’s in the same field from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada (1968), while also being a Registered Professional Engineer from Saskatchewan, Canada as well as from IEM (Malaysia), in addition to being a member of the Malaysia-Philippines Business Council.

Career-wise, Chun-Yean has an excellent track record, in positions locally and also abroad. Among them was with Shell Malaysia Trading Sdn Bhd for more than 25 years (1971 until 1996) in various capacities. Prior to leaving Shell, he was the Head of Retail Markets: Greater China, South and South-East Asia, Indo-China, Middle East and French-Speaking Africa, and also Shell International Petroleum Company, London, UK.

From April 1996 until December 1998, he was appointed as the Executive Director, Maxis Communications Malaysia before being appointed as the Executive Director of ASTRO Dtu (December 1998 – December 2001), and later joining CELCOM in January 2002 until September 2004 as the Executive Vice-President.

His other appointments include as the Director of AIRCEL INDIA (2006-2008) and later as the Chairperson for Australian Wood Panels (2010-2013), the third largest importer and distributor of wood products in Australia.

Chun-Yean also has extensive involvement in consultancy work, especially in aspects of marketing and mobile telecommunications and had given his Midas touch to multinational companies such as Shell, Maxis and Celcom.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin