Board of Governors

Sakaya Johns Rani is a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers and leads PwC Malaysia’s International Assignment Services team. She has 22 years of cumulative audit and tax experience in major accounting firms. Rani received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado, USA and a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the University Malaya and is a member of CPA Australia.

Datuk Nicholas S. Zefferys has served twice as President of the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce in pursuit of his multinational career. He was conferred with his current title by the previous King of Malaysia upon the recommendation of the Past Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, for service to the country. He was appointed by the previous Honourable Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Badawi, to a select Task Force (Pemudah) to improve the Government public service delivery system and the wellbeing of the people of Malaysia. He was also appointed by the current Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak to a two year term on a nine member National Economic Advisory Council to develop a new economic model (NEM) to guide Malaysia to a high-income fully developed nation status by 2020.

Datuk Zefferys has served internationally as a Board member on a number of NGO and charitable organizations and has served in elective and appointed positions in government service in the USA. He has conducted seminars, workshops, and lectures at universities, institutions, and conferences globally. Datuk has also authored and contributed to a number of periodicals, books, and other publications. He received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York and a Masters in Business Administration from State University of New York at Buffalo. He has also studied at Columbia University, University of Washington, Seattle University, University of Utah, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, and the University of Southern California over his career.

He served several years as a midshipman and an officer in the United States Navy. In addition he was an advisor to the joint military commands in Vietnam and Thailand on the deployment of military communication systems in the 1960s.

Paul assumed his position as Counselor for Economic Affairs  at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in late July 2010.  He joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1988 and has served in Washington, London, Sao Paulo, Manila and Singapore. In Washington, he has worked on issues including non-proliferation, multilateral trade, international investment,  anti-corruption, and international health affairs.

Most recently, he served by advising the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, and the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, for whom he managed the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. In 2007-2008, he served as Director for G8 and G20 at the National Security Council. Mr. Brown is from south-central Texas, and is a 1985 graduate of Georgetown University’s honors program  in international business diplomacy.

Dato’ Siew Hai (SH) Wong has had 29 years of working experience in the electronics industry. He retired from Intel after 27 years of service. His last position with Intel was Vice President of Technology and Manufacturing Group (TMG) and General Manager of Assembly and Test Manufacturing (ATM), responsible for all assembly test factories worldwide. He also served as the Vice President and Managing Director of Dell’s Asia Pacific Customer Center for approximately 2 years.

Currently, he is involved in the electronics industry as the Chairman of MAEI and as a Governor of AMCHAM. In addition, he is on the Board of Directors for the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

As his contribution to education, he sits on the Faculty Industrial Panel of the Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University and is a member of the Advisory Peer Group for the School of Science and Technology of Wawasan Open University, Malaysia. He is a member of the Penang Science Council and is leading the Nurturing Pillar. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn from 2001 to 2006.

James Coffman arrived in Malaysia January 1st, 2008, to assume the directorship of the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE). He has been involved in various dimensions of international higher education for thirty years, having spent most of his career in France, Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, the UAE, and most recently as Director of International Program Development at the University of California, Davis.

A dual French and American citizen, he earned his B.A. from UC Berkeley, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He and his wife, Chantal, are accompanied in Kuala Lumpur by their daughter, Olivia. They also have a son, Glenn, who is a student at UCLA.

Stu graduated magna cum laude from Duke University in 1975 with a BA in Economics and Political Science and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Following a two-year assignment with the US Government, he obtained an MBA from Harvard in 1979. He then joined GE as a Sales Representative for Major Appliance and TV Products. Following a series of sales management and marketing roles, he became Product General Manager – Laundry / Dishwasher in 1985. In 1988-90, he was General Manager – Services Marketing and then General Manager – Service Operations.

In August 1991, he was named Business Development Manager, GE International, based in Singapore with responsibilities for Southeast Asia and Australia. In 1993, he became President, GE Capital, Southeast Asia. In February 1995, he became President, GE Indonesia, located in Jakarta. Stu currently has responsibility for all of ASEAN and resides in Kuala Lumpur, where he is a Governor of the Malaysian American Chamber of Commerce. Stu serves as chairman of the Vietnam-US committee of the US-ASEAN Business Council and on the boards of the US-Indonesia Society and the Fulbright Commission in Malaysia and the board of advisors for the Global GE Volunteer Foundation. Last, but certainly not least, he is an active GE Community volunteer and was recognized by Habitat for Humanity for having led house-building projects in Aceh following the tsunami. He received GE’s 2011 Corinne Johnson Leadership Award in recognition of his volunteer efforts. Stu also serves on the Asia Pacific Advisory Board for Junior Achievement.

Robin A. Martin is Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Group and General Manager of Assembly Test Manufacturing. He is responsible for co-managing Intel's assembly and test operations worldwide, which includes facilities in Costa Rica, Malaysia, China and Vietnam.

Martin joined Intel Corporation in 1984 as a product engineer of Microcontrollers. Over the past 25 years, he held factory manager and plant manager positions in Malaysia, Philippines and China. The Intel VP and GM have received an Intel Quality Award.

Martin received a bachelor's degree in electrical and systems engineering from Southern Illinois University.

Datuk Paddy Bowie is the Managing Director of Paddy Schubert Sdn. Bhd., a public affairs and business consultancy firm providing strategic information, advisory services and political analysis to the corporate sector. Datuk Paddy also runs the Malaysia Regional Program for leading investors and brings out a range of publications. She is a Malaysian citizen of British extraction and has been in Malaysia for 55 years.

Datuk Paddy was educated at Manchester and Oxford Universities in the U.K. She is a Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Management, Institute of Public Relations, Malaysia and the Institute of Directors, U.K. Well known as a speaker and writer, she has addressed numerous international conferences.

May Lim is the founder and Managing Director of World Executive Search Sdn. Bhd. Her firm specialises in senior level and board director searches for multinational companies, large corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. She has done extensive work in the financial services, manufacturing, retail and logistics sectors. She began her career with the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York and went on to work for Citibank in Manila and the Asian Development Bank headquartered in Manila.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College and a Masters of Science degree in Management from the Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a Wellesley Scholar and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Mr. J. Hunter Farris was appointed Chairman of the ExxonMobil Subsidiaries in Malaysia in February 2012. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Farris was the Deputy Production Manager for ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. Mr. Farris, who hails from Texas, U.S.A., graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

He started his career with ExxonMobil in 1991 as a Facility/Project Engineer with ExxonMobil Production Company in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since then, he has held positions of increasing responsibility in various fields including engineering support, operations management, major projects management, crude oil trading and strategic business planning.

He was also the Operations Manager for Esso Exploration and Production Norway AS in Stavanger, Norway where he was responsible for ExxonMobil's Norwegian North Sea operated production. Mr. Farris and his wife Teresa have a son.

He enjoys spending time with his family, motor-cross riding and mountain biking.

Mr. Wheeler currently serves as President and CEO of ConocoPhillips Malaysia, and has held this position since 2005. Before being posted to Malaysia, Mr. Wheeler held a number of management positions for ConocoPhillips in the United States and overseas.

Most recently, Mr. Wheeler held the position of Exploration and Development Vice President for ConocoPhillips Indonesia from August, 2002, where he oversaw the development of the company’s major Natuna Sea and South Sumatra projects, as well as the exploration and New Venture activities for the area. During this time, Mr. Wheeler was a member of ConocoPhillips’ Global Exploration Leadership Team, and was responsible for the company’s exploration activities for the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Wheeler joined Conoco in 1980 in Houston, Texas, after receiving an MS with honors in geology from Washington State University.

For undergraduate studies, Mr. Wheeler attended University of California, Berkeley and St. Lawrence University in New York. He and his wife Maureen have two daughters, Sarah and Alexandra, attending SMU 
in Dallas and ISKL, respectively.

Sunil Sethi is theManagingDirector of Kraft Foods Malaysia. In this role, he is responsible for managing and developing Kraft Foods’ business and operations in the country.

Sunil has rich and varied experience in sales, marketing and general management in the FMCG industry across many Asian markets. Prior to this role, Sunil was Director of Sales and International Business at Cadbury India, Ltd.(now a part of Kraft Foods). He joined Cadbury India in 2006 and successfully led the unprecedented YOY sales growth that the company had witnessed in five years.

Before joining Cadbury, he was Associate Director (Indirect Trade), Asia & South Pacific Division at Colgate Palmolive, based in HongKong; as General Manager, Global Brands(South Asia) at Guinness UDV–a Diageo Group company; as well as leadership roles at Pepsi Foods Ltd. & Wipro Consumer Products. He is a Commerce graduate from Delhi University and holds a Masters in Management Studies (MMS) from Mumbai University. A fitness enthusiast, music and reading are Sunil’s other passions. He is married and has a daughter.