Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz

CHAIRMAN

Tan Sri Amirsham A Aziz was appointed Chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) in June 2009. Prior to his appointment, Tan Sri Amirsham served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit and the Department of Statistics. From 1994 to 2008, he was the President and CEO of Maybank. During his tenure, Maybank expanded its geographic footprint in the region from 33 offices in 1994 to 89 offices, covering markets in Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei, United Kingdom, USA, Uzbekistan and Bahrain. Tan Sri Amirsham served as a member on the Investment Panel of the Pension Trust Fund and the EPF, as well as the Chairman of the Association of Banks in Malaysia. At the international level, he was on the Advisory Board of the Pacific Rim of Bankers Program and a Director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance. He was recently awarded the Asian Bankers Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his leadership in financial services, and inducted into the Global Hall of Fame by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.

E-mail: amirsham@neac.gov.my

Prof. Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak

VICE CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA, PENANG

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak is the vice-chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). He began his career as an academic member in USM's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences and served as the School's deputy dean between 1988–1994.

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli was instrumental in the setting up of the National Poison Centre of Malaysia based in USM and became its Founding Director. During his tenure (1994-1999), he led the Centre to accomplish several notable recognitions including being designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Drug Information for the Western Pacific Region. He is a keen writer and has an established list of academic papers and several books to his name. Outside the academic arena, he writes regularly for his weekly column in the New Straits Times, and, fortnightly, in The Edge, where he shares his views on a host of national and global issues.

E-mail: vc@usm.my

Dr. Yukon Huang

SENIOR ADVISOR, WORLD BANK, WASHINGTON D.C.

Yukon Huang, a US national, was recently the World Bank's Country Director for China and earlier for Russia and the other Former Soviet Union Republics. He is currently Senior Advisor to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and various governments. Previously in his Bank career he was Lead Economist and Country Operations Division Chief in Asia and Chief of Bank Assistance Policy with responsibilities for reviewing the Bank's overall lending and risk assessment policies. Before joining the Bank, Mr. Huang was with the US Treasury. He has also held various academic positions in the US, Asia and Africa. His research interests have covered ASEAN countries as well as China, South Asia and the former Soviet Union. Mr. Huang received his B.A. in Economics from Yale University and his Ph.D. from Princeton University.

E-mail: yhuang2@worldbank.org

Dr. Homi J. Kharas

SENIOR FELLOW, WOLFENSOHN CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON D.C.

Homi Kharas is a Senior Fellow at the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. Kharas served as Chief Economist for the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific region. He covered a diverse range of economies, including China, Korea, ASEAN and the small islands of the Pacific. He has also worked on Latin America and East/Central Europe. As Director for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, Kharas was responsible for advising the World Bank's on structural & economic policies, fiscal issues, debt, trade, governance and financial markets. In 1990-91, he was a Senior Partner with Jeff Sachs and Associates, advising governments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union on transition. While in 1985-1989, he was appointed as the Principal Economist in Malaysia. Kharas holds a Ph. D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in economics from King's College at Cambridge University and able to speak 4 languages which are English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

E-mail: hkharas@brookings.edu

Prof. Dr. Danny Quah

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, LONDON SHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, LONDON

Danny Quah is Professor of Economic at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Co-Director of the research centre LSE Global Govermence. In 2006-2009 he was Head of Department for Economics at LSE. Quah holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard, and was Assistant Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology before joining the LSE. Prof Quah's research is now on the global economic, economic geography, and new technologies. He is currently a Member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Ecomic Imbalances. Prof Quah was born in Penang, Malaysia, and holds a blackbelt in taekwon-do.

E-mail: dq@econ.lse.ac.uk

Datuk Nicholas S. Zefferys

PRESIDENT, AMERICAN MALAYSIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE (AMCHAM), KUALA LUMPUR

Datuk Nicholas S. Zefferys is currently President of the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). He has a fifty-year multinational career and has worked in Malaysia and ASEAN countries for fifteen years. He has also been appointed to a select Task Force (Pemudah) to improve the Government public service delivery system. Datuk Zefferys has served internationally as a Board member on a number of NGO and charitable organisations. and has served in elective and appointed positions in government service in the USA. Datuk Zefferys 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.

E-mail: nickzeff@pd.jaring.my

Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng

ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND ADMINISTRATION, UNIVERSITI MALAYA, KUALA LUMPUR

Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng is currently the Chief Adviser to the China Banking Regulatory Commission. He also sits on the Boards of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, Sime Darby Berhad and Khazanah Nasional. He is a member of the Advisory Council of the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), the International Advisory Panel of the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority (LOFSA), the Governing Council of the International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance (INCEIF) and the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Securities Market, India (NISM). Datuk Seri Sheng is also currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Malaya and Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing. Andrew Sheng is a Chartered Accountant by training, and holds a first class honours degree in Economics and an honorary doctorate of law from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.

E-mail: as@andrewsheng.net

Datuk Dr. Zainal Aznam Mohd Yusof

ECONOMIST

Datuk Dr. Zainal Aznam Mohd Yusof was a Deputy Director-General of ISIS Malaysia from 1995 until 2002. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director of the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER) and the South East Asia Regional Economist at Kleinwort Benson Research (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. From 1990 – 1994, he was the Adviser of Economics at Bank Negara Malaysia. Dr Zainal was a consultant of UNIDO/UNDP Malaysia and in the World Bank in charge of The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity and Growth. He was responsible in the preparation of the Industrial Master Plan of Malaysia, the Second, the Fourth and the Fifth Malaysia Plans. Dr. Zainal held a BSc (Economics) from Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, an M.A. (Development Economics) from the University of Leicester and a D.Phil. (Economics) from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Datuk Dr. Zainal passed away on 30 April 2011.

Datuk Dr. Hamzah Kassim

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INNOVATION ASSOCIATES, KUALA LUMPUR

Datuk Dr Hamzah Kassim is the founder and CEO of Innovation Associates, specialising in strategy and public policy consulting, large-scale IT implementations & BPO and human capital development, with offices in India and the Middle-East. He was previously partner of Ernst & Young, specialising in auditing and management consulting. He also was a Vice President of global consulting firm Cap Gemini with core business in outsourcing, ERP implementation and strategy. Dr. Hamzah is a graduate from Aston University.

E-mail: hamzah.kassim@theiagroup.com

Dato' Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin

DIRECTOR GENERAL, INSTITUTE OF STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (ISIS), KUALA LUMPUR

Dato' Dr. Mahani Zainal Abidin was appointed Director-General, Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Malaysia in May 2007. She was Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya. In January 1998, Dr. Mahani was appointed a member of the Working Group for the National Economic Action Council, a body established by the Malaysian Government to formulate measures to initiate recovery from the economic and financial crisis. She was a Board Member of the Malaysia Employees Provident Fund (1998-2000) and was Deputy Chairman of the National Accreditation Board (May 2003 - October 2007). In 2005, Dr. Mahani was appointed as the Deputy Director-General, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. Dr. Mahani is the Deputy President of the Malaysian Economic Association. In July 2009 Dr. Mahani was appointed Trustee of the 1Malaysia Foundation.

E-mail: mahani@isis.org.my

Prof. Dato' Dr. Norma Mansor

SECRETARY/HEAD OF NEAC SECRETARIAT

Norma Mansor graduated from the University of Malaya with a B.Econs (Hons) in 1980, an MPA (1981) and Ph.D (1985) from the University of Liverpool. She started her career as a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya. She lectures and conducts research on Public Management, Public Policy and Governance. She also consults for local and international bodies. These agencies include the Economic Planning Unit, Sarawak State Economic Development Corporation, UNDP, OECD and the World Bank. Her active contribution was recognised by the University of Malaya and she was promoted as a Professor in the year 2000.

She was a visiting scholar to various institutions such as Stanford University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the East- West Centre, USA; Waseda University and Institute of Developing Economies, Japan. She also had some training at INSEAD, Fontainbleau, Paris. She is a recipient of several awards including the Fulbright Fellowship, the Japan Foundation Fellowship, The University's Excellent Service Award as well as Johan Setia Mahkota (J.S.M) by Seri Paduka Baginda Yang Di-Pertuan Agong 2007.

Prior to the present post, Norma Mansor was Executive Director of the International Institute of Public Policy and Management (INPUMA). At INPUMA, she was responsible for the establishment of the Department of Malaysian Studies at Cairo University which was launched on the 25th June 2003. It is a centre of excellence promoting research and training on Malaysian studies in the Gulf States.

Prior to her appointment as Secretary to the NEAC Council, she was Dean of the Faculty Economics and Administration since 2004.

E-mail: norma@neac.gov.my