Board Nominees 2019

Ramzi Toubassy, was appointed to the Board of Governors on 1 St  September, 2015. As a Board Member, Ramzi has been working closely with fellow members of the Board in redrafting the constitution of the American Chamber of Commerce and is committed to ensuring that proper governance remains pertinent to the Board.  Since his appointment in September 2015, Ramzi is active in promoting and increasing the membership count for the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce.

As an insurance industry expert, Ramzi is a prominent personality in Malaysia and other parts of Asia. On 19 September 2014, Ramzi was appointed as Chief Executive Officer for AmMetLife Insurance Berhad. As Chief Executive Officer, Ramzi is responsible for executing a transformation strategy to achieve profitable growth, accelerate shareholder return, as well as ensuring the operational effectiveness of the AmMetLife business in Malaysia.

Ramzi joined MetLife Inc in 2012, and previously served as its Head of Face-to-Face Distribution for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Prior to joining MetLife, he was with AIA, where over a period of eight years, he held several key management roles including Deputy Chief Agency Officer for Southeast Asia based in Hong Kong, Chief Distribution Officer in Malaysia, Korea and Vietnam. Having started his career at AIG in 1996, Ramzi has accumulated over 20 years of experience in the insurance industry.

Ramzi holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science as well as a Master of Arts in International Relations from Georgia State University, USA.

 

Steve Clayton is Senior Country Officer and CEO/Managing Director of J.P. Morgan Chase Malaysia Bhd. He is a veteran in investment banking, spending the bulk of his 37-year career in senior positions with major global financial services firms.

He currently oversees all corporate and investment banking activities for the Malaysia franchise including those regulated under JPM Securities. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Steve spent 8 years at Barclays Capital Malaysia as Managing Director and CEO, responsible for building the investment banking and sales & distribution business in the market. He also held key roles at Nomura in Malaysia and CLSA in Hong Kong, where he led and closed transformational deals in both markets.

Steve has been an active participant and contributor to many of the Amcham’s events over the past few years. His expertise in the banking world coupled with his 20 years of residency in Malaysia offer the Chamber an experienced voice from the financial institution constituency.

Recent events arising from Bank Negara’s new foreign exchange regulations have shown the importance of member banks providing guidance and advice to the Chamber while also making a major contribution to lobbying efforts. His inclusion as a Governor of the Board offers strong representation for the U.S. banking community.

Steve was educated at a military school in Hong Kong and went onto tertiary education in England in 1976 before returning to Hong Kong for full time employment in 1980. He is proud to say that all his working life has been spent in Asia.

 

With over 6 years in the Malaysian Insurance industry as CEO of AIG Malaysia and 3 years as the Chairman of General Insurance Association of Malaysia, Antony Lee has extensive knowledge and experience in representing industry issues locally within Malaysia. Well accustomed with senior officials of the Malaysian Government, Bank Negara Malaysia as well as the local media, he is also well acquainted at the ASEAN level through the ASEAN Insurance council.

Adding further to Antony’s impressive list of appointments, he is also a board member of the Ombudsman for Financial Services (OFS), the Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII) and the Financial Community Outreach Programme (FINCO).

Being one of the founding members for AMCHAM, it is to no surprise that AIG Malaysia has had a long standing history with AMCHAM. AIG is also one of the largest foreign insurers for local employment with a total of 1,800 employees across four entities and has been actively sponsoring the Corporate Partnership Program.

 

Having spent all my career with leading US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson, and now, at the helm of J&J Malaysia, I am committed to helping Malaysia improve its healthcare standards and in so doing, underline our responsibility as an American organization and the roles and values we bring to the country. Aside from business, every leader has a role to play in giving back to the community and I am devoted to continue doing so through AMCHAM, a powerful voice for American businesses in Malaysia.

During the term I had served as an AMCHAM board member, I’m proud of the close ties we have fostered with the Malaysian government in important industry issues and I am even prouder of the positive changes we have brought to the community.

As an AMCHAM board member, I am grateful I have played a role in elevating the presence of American companies in Malaysia and I would be honored to continue doing so.

 

Robert Cleveland is the General Manager for Abbott Nutrition in Malaysia and the Abbott Management Representative for Abbott Malaysia as a whole since late 2017.

Robert has a 25+ year career in health care, OTC, and packaged goods.  He has previously worked for P&G, Reckitt Benckiser and now Abbott, in the US, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.  He brings extensive experience in healthcare and consumer marketing.

Robert’s prior experience with AmCham was in Indonesia where he was an active participant and the company was a Platinum sponsor.  He has an undergraduate degree from University of California at Davis and an MBA from Duke University.

 

P’ng Soo Hong (P’ng) is the Vice President of Manufacturing Operations and Managing Director of First Solar Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. He oversees the company’s overall strategic direction and is responsible toward the company’s operations, EHS, Quality & Reliability, Human Resources, Finance, IT and Supply Chain performance.

P’ng joined First Solar in October 2008. Prior to First Solar, he was attached to Intel Corporation and had served the company for 17 years after graduating from university.

While at Intel, P’ng had the opportunity to lead several major functions, which include Operation Management, Manufacturing System/Process, and Supply Chain Management development. He was
the General Manager for Intel’s largest Assembly-Test Chipset Operation in Chengdu, China, from 2004 to 2007. It was also the company which he helped start-up. After his assignment, he was relocated to Intel’s 300mm Fab at Arizona.

P’ng currently holds the position of Governing Committee of Electrical & Electronic Productivity Nexus (EEPN), the Board of Director of Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT), the Committee of Kedah Industrial Skills and Management Development Centre (KISMEC), the Chairman of Malaysian Alternative & Renewable Industry (MARI), the Board of Governor of American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM), and the Director of Junior Achievement (JA)
Malaysia.

P’ng is a graduate from the University Science of Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. He is also a certified JONAH in the global Theory of Constraints community.

 

After 10 years as an Electrical Engineer in Rockwell’s manufacturing systems business in USA and ASEAN, Tim built a digital systems business from Malaysia and subsequently sold it to TBWA\ where he is now a Director and CEO of START, a business innovation unit powered by TBWA\.

Well awarded for his digital, brand and public relations work for Bursa Malaysia and the Invest Malaysia platform, the digitization of “Malaysia, Truly Asia” for Tourism Malaysia was one of his most fun and awarded projects.

Tim sits on the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia. He was also the President from 2002-2005, during which time he was awarded a Datukship from His Majesty, The King of Malaysia, for actively developing US-Malaysia trade relationships.