Datuk Seri (Dr) Michael Yam Kong Choy

After graduating from the University of Westminster in 1979, Michael gained his early work experience in construction and management whilst working with the British Civil Service and a British project management firm in the UK before returning to Malaysia in 1983.

Michael has, over a span of more than 35 years, built an illustrious career in the real estate, construction and corporate sectors not only in Malaysia but also in the UK, South Africa and Australia, and has held top management positions in several Malaysian blue-chip companies, such as Landmarks Berhad, Peremba Malaysia and subsequently appointed as CEO of Country Heights Holdings Berhad in 1996 as well as CEO/MD of Sunrise Berhad in 1997.

He decided to take an early retirement in 2008 but remained active in the businesses and industries that nurtured his core competencies and experience. Apart from establishing a development and corporate advisory consultancy in 2009 known as Impetus Alliance Advisors that provides strategic advice to selected clients, Michael was appointed as an independent director on the boards of various public listed companies, large private entities and well-known organisations.

At various periods from 2009 until recently, he was an independent director of Sunway Berhad, Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad, Construction Industry Development Board, Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad, Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. He has also served the maximum 9-year tenure permissible by Bank Negara Malaysia as an independent director of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad from 2009 to 2018 and Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad from 2011 till 2020 while chairing the Board Risk Management Committee of both banks.

Michael is currently the Chairman of InvestKL Corporation, an investment promotion agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia since 2012, and has just retired as the senior independent director of Paramount Corporation Berhad and Chairman of its Nominating and Remuneration Committees, and also Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad while chairing its Board Finance and Investment Committee and 2 of its major subsidiaries, namely Eraman Duty Free Sdn Bhd and KL Airports Hotels Sdn Bhd. He was until end of 2020, also the Chairman of EPF’s wholly owned subsidiary, Kwasa Land Sdn Bhd, and still remains presently a director on the board of Kwasa Utama Sdn Bhd.

His current involvement in NGOs and professional organisations include being the Most Recent President and Patron of the Malaysian Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (“REHDA”), a Trustee of the REHDA Institute and a Trustee of the Standard Chartered Foundation. He is also the incumbent Senior Vice President of the 188-year old Chartered Institute of Building with a membership of 47,000 professionals and students across the globe. In June 2022 he would make history as the first Malaysian and second Asian ever to be elected President of the chartered institute that accredits appropriate university degrees worldwide and publishes and promotes research, education and the science and practice of building and construction including the publication and public education of the results of all such research.

Michael is an Adjunct Professor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and is a guest lecturer for the Master’s degree course in Real Estate Development of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, apart from being a regular host, moderator and speaker at various conferences and webinars. He won Malaysia’s CEO of the Year Award in 2002 and was conferred the Honorary Doctorate of the University of Heriot-Watt University, Scotland in 2020.