Board of Directors
Manulife Insurance Berhad

Ms. James was the Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) & Head of Transformation Office for Bank Danamon Indonesia from 2016 to February 2020. In this role, she led digital transformation to meet the digital challenges of a mobile-first world, built digital partnerships with the business, and created new business opportunities, as well as built a consistent experience for customers across different lines of business. She built and implemented bank-wide Big Data Strategy within two years and garnered two global Big Data awards. 

Prior to joining Danamon, Ms. James was the Group CIO and Head of Infrastructure for Alliance Bank Berhad, Malaysia from October 2010 to February 2016, and was part of the management team to create new values and culture for the organization and designed and implemented a talent management framework. Ms. James also created a division to take on major Business Process Re-engineering projects, and delivered multiple infrastructure projects, legacy modernization of applications and virtualization.  

From year 2009 to year 2010, Ms. James was the Chief Information Officer at NIB Bank, Pakistan on a short-term assignment of two years to bring under control multiple failing projects and manage the cost overrun on these projects. Her major accomplishments were the rollout of Core Banking solutions nationwide across 250 branches within five months and management of IBM and Core Banking vendors to achieve savings of 30%.   

Ms. James was also with Bank Danamon Indonesia from year 2004 to year 2009 as Program Manager and subsequently Head of Technology, where she was responsible for transactional systems and technology infrastructure. As program manager, she was responsible for the bank’s critical and major IT projects, and also implemented the department organizational strategy, which involved organization realignment and optimization of IT resources. 

Ms. James held multiple senior roles in Citigroup from year 1997 to year 2004, such as Senior Project Manager, Equities Technology Group, London, Head of Systems and Expert Group, System Owner, Sales and Marketing and Head of ELC Operations and Technology, Malaysia. She replaced the global middle office system and integrated the Helsinki Exchange across both the equities and derivatives business. 

Mr. Belfer has held senior executive positions with Asian branches of global insurance companies and has significant board experience. Mr. Belfer was the Regional Senior Actuary for John Hancock in Asia for 5 years to assist with the establishment of its business presence in the region. 

Mr. Belfer was a founder for American International Group’s (“AIG”) Asia Pacific Life Operations Life Insurance Region. Mr. Belfer established and grew the Region for over 15 years, of which 11 years were as the Regional Senior Executive. He also established and led the AIG Enterprise Risk Management for two years in Asia, bringing it out of the New York Headquarters and into the businesses within the Asian Region.

Mr. Belfer was the Chief Executive Officer for Prudential Life Assurance Thailand and Managing Director for Prudential Corporation Asia from year 2015 to year 2017. Prior to that, he served as Country President (CEO) & Chairperson of the Board for the Ace Group’s Life Insurance Company in Thailand from year 2010 to year 2013.

Mr. Belfer is a Chairman of the Risk Management Committee and is a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating/Remuneration Committee of the Company.

Mrs. Vijayam Nadarajah served as President of IIAM from 1996 to 1997 and was re-appointed as a Governor to the Board of Governors of IIAM in 2018. She chaired the task force on Guidelines for Effective Internal Audit Function. Mrs. Vijayam was an Independent Non-Executive Director of The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad, MPI Generali Insurers Berhad and BNP Paribas Malaysia Berhad. Prior to her appointment to The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad, she was a consultant for China Construction Bank Malaysia Berhad on matters related to licensing and operational readiness audit. From year 2013 to year 2016, Mrs. Vijayam Nadarajah served as a Specialist for the Research and Development/Corporate Program of the Financial Accreditation Agency, which is an initiative supported by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia. She also served as Financial Controller at CIMB Aviva Assurance Berhad and CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Assistant General Manager of Finance at Oriental Capital Assurance Berhad, as well as senior roles in RHB Bank Berhad and Sime Bank Berhad/UMBC Bank Berhad.

Mrs. Vijayam Nadarajah presently sits on the Boards of Matrix Concepts Holdings Berhad and Monash University Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Mrs. Vijayam Nadarajah is the Chairman of the Audit Committee and a member of the Risk Management Committee and Nominating/Remuneration Committee of the Company. She is also a Director and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee, and a member of the Group Risk Management Committee and Group Nominating/Remuneration Committee of Manulife Holdings Berhad.

Dato’ Khalid bin Abdol Rahman is an accomplished corporate leader with over 40 years of experience in corporate finance, corporate planning, and business development. He retired from DRB-HICOM Berhad in January 2018 after holding senior roles such as Group CEO of POS Malaysia Berhad, and Group Director, Corporate Planning & Business Development, where he led major acquisitions, mergers, and strategic initiatives, including the acquisition of POS Malaysia Berhad and the partnership for PROTON with Zhejiang Geely.

Following his retirement, he served as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of SRT-EON Security Services Sdn Bhd (2018–2022) and was Chairman of The Pacific Insurance Berhad until May 2025. His earlier career includes leadership positions in Tradewinds Corporation Berhad, MARA Holdings, Malaysian Mining Corporation and merchant banking.

Dato’ Khalid is the Chairman of the Nominating/Remuneration Committee and is a member of the Risk Management Committee and Audit Committee of the Company. He is also a Director, the Chairman of both the Group Risk Management Committee and Group Nominating/Remuneration Committee and is also a member of the Group Audit Committee of Manulife Holdings Berhad.