Commits to accelerating Malaysia’s digital transformation.
The Board of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Malaysia’s lead agency for digital transformation, is pleased to announce the appointment of Ts Mahadhir Aziz as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective 1st September 2021.
He was previously the co-founder and CEO of Futurize since its establishment in 2017, an agency under the Ministry of Finance mandated to drive the National Regulatory Sandbox (NRS) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyberview. In March 2020, Mahadhir was also handpicked to be part of the founding team at the National Economic Implementation and Strategic Coordination Agency (LAKSANA) under the Ministry of Finance.
A recognised industry leader, Mahadhir has a proven track record of over 20 years in various industries including Financial Services, Energy (Oil and Gas), Information Technology and Media, serving established global and local organisations such as Deloitte Consulting, Kodak, PETRONAS, and AmInvestment Bank.
“I am honoured for the trust placed in me to lead MDEC as it celebrates its silver jubilee and 25 years accelerating growth of the nation’s ICT and digital economy. I am ready to build on MDEC’s strong foundation and recent ‘Reinvent’ mission and look forward to working closely together with the experienced team here to deliver on the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL). We must focus on execution to expand investments and deliver the benefits of the digital economy to the Rakyat. The objective is clear – to establish Malaysia as a leading digital nation and the Heart of Digital ASEAN,” said Mahadhir Aziz, CEO, MDEC. Following the mandate by the Ministry of Finance, Mahadhir says, “First on my agenda will be to strengthen MDEC’s role in the national digital economy policy making and drive impact. We must take stock of the way we currently operate within the governance framework to ensure our programmes, including grants, reach the intended beneficiaries. Supporting our ecosystem by enhancing our cadence and speed of operations will be key to the success of our digital economy.”
“Mahadhir is a proven leader and has left significant impact at the organisations that he has led. With his solid technology and digital background and proven track record, I am confident he will lead MDEC in driving the digital economy of the nation in line with the aspiration and in ensuring that we continue to provide equitable digital opportunities to society, people, and businesses, echoing the Malaysia 5.0 agenda,” said Datuk Wira Dr Hj. Rais Hussin Mohamed Ariff, Chairman, MDEC.
In moving forward to establish Malaysia as the Heart of Digital ASEAN, Mahadhir reiterates he is looking to drive collaboration with other agencies and Ministries to benefit society, businesses and rally the Rakyat to recover together under the National Recovery Plan. Appointed the General Manager at Cyberview in 2015, he was instrumental in formulating the development of the Cyberjaya Global Technology Hub Blueprint and its implementation. Amongst the notable digital and tech transformation projects in which he successfully launched was the establishment of the City Innovation Council to manage Smart City implementation including the Cashless Cyberjaya programme.
He currently chairs several strategic committees focusing on the development of Malaysia’s future tech ecosystems and regulations including the National Regulatory Sandbox (NRS) Advisory Panel. Mahadhir has also served on various committees such as the United Nations Technology Innovation
Labs Advisory Panel and the Malaysian Industry4WRD Regulatory Panel at the Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI).
On the global stage, Mahadhir has represented Malaysia at the Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum (2015 – a World Economic Forum branch of Russian Federation), Smart City Expo World Congress (2016-2018) in Barcelona (where he was acknowledged as among the global thought leaders in smart city initiatives), Global Transformation Forum (2017) and United Nations World Urban Forum (2018) which subsequently led to him being invited as a panel member of the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs.
Mahadhir is passionate about developing communities and society in general. He has contributed probono work for the Project Management Institute (PMI) where he was the Content Reviewer and Contributor for the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), which is the guide used for all PMI-certified project managers (Project Management Professional – PMP) globally.
He is an active participant in the Malaysian education system at both the university and secondary school programs ranging from volunteer work to arts and STEM. Mahadhir holds a B.Sc. Computer Science from Lakehead University with a Minor in Business and is registered with the Malaysia Board of Technologists (MBOT).
