Tan Sri Jamaludin has more than 40 years of experience, including 16 years in IT and 23 years in telecommunications. Outside ICT, he has also been involved in various roles, in public and private sectors, especially in education.
He is now the Chairman of QSR Brands (M) Holdings Bhd, a leading food industry player and the franchise owner of KFC/Pizza Hut in Malaysia and Singapore. He is also an Independent Board Member of Sunway Berhad, one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerates, and a member of the Advisory Panel of Axiata Group. He was appointed to all the three roles in March 2021, after his retirement in Dec 2020. He has just been appointed the Chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Bhd, effective 15 July 2021.
Tan Sri Jamaludin is also a member of the country’s Economic Action Council1 since March 2020 and a member of the National Digital Economy Council and 4IR2 since November 2020. Both roles were appointed by the Prime Minister, who chairs both Councils.
Prior to his retirement on 31st December 2020, Jamaludin was the President & Group CEO of Axiata. He took on the role since its inception in 2008 with the vision to transform a Government-Linked Company to a Regional Champion. He successfully led the listing of the company in 2008, navigated through the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/9, and grew the company to become an iconic regional company with operations in three different lines of business (Telecommunication, Digital/Internet and Tower Infrastructure) across a footprint of 11 countries in ASEAN and South Asia. Within the Group, he was the Chairman of Celcom, and, a Board Member of Axiata Group, Axiata Digital Services, edotco Group, XL (in Indonesia), M1 (in Singapore), Dialog (in Sri Lanka). He continues to be a member of the Board of Trustee of Axiata Foundation.
Prior to Axiata, Tan Sri Jamaludin spent over 10 years with Maxis Communications Berhad since 1997. He was made chief operating officer the same year and chief executive officer a year later until he retired in 2008. He navigated the company through the Asean Financial Crisis in 1997/8, made Maxis the largest mobile company in 2000 only about 5 years after launching, and successfully led the listing of the company in 2002.
He led Digital Equipment (DEC) Malaysia as its Managing Director from 1993 to1997. Prior to that, he spent about 12 years in IBM as a Systems Engineer and various positions in Sales and Management. His career began in 1980 as a lecturer in Quantitative Methods at California State University, Chico, USA, for one year.
Tan Sri Jamaludin had served as a board member of GSMA, the world’s biggest Mobile Association, for six two-year terms (between 2003 to 2020) and was the Deputy Chairman in 2014.
Apart from his experience in the private sectors, Jamaludin has also been involved in the public sectors. He was involved in a few local Universities, either as a Board member, a special committee member or an Adjunct Professor. He had also served as the Chairman of the National Science Centre, and, a board member of the government-owned venture capital company, Mavcap, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDeC), and Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) .
Over the years, Jamaludin has earned numerous awards and accolades in recognition for his contributions and achievements, by local and international organizations. Among them were American Express & Business Times Malaysia ‘CEO of the Year 2000’ and ‘Telecommunications CEO of the Year’ by Telecom Asia Awards 2010 and Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Award 2010. Jamaludin was conferred the prestigious global award, ‘The Chairman’s Award’, by GSM Association (GSMA). in 2015 for “outstanding personal contribution to the growth and development of mobile communications around the world”.
