By MARK RAO / Pic By ISMAIL CHE RUS

Sime Darby Plantations Bhd MD Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh (picture) has been appointed as Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) chairman effective July 31 this year.

MPOB said in a statement yesterday that Mohd Bakke’s appointment as chairman to the government agency will be for a two-year term.

Mohd Bakke replaces former MPOB chair Datuk Seri Ahmad Hamzah and will answer directly to Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok.

An MPOB spokesperson told The Malaysian Reserve that its new chairman will serve the board at the non-executive level, thus allowing Mohd Bakke to hold both his positions at MPOB and Sime Darby Plantations.

The 63-year-old is also the executive deputy chairman for Sime Darby Plantations and sits on the board of Eastern & Oriental Bhd, Yayasan Sime Darby and Malaysian Industry-Government Group or High Technology.

“Mohd Bakke has vast experience in the oil palm industry, having served in plantation companies including as president and group CEO of Sime Darby Bhd,” MPOB said in the statement.

“He is responsible for overseeing the core divisions within the group which includes plantation, property, industrial, motors and logistics.”

Mohd Bakke joined Sime Darby in 2010 when he was appointed as its acting president and group CEO on July 15.

He then assumed the position of president and CEO for the group on Nov 20 that same year — a position he held until Nov 20, 2017.

During this time, he oversaw the core divisions within the group which included plantation, property, industrial, motors and logistics.

Mohd Bakke joined the group on Nov 16, 2010 and the board of Sime Darby Plantations on Dec 30 that same year.

Following his appointment as executive deputy chairman and MD for Sime Darby Plantations on Nov 21, 2017, he resigned his position as a board of director to Sime Darby.

Mohd Bakke also served as Felda Holdings Bhd group MD from December 2005 before his appointment as group president and CEO of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd — the world’s largest crude palm oil producer today — on January 2009.

Prior to this, he was the group MD and CEO for Malaysia’s pilgrim fund Lembaga Tabung Haji from 2001 to 2005 after serving as director of Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd’s property division from 1999 to 2001.

Mohd Bakke was also a member of the Securities Commission Malaysia from 2004 to 2010.