PETRONAS Chemicals Group Bhd has appointed Izwan Ismail as its managing director and chief executive officer, effective Jan 1, 2027.
The group said its board approved the appointment at a special meeting held on Oct 2.
Izwan, 51, brings more than 29 years of experience across finance, corporate planning, strategy, commercial management, operations and technology.
He began his career with Arthur Andersen in Sydney in 1997 before joining PETRONAS in 2000, where he served in corporate finance, group accounts and group treasury at MISC Bhd. He later held senior roles within AET Group covering finance, planning and corporate development.
In 2013, he became PETRONAS’ head of corporate finance, before serving as executive assistant to the president and group CEO from 2017. He was subsequently appointed chief financial officer of PETRONAS Energy Canada Ltd in 2020 and later became its president, CEO and country chairman for PETRONAS in Canada in 2022.
Since October 2024, Izwan has served as vice president of Group Technology & Commercialisation at PETRONAS, leading the group’s transformation of its artificial intelligence and digital ecosystem as well as its research and development activities.
He currently also serves as a director of PETRONAS Gas Bhd and several PETRONAS subsidiaries.
Izwan holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a double major in Accounting and Information Systems from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is also a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and a member of MICPA and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.
He holds 10,000 shares in PETRONAS Chemicals.
