JOHOR BARU: Johor Deputy State Secretary (Development) Datuk Dr Badrul Hisham Kassim (pic) has been appointed the new Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) chief executive officer.
In a statement yesterday, Irda said Badrul Hisham’s appointment was agreed upon during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad held recently.
His appointment is effective Jan 1, 2022.
The 54-year-old will replace Datuk Ismail Ibrahim whose term ends after 12 years of service leading the agency.
Badrul Hisham has been a Johor state administrative officer since 1992 where his involvement in Iskandar Malaysia began before the establishment of Irda.
In 2006, he was seconded to Khazanah Nasional Berhad from the Johor Economic Planning Unit (Upen) to plan the formation of Iskandar Malaysia.
From there, he has been directly involved in the Irda comprehensive development plan 2006-2025 and the draft of the Irda Bill.
After returning to Upen, he was appointed as the first Irda state commissioner to carry out the task of coordinating matters with Johor government departments and agencies, including the approvals required at the state level.
Badrul Hisham held the position from 2007 to 2014 and during that period, he was involved in the joint ministerial committee between Malaysia and Singapore on Iskandar Malaysia.
He was Johor Baru Central Municipal Council president, now known as Iskandar Puteri City Council, which is one of the local authorities in Iskandar Malaysia.
Badrul Hisham holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Staffordshire Polytechnic, England, Master of Business Management from the University of Leicester and a doctorate from the University of Glamorgan in Wales in the field of water management and privatisation.
He has attended an executive course at Harvard Kennedy School in the United States and was appointed adjunct professor by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 2016.