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Board of Directors

Chairman, Non-independent, Non-Executive Director
Experience: Bernard Teo joined Eastspring Investments, the Asian asset management business of Prudential plc, as Head of Corporate Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, in September 2016. He is responsible for strategic growth initiatives including acquisition execution, mergers, strategic team lift-outs and partnerships.

Prior to joining Eastspring, Bernard worked in the investment banking industry focusing on financial institutions. He worked at Goldman Sachs for 12 years, where he was a Managing Director and Co–Chief Operating Officer of Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APxJ) for the Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and Head of China FIG. He was responsible for clients in Greater China and South East Asia and co-managed a group of 50 APxJ FIG bankers.  During this time, he was involved in a number of key transactions including the $20.5bn IPO of AIA, the $11.2bn IPO of Bank of China, the $3.6bn IPO of PICC Group and the $4.1bn IPO for GF Securities. 

Previously, Bernard was with Lehman Brothers/Nomura International where he was Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Financial Institutions Group in the Investment Banking Division. 

Bernard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.
Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer
Puan Khadijah Sairah Ibrahim (Sairah) was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Eastspring Al Wara’ Investments Berhad (EAIB) effective 1 March 2019.

Sairah will be responsible for the growth and development of our Islamic funds business.

Having worked in the industry for more than 20 years, Sairah has extensive experience in portfolio management and business development in the local asset management market in both conventional and Islamic firms. She joins us from RHB Islamic International Asset Management where she was Head of GLC and Public Sector. In this role, she is responsible in raising the assets under management for the institutional business of the firm with a focus on Islamic and conventional mandates, including the development of new partnerships in cross-border markets, including Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Prior to that, she has worked with Manulife Asset Management as Head of Portfolio & Investment Advisory responsible in enhancing the overall profile and assets under management of the company through engagement with various distribution channels. Previously, she was the Head of Unit Trust Sales & Marketing with AmanahRaya Investment Management and Head of Business Development with Meridien Asset Management.

She started her career with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) Group, where she held various roles from equity research, fund management, unit trust operations and product development. She used to manage one of the largest funds of PNB, Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) and also the shariah-compliant fund, Amanah Saham Didik (ASD).

Sairah holds an MBA (with distinction) in finance from the University of Malaya, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia/PNBi, and a BBA (Transportation) from the Mara Institute of Technology.
Independent, Non-Executive director
Zuhairi Ismail was appointed as the independent director of the Eastspring Al-Wara Investments Berhad on 15 July 2020.

With over 24 years of experience within the financial industry (Banking, Finance, Insurance and Takaful), Zuhairi has held a number of senior management roles with cross-functional experiences in areas of internal audit, compliance, as well as risk management. He was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of Zurich General Takaful Berhad. He started his career as internal auditor with MBf Finance Berhad in 1996. In 2002, he joined AMI Insurans Berhad, a subsidiary of Bumiputra Commerce Holding Berhad (currently known as CIMB Group), where he had become Acting Head of Internal Audit. Two years later, he was transferred within the Group to Bumiputra Commerce Bank and was exposed to the audit of overseas bank and branches. In 2006, he had been entrusted to senior role in CIMB Aviva, an Insurance and Takaful entities. In 2010, he joined Uni.Asia General Insurance Berhad (currently known as Liberty Insurance) as Head of Compliance and was later entrusted to become Chief Internal Auditor. Subsequently in 2014, he joined Zurich Malaysia as an Audit Director - Country Chief Internal Auditor.

Zuhairi who holds a Bachelor of Accounting and Finance from the University of the West of England in Bristol, United Kingdom is also a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), a Chartered Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia (CMIIA), a Chartered Professional in Islamic Finance (CPIF) and a Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Islamic Finance (CIIF).
Non-independent, Non-Executive Director
Raymond is the non-executive director for Eastspring Al-Wara’ Investments Berhad.

He brings with him almost 30 years of industry experience and has worked for nearly 20 years in senior positions in the asset management industry including Head of International and Institutional Business and Chief Investment Officer, Asean Region for CIMB-Principal Asset Management Berhad. Previously, he was the Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer at CMS Dresdner Asset Management Sdn Bhd. He also worked as a fund manager at SBB Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Investment Executive at CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd, and commenced his career in the investment industry at RHB Asset Management Sdn Bhd.

Currently, he is the Chairman of Malaysian Association of Asset Managers (MAAM) and Chairman of FTSE Bursa Malaysia Index Advisory Committee. He is a Director of the Securities Industry Dispute Resolution Center (SIDREC) and also an invitee in the Executive Committee of Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC).

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of England and he obtained his Capital Markets Services Representative’s Licence in 1997 from the Securities Commission Malaysia.