SHELL Malaysia has appointed Sarawakian Ivan Tan as its new country chairman effective April 1 to succeed Datuk Iain Lo who will retire from company service after serving as chairman for eight years and having a distinguished career at Shell for 30 years.
As chairman of Shell Malaysia, Tan will oversee the company’s entire businesses in addition to his current role as senior vice president and managing director for the upstream business in Malaysia.
Tan began his career with Shell in Miri in 2001. His early career comprised of several wells, contracting and procurement as well as health, safety and the environment (HSE) assignments in Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and China.
In an interview with the Borneo Post on July 22 last year, Tan said having a father who worked with Shell had enabled him to gain insights into the company from a very early age.
“It made for interesting dinner time conversation! I was fortunate to receive a scholarship from Shell and my professional journey kick started from there,” he recalled.
“I grew up in Miri. I went to school at St Joseph’s Primary School Miri and thereafter St Joseph’s Secondary School, both in Miri.
“In 1997, I received a scholarship from Shell to study A-levels at Loughborough and then Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College in London.”
In 2016, he led the technical integration of the Shell and British Gas businesses in Australia before being appointed chief operating officer for Arrow Energy, one of Shell’s joint ventures in the country.
He was responsible for the end-to-end delivery of capacity development, projects, wells, asset management and energy markets for Arrow’s business in the natural gas industry. He was also the co-chair and President of Queensland Natural Gas Exploration and the Production Industry Safety Forum.
Tan returned to Malaysia in February 2020 to take up his current role in the upstream business.
He has led the ongoing transformation of the upstream business in Malaysia to become more stream-lined and competitive, in order to thrive through the energy transition.
Aside from his mechanical engineering degree, Tan also holds a MBA from the Manchester Business School.
“We would like to thank Datuk Iain for his leadership, experience and commitment over his distinguished career with Shell,” shared Royal Dutch Shell upstream director Wael Sawan.
“We welcome Tan into the role of country chairman for Malaysia. Tan is known for his strong business acumen and track record in safety and operational leadership, and I am confident that he will drive further opportunities in Malaysia in line with our global strategy and to support Malaysia with its energy transition.” – March 31, 2021
