Richard Wong Chin Mun – Vistage Chair Profile

RICHARD WONG CHIN MUN left Nylex (Malaysia) Berhad, part of the London based worldwide BTR group at the end of June 1994 as Managing Director/Group Chief Executive after 18 years with the Group to start the CEO development and education service. He founded Vistage Malaysia (formerly known as TEC Asia Centre) which has license to the internationally known Vistage process that helps CEOs proactively manage change and stay ahead of the competition through sharing ideas, expertise and personal experience with other successful CEOs.

After five years as a teacher, he left for Australia for his business degrees. After working with multi-national companies both at home and overseas in senior finance positions in various industries, he joined Nylex Malaysia as the Financial Controller/Company Secretary in January 1976 and became the first Malaysian to be appointed as General Manager/Director of the company in 1980 which was then 60% owned by Nylex Corporation Limited, Australia. He was promoted to the position of Managing Director in 1985.

He was instrumental in introducing the Adizes holistic methodology in 1983 starting with the Polymer business and later in Tamco Group and other subsidiaries within the Nylex Malaysia Group of Companies. Under his leadership, Nylex Malaysia not only won the country’s 1991 Quality Management Award from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry but also became the FIRST company in Malaysia to be awarded the ISO 9001 certification by SIRIM in November 1991. He was also voted Boss-Of-The-Year 1991/92 by the Secretaries’ Society of Malaysia. Nylex (Malaysia) was ranked 5th in the top ten best managed companies in Malaysia by Asia Money & Finance in July/Aug 1992.

Quote from the article:

“Nylex (Malaysia) has successfully combined the technical knowhow of its Australian parent with the management skills of its local managers. Senior managers led by Richard Wong are among one of the most well-regarded and they run a decentralised operation that farms out responsibilities to middle managers.”

Under his stewardship from 1986 to 1994 (sales growth from RM20 million to >RM500 million), Nylex grew and diversified from being a purely plastic business into switchgear, electrical & electronic products and systems, glass packaging, roofing tiles, fibreglass insulation products and light fittings businesses through both organic growth and acquisitions, with 12 companies located not only in Malaysia but Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong. In addition, three joint-ventures were initiated with Japan, Taiwan and United Arab Emirates in automotive, sporting goods and switchgear businesses.

In August 1996, he was asked to turnaround a large glove manufacturing company. For the period from 1997 – 2000, annual sales doubled and Profit After Tax increased fourfold. Under his leadership, the company was given the Export Excellence Award for 1997 and Product Excellence and Innovative Award for 2000 by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. It has operating subsidiaries and sales offices in the USA, UK, Turkey, Vienna, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Malaysia, Indonesia and China and employs more than 5,000 employees worldwide. He left in 2001 after completing a five year contract to devote more time to Vistage.

He was the Deputy Chairman of the Nylex Board and Chairman of Audit Committee from 1994 – 1999. He was a Council member of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers and also served as a member of the National Export Council under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for several years. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council from 2000-2002. In November 2006, he was appointed by the Minister of International Trade and Industries to the country’s first National Branding Task Force to assist in the country’s branding initiatives.

Richard also serves as the senior non-executive & independent director of Sunway Holdings Inc. Bhd and is the Chairman of its Audit and Nomination Committees.

Besides being a Vistage accredited chair/coach with 20 CEOs under his care, he also does selective coaching for top management of companies and strategic annual retreats for large and SME Companies. His hobbies are reading, music and qigong.