Dato’ Jeffri Salim Davidson is the group chief executive officer Sime Darby Berhad, a Malaysian multinational with core businesses in industrial and motors as well as interests in healthcare and logistics, spread across 19 countries.

A chartered accountant by training, Davidson has had a long career with the multinational corporation. He served primarily in its industrial and power-systems business divisions, as well as subsidiaries in the region.

His gradual rise saw him in various finance roles including financial director of Tractors Malaysia Holdings. Davidson later served as the managing director of The China Engineers in Hong Kong and subsequently went to Guangzhou, China, where he was responsible for Sime Darby Industrial’s Caterpillar distribution business in southern China and Xinjiang.

He was later involved in the corporation’s power-systems business division, managing its significant operations in Singapore, China and Malaysia. Before his appointment as deputy group chief financial officer, he was senior vice president of the industrial division for Singapore and China.

Appointed as group chief executive officer of Sime Darby Berhad in 2017, Dato’ Jeffri Salim Davidson has done a spectacular job steering the Malaysian multinational, with core businesses in industrial equipment and motors as well as interests in healthcare and logistics, spread across 19 countries.

Most recently, he made waves with Sime Darby’s acquisition of major stakes into both the top-selling national as well as international car brands locally—making the company the largest automotive player in Malaysia—on top of registering over RM200 million profit in the third quarter of this year. The focus on the automotive industry also has Jeffri feeling bullish about Sime Darby’s presence in China, where, among others, it deals with electric vehicles.