As a national digital transformation leader, Dr Karl has been leading Malaysia’s effort in building a thriving digital economy and data ecosystem that leverage on the power of data for value creation, innovation and new sources of growth. As a self-starter and business Innovation leader, he has track record of more than 27 years’ experience in Government, ICT & Manufacturing sector driving numerous initiatives in areas of Innovation, business strategy, risk capital, startup accelerator, corporate innovation, capability development, R&D and digital transformation. Currently at MDEC, he is the Vice President of Digital Health & Digital Cities where he drives strategic national catalytic initiatives within Digital Malaysia. Dr Karl is instrumental in development of National Big Data Analytics Framework in 2014 and the development of the National Artificial Intelligence Framework resulting in the exponential growth of data professionals, data driven organisations in Malaysia. He also developed the National Data Sharing Policy and currently co-chairs the implementation Technical Committee. Dr Karl has developed and directed numerous programs on the use of data technology in different sectors including smart cities, transportation, agriculture and healthcare. The Malaysia City Brain pilot at Kuala Lumpur City Hall won an Excellence award from OpenGov. The agriculture tech adoption initiative, eLadang was announced as one of the programmes under the national PEMULIH recovery plan post-COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Karl holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, an MBA with Distinction and a Doctorate of Business Degrees from Charles Sturt University, Australia. He has also completed The Oxford AI Program from the Said Business School, University of Oxford. He has also attended executive programs from Harvard Business School and Carnegie Melon University. He is also a registered Professional Engineer. He sits in advisory boards of several universities & professional bodies in Malaysia. In 2022, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by HELP University. He has served as a judge in international Entrepreneurship and Innovation awards including EY Entrepreneur of the Year Malaysia from 2012- 2016. Dr Karl speaks regularly in regional and international conferences on Digital Transformation & Data Driven innovation.