Tan Sri (Dr) Mohd Hassan Marican
Chancellor
Tan Sri (Dr) Mohd Hassan Marican was born in Sungai Petani, Kedah in 1952. He received his early education from Sekolah Rendah Ibrahim in Sungai Petani and secondary education from Malay College Kuala Kangsar.
He left for London to join the accounting firm Touche Ross & Co as an article clerk in 1972 before becoming a Chartered Accountant and was subsequently appointed as Audit Manager, the first Malay to hold the position at the firm. Tan Sri Hassan returned to Malaysia in 1980 to join Hanafiah Raslan & Mohamad / Touche Ross & Co – Public Accountants; and became a partner a year later.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, he is also a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants and the Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants.
Tan Sri Hassan was called to serve the National Oil Corporation, PETRONAS, as Senior Vice President, Finance in 1989. He was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer in 1995 and held the position until 2010. It was during his leadership that saw the transformation of PETRONAS into a fully integrated oil and gas company with operations in more than 30 countries and a Fortune 500 company.
During his tenure in PETRONAS, Tan Sri Hassan held several external positions including Director of the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Authority, a statutory authority equally owned by the Governments of Malaysia and Thailand, responsible for the development of the upstream joint development area straddling the two countries.
He also served as a Non-executive Director of Bank Negara Malaysia from 2005 to 2010. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Business Council and the International Investment Council of South Africa. Tan Sri Hassan was also a Board Member of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative and a Council Member of the Council of 100 Leaders.
After PETRONAS, Tan Sri Hassan served as Independent Director of ConocoPhillips between 2011 and 2013, and also Independent Director of Khazanah Nasional Bhd from 2018 to 2019.
Tan Sri Hassan is currently on the Board of Directors of Sarawak Energy Bhd, Sarawak’s sole utility provider that is fast transforming into a major power utility player in the region, as well as Director of Lambert Energy Advisory, a boutique Mergers and Acquisition and Strategic Advisory firm headquartered in London. He is also currently the Chairman of Singapore Power Ltd, Sembcorp Marine Ltd and Pavilion Energy Pte Ltd, and a Senior International Advisor at Temasek International Advisors.
He has received numerous awards, including the Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM) in 1997, which carries the title Tan Sri. He has also received various international recognitions, among others, the “Commandeur De La Legion D’Honneur” by the French Government in 2000 and the “Friendship Medal” by the Vietnamese Government in 2001. He was recently awarded the “Emperor of Japan ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star” by the Japanese Government in 2020.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Engineering) by University of Malaya in 2001 and Honorary Doctorate (Corporate Governance) by Universiti Teknologi MARA in 2006.
The appointment of Tan Sri Hassan as the fourth Chancellor of UTP represents a homecoming for it was during his tenure as President and Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS that the idea for UTP was first mooted, conceptualised and eventually realised. It was exactly on this date 25 years ago, that Tan Sri Hassan received the invitation letter from the Government to establish UTP. He was the university’s first Chairman of the Board of Directors and was very much involved in the establishment of UTP and the development of this campus. He was also the Pro Chancellor of UTP from 2003 until 2010.
