Our Founder

Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah AO is the founder and trustee of Malaysia’s largest education-focused social enterprise, Jeffrey Cheah Foundation (JCF). The Foundation was founded on 28 December 2007. His lifelong dedication to sustainable development is evident in the thriving communities throughout Sunway’s integrated developments and townships, sprawling more than 5,000 acres across Malaysia.

He is also the founder and chairman of Sunway Group, a leading Malaysian conglomerate with core interests in property, construction, hospitality, retail, education and healthcare.

Sustainability is nurtured not only in developments and townships, but also through the realisation of dreams: Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah AO is a champion and advocate of quality education and research, making them accessible to deserving students through JCF scholarships.

As a strong advocate of quality education and research as well as sustainable development, Tan Sri Cheah continues to fulfil his personal life philosophy of “aspiring to inspire before I expire”. He had transferred, in perpetuity, the equity and rights of Sunway Education Group’s (SEG) educational institutions, worth several billion Ringgit, into the JCF.

Tan Sri Dr. Jeffrey Cheah AO’s vision to transform SEG into the intellectual and cultural hub of the East has seen JCF establishing academic ties with some of the world’s preeminent universities including University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and University of Oxford.

The appointment of Jeffrey Cheah Professors at each of these universities aim to facilitate a two-way flow of scholars and researchers between the world-class institutions and the Southeast Asian region.

He is also the mastermind behind the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia (JCI), the first public-policy think tank based in a private university in Malaysia, to conduct and promote joint research and teaching on economies, societies, politics, and cultures in Southeast Asia.