Dr Norraesah Mohamad, is the Chairman of Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd. She is also Executive Chairman of Embunaz Ventures Sdn Bhd, a family owned Investment Company.

Dr Norraesah is a member of the Board of Trustee of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF), a member of its International Advisory Panel and heads the WIEF Businesswomen Network.

She obtained a PhD (Economic Science) International Economics and International Finance from University of Paris I, Pantheon-Sorbonne, France in 1986. In 1982, she obtained her Masters in International Economics Relations from International Institute of Public Administration, France and Masters in International Economics and Finance from University of Paris I, Pantheon-Sorbonne, France. She obtained her first Degree in Economics from University of Malaya and also earned a Diploma in Commercial Policy from GATT, Geneva.

She has over thirty eight (38) years of working experience in the field of banking, investment consultancy and international trade and commerce. She worked with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) from 1972 to 1985, during which time she was in charge of trade policies and multilateral trade negotiations, trade fairs and missions. From 1986 to 1988, she was attached to the Ministry of Finance, responsible for national privatization programmes and debt management. In 1988, she left the public sector to join ESSO Production Malaysia Inc. as Communications Manager. From 1990 to 1991, she assumed the position of Managing Director with a consulting firm which provides financial and investment advisory services. She was later appointed as the Chief Representative of Credit Lyonnais Bank in Malaysia in 1991, a position she held until 1998. She was the Chairman of Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia, the largest Cooperative Bank of Malaysia, from 2000 to 2003. She was then appointed Chairman of Alcatel Network Systems from 2003 to 2005. She currently sits on the Board of several listed companies and private limited companies.

She was appointed a Senator from October 2005 to February 2008. She is a recipient of several state awards and was conferred the Chevalier de La Legion d’Honneur from the French Government in 2004.

She sits on several taskforces / committees on economics, education and entrepreneurship of the party, NGOs and those constituted by the Government. She is also a known motivational speaker.

Her other professional affiliations include OECD Centre for Development, Paris (1982) and a consultant for UNCTAD on Malaysia’s Trade Relations with Socialist Countries of Eastern Europe (1979).