Manaf Gardner Associates

Who We Are

Manaf Gardner Associates (MGA) was founded in 2025 by Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf and Professor Dr Colyn Gardner with a mission to create a specialised Human Capital and Executive Education consulting firm.

Both bring many years of experience in this field. Datuk Nora was the immediate past Chief Human Capital Officer of Maybank, the largest bank in Malaysia, for 16 years. Professor Colyn for almost ten years was the Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Banking School, an affiliate institute of Bank Negara Malaysia.

MGA observes that businesses around the world have entered a period of unprecedented change, producing both extraordinary risks but also potentially significant opportunities for future growth and development. The context for this can be found in rapid evolutionary trends in technology, especially the emerging developments in Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing. Alongside are changes impacting energy security and sustainability, climate change consequences and geopolitical risks affecting global trade and economic development. War, conflict and health epidemics all add to the emergence of a world consumed by uncertainty at a level not experienced for many decades.

Faced with extraordinary uncertainty in global markets, MGA aims to help its clients mitigate the risks as well as identify opportunities for future growth and success, through knowledge enhancement and innovative creativity.

“Manaf Gardner Associates was created to fill a need in providing organisations from any industry a cohesive and comprehensive approach to talent management and that includes HR Advisory Services, Training Consultancy, Learning Content Development and Course Design.”

- Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf, Chairman

Meet Our Team

At Manaf Gardner Associates, our leadership team is composed of seasoned professionals with extensive experience in human capital, executive education, and organisational development.

Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf

Chairman

Professor Dr Colyn Gardner

Chief Executive Officer

Dr Huw Gardner

Director, Business Development

Rafizah Abdul Rahman

Director, Corporate Communication

Our Associate Members

Norhaliza Ibrahim

Associate Consultant

Our Programmes

"Manaf Gardner has set its sights on offering leading-edge and innovative Executive Education programmes with some of the world’s top Business Schools relevant to all industries and organisations in Malaysia and the ASEAN region. In a rapidly changing world, a dedication to researching and developing up to date and topical content is a core principle of our organisation and its programmes."

- Professor Dr Colyn Gardner, CEO

Geopolitical Trends: Risks and Opportunities

4 - 8 August 2025

St Andrews, Scotland

Perspectives for HR Leaders on the Future of Work

16 July 2025

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Getting Ahead of Challenges in Uncertain Times for Senior Leaders

15 July 2025

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Leadership & Executive Education

Empower leaders to drive change, lead teams, and shape strategy in a complex financial environment.

Digital Banking & Fintech Innovation

Understand the technologies reshaping banking and develop strategies for digital transformation.

ESG & Sustainable Finance

Build capacity to deliver on sustainability goals and meet stakeholder expectations in ESG.

Capital Markets & Investment

Deepen expertise in market instruments, investment strategies, and portfolio management.

Custom Programmes

Collaborate with us to design tailored learning journeys for your institution’s unique needs.

Join the MGA Associates Members Club

MGA seeks to attract the highest level of professional Associates with proven track records in their fields of expertise. Appreciating the substantial value of networking in the creation of innovative, leading-edge content development and training technologies, MGA has created its unique Associates Members Club. Membership of the MGA Associates Members Club will be limited in number with a view to establishing a select group whose blended skills and talents will add significant value to the firm’s client base in Malaysia and the wider ASEAN region.

Join the MGA Associates Members Club

MGA Associates will get to enjoy many membership privileges and benefits with an annual fee of RM12,000 per annum, which is due upon receiving an official appointment and approval by MGA’s Management. Applications to be an MGA Associate opens from 1st May 2025.

Qualified individuals interested in being an MGA Associate are invited to contact us

BENEFITS OF BEING AN MGA ASSOCIATE

Workspace & Facilities
Up to 8 days a month hot desk access at MGA’s centrally located office in Kuala Lumpur Sentral
Able to leverage on any special rates that MGA negotiates with its vendors and venue providers
Branding & Networking
Associate’s Profile to be included on MGA’s website
Associate’s Profile to be featured in MGA’s corporate brochure
Up to two (2) active training courses by an Associate to be included on MGA’s website
Personalised MGA Business Card with the “Associate Consultant” designation
Alumni membership and access to a wide and diverse network
Professional Development
Introduction to potential clients by MGA
Networking opportunities at MGA’s Open Days events
Opportunity to attend the HRD Corp Train-the-Trainer course fully sponsored by MGA
Personal Development
Special Club Rates to attend International Executive Education programmes offered by MGA
Remunerations & Financial Opportunities
Preferable fee sharing arrangements on courses delivered by Associates
Attractive commission opportunities on courses introduced by Associates and delivered by MGA
Priority application given to Associates for any MGA Preference Share Issue

Professor Dr Colyn Gardner

Chief Executive Officer

Professor Dr Colyn Gardner has had a long and illustrious career entirely immersed in banking. He has been a practising banker, a banking consultant to many of the world’s largest banks and organisations, an innovative training course developer, a professor of banking, a successful Conference Speaker on banking topics and a corporate client of banks.

Colyn was the Founding CEO of the Asian Banking School (ABS) before stepping down in December 2024 after almost 10 years. At the time of his leaving, he had built ABS into the largest specialised provider of quality banking training programmes in the ASEAN region, and a sustainable and resilient business with a strong financial position.

He founded several companies that have listed on the London Stock Exchange, including DC Gardner Group plc, which he built to be at the time the world’s largest banking training consultancy with offices in many countries and three residential training centres, the UK’s largest outplacement consultancy, Coutts Consultancy Group; and the UK’s 2nd largest accountancy training business, ATC, and later sold to Euromoney in 1992.

Colyn has conducted executive development programmes for senior directors of leading global banks, presented at international banking conferences and was a consultant to many of the world's largest banks and organisations including the World Bank, the IMF, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and Central Bank of Nigeria. He was also a regular contributor of articles to international financial magazines, editor-in-chief for some sixty distance learning workbooks on banking subjects and has co-authored two books in corporate finance.

He also has had a distinguished academic career. Colyn was Professor and CEO of the Management Centre at Bangor Business School where he was responsible for spearheading the creation of the Chartered Banker MBA degree, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Sunway University and Dean of their Business School and Visiting Professor at Bayes Business School, City St. George’s, University of London.

Colyn has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wales, Swansea, and received both his Master of Science in Financial Economics and Doctor of Philosophy in Corporate Finance (specialising in behavioural decision making in capital investment theory) from the University of North Wales, Bangor. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Banker Institute, Fellow of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales and Honorary Fellow of Bangor University.

Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf

Chairman

Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Chartered Banker (CIB, Scotland), Master Professional (IHRP, Singapore), Chartered Fellow CIPD (CIPD, UK), Strengths Coach (Gallup) and Black Belt Sustainability Practitioner. Nora is an alumni of Harvard (HBS AMP), Herriot-Watt (PhD by Practice), Cornell (School of Industrial Relations) and UiTM (School of Accountancy).

She is an appointed Adjunct Professor of prestigious Universities; the University Utara Malaysia (UUM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), as well as appointed CEO@Faculty of UUM, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and UiTM.

Nora holds various Board membership; Board of Trustees for Yayasan Khazanah (Khazanah Foundation), Board of Investment (UiTM), Advisory Board (Yayasan Peneraju), Asian Advisory Board (Harvard Business Publishing), Chief People Officer Board (i4CP), Board of Examiners (Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers), Asia Pacific Industry Advisory Panel (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants), University-Industry Advisory Council of UUM and Academic Advisory Board Member of Putra Business School (PBS). Nora is also a member of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC).

Datuk (Dr) Nora was conferred the Global Women Leadership Lifetime Award 2024, national-level LAWA CHRO Champion Award 2023, national-level Woman Beacon of Light Award 2016, Outstanding Global Islamic Women Manager Icon Excellence Award (2023) and Top 50 Impact Lifetime Achievement Award for Women Excellence (2021) by KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific.

Nora is also immediate Past President of the Malaysian Commercial Banks Association (MCBA), Chairman (HRNG), Council Member (MEF), Co-Chair (ARC) and Council Member (IAC).

Datuk Nora was also appointed as the Project Champion in 2024 for the Industry’s Future Skills Framework (FSF) that was launched by the BNM Governor and HR Minister in July 2024. She is Founder Sponsor of the acclaimed eMpowering Youths Across ASEAN programme and inaugural First EXCO Sponsor of Maybank’s Sustainability Culture and Governance Pillar. Nora is also Founder Council of the Malaysia Chapter of the 30 Percent Club, Executive Sponsor for Maybank’s Women Mentor Women Council, as well as a Mentor for the ICAEW-TalentCorp Women in Leadership Programme. Recently, she was featured in the “Top 10 CHROs to Follow on LinkedIn” by NewInAsia.com, the leading platform for business insights across Asia.

The globally recognised wisdom of Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast is proven under the leadership of Datuk (Dr) Nora Manaf in her work alongside the Group President CEO and his Top Team’s significant Milestone Leap30 Transformation of a leading ASEAN Bank and Malaysia’s largest company by market capitalisation listed on the Malaysian Stock Exchange, Maybank. In her capacity of Group Chief Human Capital Officer appointed in September 2008, Nora influenced and ensured the key success factors of a Business strategy were enabled and targeted Results realized. This was captured in a Case Study written and published by the Singapore Management University in 2019 titled “Maybank: Organisational Transformation through Human Resources”.

Dr Huw Gardner

Director, Business Development

Dr. Huw Gardner is an executive education specialist and HRDC-accredited trainer, with expertise in geopolitical risk and the banking opportunities driven by emerging sectors and industry disruption.

He has worked with financial institutions in the UK, USA, and Malaysia, most recently serving as an investment banker at Maybank with a focus on multinational clients. Huw designs, develops and delivers training programmes that are case study-driven, focusing on real-world scenarios and delivering highly practical, application-focused outcomes. He holds an MBA in International Finance from the University of Colorado and a PhD in ESG and Infrastructure Financing from AEU, grounding his practical training approach in rigorous academic and global financial principles.

Rafizah Abdul Rahman

Director, Corporate Communication

Rafizah Abdul Rahman is responsible for building and maintaining MGA’s brand identity and reputation, which involves managing internal and external communications across all platforms. She oversees and contributes to the development of collaterals, which are produced in-house, and works as part of a team on programme and content development.

Rafizah brings with her over 32 years of creative work experience; with 18 of the most recent years as a Communication and Branding professional for Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the Institute of Bankers Malaysia (IBBM or now known as the Asian Institute of Chartered Bankers - AICB), the Securities Industry Development Corporation (SIDC) and the Asian Banking School (ABS). Her last task at IBBM was as a member of the working committee for the restructuring of the institute and the transformation of the banking education landscape. She then led the rebranding initiatives and launch of the ABS and AICB logos in 2014, and then built the ABS brand as part of the founding team when she joined them at the start of 2016.

Prior to that, Rafizah was well known in the Malaysian art world as a gallerist, curator, consultant, exhibition organiser and all-round friend of the arts. She has also worked for two local private colleges in student affairs.

Norhaliza Ibrahim

Associate Consultant

Norhaliza is a seasoned HR leader in the Oil & Gas industry with over 36 years of experience in strategic human resources leadership, talent development, and employee well-being. She has successfully led high-impact initiatives across global operations, including mergers and acquisitions, as well as diversity and inclusion programmes.

As a Certified Solution-Focused Coach (CSFC), Norhaliza also holds additional credentials in Ontological and Health Coaching. Her deep interest in positive psychology shapes a practical, results-driven coaching approach, grounded in a deep commitment to both personal and professional transformation. She is passionate about unlocking human potential and has guided countless individuals and teams through journeys of self-discovery, resilience, and lasting success.

Norhaliza holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and an MBA from Bradley University in Illinois, USA. She recently earned an MSc in Organisational and Business Psychology from Kent University, further enriching her coaching expertise with a strong foundation in behavioral science and workplace psychology.