Leon Jala serves as a Non-Executive Director and Interim Chairman at PEMANDU Associates with over a decade of experience in brand strategy, campaign development, copywriting, and leadership development in both public and private sectors.

At PEMANDU, Leon spearheaded various strategic initiatives, notably co-leading planning for multiple Labs’ Open Days for local and international projects. His instrumental role in conceptualising and executing a print campaign across six news publications for the Malaysian government under the National Transformation Programme Press Campaign significantly showcased program achievements. Additionally, his consultancy effort for the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) Open Day in Nigeria was pivotal, where he co-led the planning, directed creative endeavours for the event and penned speeches for the Minister of Budget & National Planning, and facilitated stakeholder briefings.

During this time, he was also part of a founding team that turned PEMANDU’s in-house communications team of 5 into a full-service, revenue-generating marketing consultancy of 13 multidisciplinary writers, strategists and producers in less than a year. This subsidiary would go on to serve both a multinational insurance company, a host of large local businesses as well as governments that PEMANDU’s consultants were supporting.

Before joining PEMANDU, Leon served as a copywriter at Leo Burnett – a multinational advertising agency. There, he provided creative strategy and development for brands like McDonalds, Samsung, PETRONAS, Tenaga Nasional and YTL Land, bagging numerous prestigious advertising awards along the way.

Currently, Leon also serves as the Director of Content & Creative at HTBB Church, where he leads a full-fledged in-house creative team of staff and volunteers responsible for both the on-site and digital experiences of the church. As a trained pastor, he is also heavily involved in the church’s leadership development programmes and preaches regularly to a congregation of thousands.

Leon also co-hosts The Game of the Impossible Podcast together with Dato Sri Idris Jala. The podcast seeks to unlock the innate potential of people across industries and contexts – all through the lens of leadership, business, creativity and faith.

Leon holds a BA in Media Arts from Royal Holloway, University of London as well as a BA in Theology from St. Paul’s Theological College, grounding his multidisciplinary approach ranging from creative strategy to leadership development.

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