Dr. David Ross Appleton

Dr. David Ross Appleton, 50, Male, New Zealander, was appointed Chief Research & Development Officer of SD Guthrie Berhad (formerly known as Sime Darby Plantation Berhad) (SD Guthrie) on 1 January 2024, bringing over 25 years of experience in this field. He was subsequently redesignated as Chief Innovation & Research Officer effective 1 April 2025.

Dr Appleton’s journey with SD Guthrie Research & Development (R&D) started in 2010 when he joined as the Head of Applied Chemistry at the SD Guthrie Technology Centre. In 2015, he assumed the role of Head, Biotechnology and Breeding, overseeing the development and commercialisation of GenomeSelect™ and other genetics, breeding, and biotechnology programmes.

In 2020, Dr Appleton assumed the role of Head, Product Innovation and Development in SD Guthrie International (formerly known as Sime Darby Oils), the downstream division of SD Guthrie. He was later appointed Deputy Chief R&D Officer of SD Guthrie in June 2023.

Dr Appleton’s career traces back to 1996, when he began as a Process Engineer and climbed the ranks to become the Steelmaking Production Team Leader at BHP New Zealand Steel. In 2003, he joined MerLion Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd, initially as a Senior Research Scientist and later served as Principal Research Scientist. He was instrumental in developing and implementing an automated high-throughput extract fingerprinting system to assess productivity and chemical diversity within extracts.

Dr Appleton relocated to Malaysia in 2008 on attachment to Universiti Malaya with the Centre of Natural Products Research and Drug Discovery.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Organic and Physical Chemistry from the University of Auckland and earned his PhD in Chemistry from the same institution.

Additional Information

• No family relationship with and is not related to any director and/or major shareholder of SD Guthrie Berhad (formerly known as Sime Darby Plantation Berhad) (SD Guthrie), nor has any personal pecuniary interest in any business arrangement involving the Company.
• No conviction of offences within the past five years, nor public sanctions or penalties imposed by the relevant regulatory authorities during the financial year other than traffic offences, if any.
• No conflict of interest with SD Guthrie.
• Does not hold any directorship in public companies and listed issuers, other than companies within the SD Guthrie Group.