Datuk Seri Isham Ishak is a distinguished Malaysian civil servant currently serving as the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (KPKM), a position he assumed in September 2024. Throughout his extensive career, he has held the role of Secretary General across several key ministries, including Defence, Investment, Trade & Industry, Transport, and Tourism, Arts & Culture. In his current capacity at KPKM, he plays a pivotal role in advancing Malaysia's agricultural standards and food safety, including representing the ministry at high-level international engagements. Notably, he is the only Malaysian official to have represented the nation across all three pillars of ASEAN (SEOM, SOCA, and ADSOM) and has served as a leader for the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF). His professional expertise is supported by a robust academic background, including a Master of Arts in Strategic Management from Claremont Graduate University and completion of advanced management programs at both Harvard Business School and Oxford University.

Prof. Dato’ Dr Zulkifli Idrus FASc is a senior professor at the Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).  He is a leading expert in poultry production, stress biology, and animal welfare. He obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and Master of Science at UPM before completing his PhD in Poultry Science at Virginia Tech, USA, in 1994.

Since joining UPM in 1994, he has built an international reputation in poultry science, with research spanning physiology, behaviour, nutrition, and welfare management. His work has shaped the understanding of how stressors such as heat, transport, and handling affect bird welfare, productivity, and food safety, particularly in tropical systems. Prof. Zulkifli has published over 230 peer-reviewed papers, achieving an h-index of 42 with more than 6,424 citations. He has successfully secured substantial research funding from both national and international sources. He has held prominent leadership positions, including Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Director of the Research Management Centre, and Director of the Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security at UPM. He currently serves as Chair of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia's Agriculture Committee.