Tan Sri Ismail Bin Adam joined the Administrative and Diplomatic Service (ADS) Malaysia in 1972 as an Assistant Director at the then Ministry of Trade and Industry. From March 1975, he was placed at the National Institute of Public Administration (INTAN) as a Senior Project Officer. In 1986, he was posted to the Statistics Department Malaysia as the Chief Administration Officer. In August 1990, he was appointed as the Head of Planning Unit of the Public Service Department. He was then seconded to the National Productivity Corporation (now known as the Malaysian Productivity Corporation) as the Deputy Director General in 1992 and was promoted as Director General in 1995 where he was instrumental in spearheading productivity and quality improvement initiatives in the private sector. 

He returned to the Public Service Department as the Deputy Director-General of the Public Service (Department) in July 2000 after which he was appointed as the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Health in March 2004. On 16 June 2005, he was appointed as the Director-General of Public Service Malaysia and also sat on the boards of the Employees Provident Fund, the Retirement Fund Incorporated, the Malaysia Qualifying Agency and the Inland Revenue Board, to lend his expertise in policy development and implementation.

After retirement from the civil service in 2010, Tan Sri Ismail Bin Adam was appointed as the Chairman of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad, a public transportation company of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated. He also served as an advisor to Hay Group Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a consultancy firm and as a non-executive director of various private sector entities.

In June 2012, he was appointed by the Government of Malaysia as the Deputy Chairman of the Special Commission on Transformation of the Malaysian Civil Service.

Westports Holdings Berhad

NIL

NIL

NIL