Dr. Kalanithi Nesaretnam is a Non-Executive Director at IOI Corporation Berhad and Tan Chong Motor Holdings Berhad. She chairs IOI Corp’s Board Sustainability Committee and sits on the Board Risk and Sustainability Committee at Tan Chong Motor. She also serves on both companies’ Audit and Nomination & Remuneration Committees.
She is co-founder of Climate Governance Malaysia, the Malaysian chapter of the World Economic Forum’s Climate Governance Initiative, and serves on the Steering Committee of the CEO Action Network (CAN). An advocate for ESG, she completed the University of Oxford’s Leading Sustainable Corporations Programme and has shared her ESG experience through Bursa’s Mandatory Accreditation Programme since 2022. She is also a regular speaker on climate risks and ESG.
Dr Kalanithi holds a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Reading. Her research on tocotrienols and breast cancer has earned her patents, publications and the 2006 World Intellectual Property Organization’s Best Woman Inventor award. She served as Minister at the Malaysian Embassy to the EU in Brussels from 2013 to 2018.
She is a mentor with LeadWomen and the 30% Club and a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia (ICDM).
