Entrepreneur & Philanthropist

Kumar
Muthalagappan

Officer of the British Empire · FCA

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Kumar built two clinical research businesses — MeDiNova Research and Oncacare — both acquired by ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), the world's largest contract research organisation. He has sat on nine national boards and founded a charitable organisation with active programmes across the UK and South Asia.

KM Foundation · Charity No. 1189587 Strategic Advisor · Vitruvian Partners Advisor · START, South Texas Catalyst Council · CRIO

Discover his story

Kumar Muthalagappan OBE · FCA

Origins

From Virachilai
to Warwick

Born into a Chettiar community in Virachilai, 250 miles from Chennai in southern India — a community with centuries of tradition in philanthropy, education, and healthcare — Kumar was raised in Malaysia, where his father Muthu ran an independent accountancy firm.

Arriving in England in 1978 to attend Chippenham Technical College in Wiltshire, he went on to read Accounting and Financial Analysis at the University of Warwick, graduating in 1983. He subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant and attained Fellowship of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA).

Joining KPMG's Birmingham office, Kumar spent 17 distinguished years across Audit, Taxation, Corporate Finance, and Bid Defence — building the analytical rigour that would define every venture that followed.

Career

Four Decades of
Achievement

Present

Advisory & Non-Executive Roles

Strategic Advisor, Vitruvian Partners (Healthcare & Life Sciences) · Senior Independent Director, Objective Health (US) · Advisor, START — South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics (US) · Catalyst Council Member, CRIO.

2023 – Present

KM Foundation — Founder & Chairman

Registered Charity No. 1189587. Active programmes across the UK, India and Punjab.

2020 – 2023

Oncacare Research — CEO

Led specialist oncology clinical research company. Acquired by ICON plc in Q3 2023.

2011 – 2019

MeDiNova Research — Chairman & CEO

Grew from a single North London unit to 106 sites across 8 countries. Turnover: £500K to £40M. Acquired by ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR), 23 May 2019.

2009

OBE — New Year Honours

Officer of the British Empire, awarded at Buckingham Palace by HRH The Prince of Wales, for services to Tourism and Hospitality.

1990s – 2000s

Paramount Hotels & Restaurant Group

A family venture launching with Raffles, Kenilworth — Britain's first Colonial Malaysian restaurant — followed by Georgetown and Coconut Lagoon restaurants across Stratford-upon-Avon, London and Leeds, and the Peacock, Grand, and Colwick Hall hotels.

1983 – 1997

KPMG Birmingham — 14 Years

Qualified FCA in areas Audit, Taxation, Corporate Finance and Bid Defence.

Healthcare & Clinical Research

Transforming Clinical
Research at Scale

MeDiNova Research

In 2011, Kumar and colleagues acquired MeDiNova, a small clinical research unit in North London conducting Phase II–IV trials in asthma, COPD, and osteoporosis. Though healthcare was entirely new territory, Kumar ultimately became CEO and Chairman.

The company, headquartered in Coventry, grew to operate 33 active clinical research sites across the UK, Spain, South Africa, Poland, and Romania, with approximately 160 employees. Its proprietary patient database held 400,000 individuals, with access to over 5 million potential participants through electronic medical records.

On 23 May 2019, ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) — the world's largest Contract Research Organisation — acquired a majority shareholding in MeDiNova Research, with both businesses remaining entirely independent from ICON plc prior to that point.

Oncacare Research

Kumar subsequently led Oncacare Research, a specialist oncology clinical research company. Oncacare was independently built and then acquired by ICON plc in Q3 2023.

£500K

MeDiNova starting turnover

£40M

Peak annual revenue

Active sites at acquisition

160

Employees at acquisition

400K+

Proprietary patient database at time of ICON plc acquisition, May 2019

Public Service

Nine National &
Regional Boards

Alongside his commercial career, Kumar has devoted extensive time to public life, serving at board level across the arts, sport, tourism, and regional development.

Visit Britain — National Tourism Body
Olympic Delivery Authority — 2012 London Games
Alexandra Palace, London
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Advantage West Midlands — Regional Development Agency
The University of Warwick
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Heart of England Tourist Board
Coventry City of Culture Trust — 2021

The KM Foundation · Charity No. 1189587

Philanthropy That
Delivers Real Impact

Established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2021 and registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the KM Foundation is Kumar's vehicle for targeted, high-impact philanthropy — run alongside his three children, all of whom serve as trustees. Current projects are based in the UK and India, and every one is led by a UK organisation, bringing British expertise and governance to bear wherever the need is greatest.

Orbis Cataract Programme — Tamil Nadu, India

Partnering with Orbis International to fund cataract surgery for approximately 40,000 patients in Tamil Nadu, South India. Screening camps are targeting around 300,000 people to identify suitable candidates, restoring sight — and livelihoods — at scale. An interim progress report was published in February 2026.

Healthcare Access

Laryngology & Airway Treatment — Punjab, India

Established in 2024 in partnership with Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences in Amritsar — a state of 30 million people previously without a public airway reconstruction service. Led by Professor Guri Sandhu (The London Clinic & Imperial College London) and Professor Justin Roe (Charing Cross Hospital & Imperial College London), the programme trains local doctors and has inaugurated a new surgical laser system. Sri Guru Ram Das University is constructing a dedicated operating theatre for airway, voice, and swallowing surgery.

Medical Training

London Music Fund — Bursary Programme

A fully funded three-year scholarship programme supporting 75 young musicians aged 15–20 from low-income and under-represented backgrounds — 60 from inner-city London and 15 from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, extending the programme's reach across the regions. Scholars receive bursaries covering instruments, tuition, and transport, with mentorship and direct connections to world-class conductors and orchestras. Students have already gone on to secure places at institutions including the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Music Education

Chalke History Hub

Principal funder of the Chalke History Hub — the UK's foremost public history initiative, led by eminent historian James Holland. The Hub aims to encourage secondary school students to pursue history at higher levels of study.

Education & Culture

Personal Life

Family &
Next Generation

Kumar's three children — all serving as trustees of the KM Foundation — embody the values of public service and intellectual ambition that have characterised his own career.

"The OBE is as much a testament to the hard work and dedication of my family as it is to me. My family is from a sect with an ethos of working hard and aiming high."

— Kumar Muthalagappan OBE, Coventry Telegraph, 2013

The Family

Three Trustees

Dr Seetha Sweetnam

KM Foundation Trustee · Healthcare Lead

Medical doctor and Diabetes Registrar at Milton Keynes University Hospital, specialising in endocrinology. Imperial College School of Medicine, 2014. Member of the Royal College of Physicians.

Dr Deva Muthalagappan

KM Foundation Trustee · Education Lead

Medical doctor, Imperial College School of Medicine, 2020. First Class degree in Haematology, Imperial College. MRCP. Academic Foundation Doctor, University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust. Executive MBA candidate, University of Warwick (The Shard). Pianist and trombonist.

Dharma Muthalagappan

KM Foundation Trustee · Projects

Natural Sciences graduate, St John's College, Cambridge (2025). Currently reading for a Master's in Biochemistry at Cambridge. Associate Member of the Royal School of Music. Accomplished pianist and trumpeter.

KumarMuthalagappan

From Virachilaito Warwick

Four Decades ofAchievement

Transforming ClinicalResearch at Scale