Renaka Ramachandran, 56, a Malaysian, was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad (SD Plantation) on 1 April 2011. In this role, she oversees various departments within the Group, which includes finance, taxation, information technology, credit risk, corporate finance, investor relations and insurance.
Between 15 July 2020 and 31 December 2023, Renaka served as the Deputy Managing Director of the Group’s downstream business, Sime Darby Oils, leading the transformation programme in the Asia Pacific region and overseeing all governance matters.
She began her career as an Audit Associate with Raj and Associates in 1991 where she led small audit engagements until 1992. She joined Coopers and Lybrand (now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers) in 1992 as an Audit Associate and moved up the ranks to the position of Executive Director on 1 January 2004. As an Executive Director, she was involved in, among others, the audit of public listed companies, review of profit and cash flow forecasts and projections for restructurings and initial public offerings, due diligence and financial analysis. Her roles included overseeing working teams, giving presentations and providing training for both internal staff and external clients. She was also the representative of PricewaterhouseCoopers and committee member of the working group of Accounting Standard on Agriculture (IAS 41) in the Malaysian Accounting Standards Board (MASB).
She was qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1992 and was admitted as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 1998. She became a Fellow of the ACCA in 2002.
She has been actively involved in the MASB changes to IAS 41, by working on papers with the MASB for its onward discussion with the International Accounting Standards Board. She is a member of the ACCA Accountants for Business Global Forum. Renaka also appears as a presenter or panellist at various forums conducted by ACCA and the palm oil industry including the Price Outlook Conference, and Sustainable Palm Oil Dialogue, amongst others. She is also an alternate Director representing Sime Darby Plantation Berhad on the Council of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association as well as Co-chair of the Human Rights Working Group of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil.