Draft:Kumar Muthalagappan

• Comment: Please cite online sources where available, and format the citations with full details so that they render correctly. See WP:REFB for advice on referencing.
  All sources must be published: the first citation ("entry submitted for the 2027 edition" of Who's Who) does not sound like it is. In any case, WW is not considered a reliable source.
  In articles on living people, every material statement, anything potentially contentious, any direct quotations, and all private personal details must be clearly supported by inline citations to reliable published sources, or else removed. There is currently far too much unreferenced information in this draft, with eg. the 'Personal life' section without a single citation.
  Based on a quick glance of the referencing, I have my doubts as to the notability of this, but the referencing issues need to be sorted out first before we can even assess that. DoubleGrazing (talk) 06:20, 25 May 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. SweetnamSourceContributor (talk) 20:14, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

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Kumar Muthalagappan OBE
Born	Virachilai, Tamil Nadu, India
Education	University of Warwick (BSc Accounting & Financial Analysis, 1983)
Occupations	Entrepreneur; philanthropist; non-executive director
Known for	Founder and chairman, KM Foundation (charity no. 1189487); former chairman and CEO, MeDiNova Research
Awards	OBE (2009)

Kumar Muthalagappan OBE is a British entrepreneur, business executive, and philanthropist based in London, England. He is the founder and chairman of the KM Foundation (registered charity no. 1189487), a Charitable Incorporated Organisation focused on healthcare access, education, and community development in the United Kingdom and India. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

He was chairman and chief executive of MeDiNova Research, a clinical research site network acquired by ICON plc in 2019, and subsequently led Oncacare Research, also acquired by ICON in 2023. Muthalagappan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to tourism and hospitality.

Early life and education

Muthalagappan was born into a Chettiar community in Virachilai, a town in southern India, and his family later settled in Malaysia. After completing his secondary education in Malaysia, he moved to England in 1978 and attended Chippenham Technical College in Wiltshire. He read Accounting and Financial Analysis at the University of Warwick, graduating in 1983, and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, later becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Career

Professional services

Following graduation, Muthalagappan joined the Birmingham office of KPMG, where he spent over a decade working across audit, taxation, corporate finance, and bid defence.

Hospitality: Paramount Hotel Collection

With his father, Muthu, and his brother Selva, Muthalagappan built a hospitality business, the Paramount Hotel Collection (previously the Pearl Hotels and Restaurants Group). The group launched with Raffles, a Malaysian restaurant in Kenilworth, and grew to include the Georgetown restaurants in Stratford-upon-Avon, London, and Leeds, and Coconut Lagoon in Stratford-upon-Avon and Kenilworth, together with three hotels: the Peacock and Grand in Kenilworth and Colwick Hall in Nottingham.

Clinical research: MeDiNova Research and Oncacare

In 2011, Muthalagappan and colleagues acquired MeDiNova, then a small clinical research unit in north London conducting Phase II– IV trials. He became its chairman and chief executive, and the Coventry-headquartered company grew into a network of 33 active clinical research sites across the United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa, Poland, and Romania. On 23 May 2019, ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) announced the acquisition of a majority shareholding in MeDiNova Research.

From 2020 to 2023, Muthalagappan led Oncacare Research, a clinical research company specialising in oncology trials, which ICON plc acquired in 2023.

Advisory and non-executive roles

Muthalagappan has served as strategic advisor on healthcare and life sciences to the private equity firm Vitruvian Partners; as senior independent director of Objective Health in the United States; as an advisor to START (South Texas Accelerated Research Therapeutics); and as a member of the Catalyst Council of CRIO, a clinical research technology platform.

Public board roles

Muthalagappan has held board-level or trustee positions with a number of public bodies and cultural organisations, including VisitBritain, the Olympic Delivery Authority, Alexandra Palace, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (as deputy chairman), Advantage West Midlands, the University of Warwick, the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, and the Heart of England Tourist Board. In 2021 he was appointed a trustee of the Coventry UK City of Culture Trust.

Honours

Muthalagappan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to tourism and hospitality. He received the award at Buckingham Palace from the Prince of Wales. On the honour, he said: "It is a real honour to be recognised for my work in the hospitality industry and the OBE is as much a testament to the hard work and dedication of my family as much as it is to me."

KM Foundation

Muthalagappan founded the KM Foundation, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales in May 2020 under charity number 1189487. The foundation makes grants in healthcare access, education, and community development, in the United Kingdom and India. Its trustees comprise Muthalagappan, who chairs the foundation, his three children, and independent trustee Paul Taylor.

Healthcare programmes

The foundation has partnered with Orbis to fund a cataract screening and surgery programme in Tamil Nadu, India. In 2024 it began a project to establish laryngology and airway reconstruction services at Sri Guru Ram Das University of Health Sciences in Amritsar, Punjab, led by Professor Guri Sandhu and Professor Justin Roe of Imperial College London; the foundation funded a surgical laser system through a £150,000 grant inaugurated in February 2026.

Education and the arts

The foundation supports the London Music Fund's bursary programme, funding scholarships for young musicians from low-income and under-represented backgrounds. It is also a principal funder of the Chalke History Trust (registered charity no. 1148413), donating £100,000 towards a schools hub linked to the Chalke History Festival, which is led by the historian James Holland.

Views on philanthropy

Writing in March 2026, Muthalagappan argued that philanthropic donations are too often diluted by administrative costs, and that donors should measure giving by outcomes rather than amounts.

Personal life

Muthalagappan has three children, all of whom serve as trustees of the KM Foundation.