ASrIA INAUGURAL CONFERENCE

CHANDRAN NAIR
CHAIRMAN, ERM ASIA-PACIFIC

 

SPEAKER BIOS

Chandran Nair is the Chairman of ERM Asia-Pacific and has regional responsibilities for the ERM consulting business in the Asia-Pacific region where the Group currently has 20 offices and employs close to 500 staff. The Group has offices in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia. He has been closely involved in the development of the company's activities in China where there are offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. ERM clients include over eighty percent of the Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Nair is on the Management Board of the ERM worldwide company.

Mr. Nair has been involved in numerous studies in the region, ranging from natural resource plans to market surveys and sustainability strategies. These have included the environmental impact assessment of the new international airport in Malaysia, the natural resource masterplan for Hainan Province (PRC), risk assessment and land use plan for Jurong Island in Singapore and various feasibility studies in Thailand, Malaysia and China. He frequently advises multinationals on trends in the Asia-Pacific region particularly in relation to contemporary issues such as investment geo-politics, sustainability, stakeholder rights and social responsibilities. In Hong Kong, Mr. Nair has been involved in numerous large scale infrastructure projects, including the new airport railway, the centralised chemical waste treatment facility, waste reduction policies for the Hong Kong Government and a major policy study looking at introducing competition into the Hong Kong electricity sector.

He has travelled and worked extensively in the region and as a result of this range of experience has developed working relationships with many of the government agencies, private organisations, companies, and development organisations in Asia such as the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme. He has also gained through this experience an insight to regional environmental and socio-economic trends and issues at both the policy and technical level.

He has been the Asia-Pacific advisor to the Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum since 1992. He is a frequent speaker at conferences in the region, covering topics such as environmental liabilities and risks, energy and sustainability, privatisation of infrastructure projects, corporate responsibility, business ethics and reputation enhancement. These have included talks to members of the EU, international industry groups, the World Economic Forum's China Business Summit and the Pacific Basin Economic Conference. He is also a member of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce's Overseas Speakers Group and in this capacity has given talks to business groups in London, Washington, Sydney and Singapore.

In recent years Mr Nair has through project work and professional forums advocated a more sustainable approach to the development process in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Nair directed a major groundbreaking study on sustainability for the Hong Kong Government, which included the development of key indicators to measure progress and examine the institutional aspects of decision making within the Government to ensure that these balance the economic, social and environmental aspirations of the community. He has presented the findings to the Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary and the Executive Council.

Prior to moving to Hong Kong, Mr. Nair worked in London, Africa and Thailand in the field of water supply, community education, public health and environmental engineering.

Mr Nair is a keen sportsman. He has for the last few years managed and coached the Hong Kong field hockey team at the Asian Games and the Asia Hockey Federation Cup.

About ERM

ERM has offices throughout Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States. With around 2,500 staff worldwide they are able to provide local expertise supported by a global network of technical specialists. Specific services include: environmental management for industry (auditing, risk studies and management systems); liability and site management (investigations, remediation and M& A work); new development (planning, impact assessment, resource development); advice on sustainable development and resource management (policy analysis, social audits, energy consulting, waste management).