Speaker

Dr Sharlene Thiagarajah is the Chief Executive Officer of TM Research & Development, a world-class research and innovation company of TM Group. She has +28 years’ experience in the Telecommunications industry with leadership roles in Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Technology & Innovation and Digital Transformation.

She was instrumental in transforming TM R&D from a cost center to a business unit that has commercialised 18 solutions for the global telco and utilities market saving clients millions in operational efficiency and support.

In early 2006/07 she co-founded two (2) start-ups in the software and industrial automation space, and later divested the software business in 2013. She is an Adjunct Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and a Committee Member at the Faculty of Science (Material Science) at Universiti Putra Malaysia since 2018.

Today, Dr Sharlene writes a monthly column with the StarBiz7 sharing her aspiration for Malaysians to embrace entrepreneurship and transform from being a nation of mere consumers to a nation of exporters of home-grown technologies.

Dr Sharlene holds a PhD in Computer Systems Engineering, a Masters Degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Universiti Putra Malaysia, and a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering (1st Class Hons) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).