Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairman, Max Financial Services and Senior Advisor, Advent Private Equity. She is also a Non-Executive Director on the boards of Nestle SA and CIPLA Ltd and has been Past President of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry). She retired on December 2015 as Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman HSBC India. She is Chairman of the Harvard Business School, South Asia Board. An MBA from Harvard Business School, she makes a regular appearance on listings by Fortune since 2002 and others of international women in business. She has received many awards and honours in India and was awarded the Padma Shri, for her contribution to Trade & Industry, from the Government of India in 2007. She has edited two books Contemporary Banking in India and 30 Women in Power : Their Voices, Their Stories.
Her interest in Water and the environment and empowerment of women are reflected in her board positions of not-for-profit institutions like Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, The Energy Resources Institute, International Advisory Council of the Inquiry of United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Commissioner for the Global Commission on Economy & Climate, Chair of FICCI's Water Mission and FICCI's Inclusive Governance Council and Chair of the India Sanitation Coalition.
She is one of India’s representatives on the BRICs Business Council and India Malaysia CEO Forum, and is on the Governing Boards of the National Council of Applied Economic Research and ICRIER and also a member of Rajasthan Chief Minister’s Advisory Council. She has been a member of the Government of India’s Industry Task Force, the Prime Minister’s Trade and Industry Council, the National Manufacturing Council, the National Trade Council, and on the Working Group on Banking, Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission and the National Institute of Bank Management
