Rony J Palathinkal
Head of Urban SustaInnovator
Rony J. Palathinkal is the Head of the Urban SustaInnovator, SMU’s new accelerator dedicated to advancing innovation in urban sustainability.
He brings over 20 years of international leadership experience spanning startups, corporate innovation, and sustainable finance. As co-founder of a global impact fintech, he pioneered AI-driven sustainability analytics and helped scale solutions that were recognized with multiple international awards. Prior to his entrepreneurial journey, Rony held senior leadership roles at Credit Suisse, driving large-scale transformation and innovation programs across Asia Pacific.
Beyond the corporate world, Rony has contributed actively to Singapore’s sustainability ecosystem. He was a founding member of initiatives such as the Sustainable Finance Collective Asia and the Singapore FinTech Association’s Green & Sustainable Fintech Committee, and is currently co-convenor of the Singapore Standards Council Working Group for the ISO/UNDP SDG Management Standards.
A SIA-NOL Scholar, Rony holds a Bachelor of Engineering from NTU and executive education in Finance at Harvard Business School. He is also a co-inventor of AI analytics patents and a recipient of global leadership and innovation awards.
