Cordlife’s executive chairman resigns after less than 5 months in role

Cordlife’s executive chairman has resigned less than five months after he assumed the position, even as the private cord blood bank is facing a possible one-year suspension of its services after significant lapses were found in an audit.

- Yap Wei Qiang Correspondent

Mr Zhai Lingyun’s resignation takes effect from Nov 5. He will be focusing “on other business and personal commitments”, Cordlife Group announced in an Oct 30 bourse filing.

The 52-year-old will also step down as its director, and cease to be a member of the nominating committee.

However, he will continue to serve in “certain management capacities” within the group. No details were provided on this.

Mr Zhai was first appointed as Cordlife’s nonindependent non-executive director on Dec 12, 2019.

He was redesignated as its nonindependent non-executive chairman on Jan 7, 2025, replacing Mr Teo Tong Kooi, who resigned from the position of chairman after less than eight months in this role.