MUMBAI: The shareholders of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) have approved the appointment of Nita M. Ambani who is the chairperson of Reliance Foundation (RF), as director on the board of Reliance Industries at an AGM held on 18 July 2014.

On behalf of the board, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani welcomed his spouse and said, "Nita has been engaged in several initiatives that have strengthened Reliance, right from building the world-class township and the ecological development at Jamnagar, next­ generation office campuses, designing customer touch paints of Reliance Retail, healthcare initiatives, successfully setting up and running institutions such as Dhirubhai Ambani International School and Mumbai Indians to, most importantly, managing Reliance Foundation. We are delighted to welcome her to the Board of Reliance Industries as an accomplished individual who will add significant value to Reliance's journey of growth."

While accepting her new role with a sense of humility and responsibility she said, "RIL has always aimed to better millions of lives and my mission will be to bring speed, scale and social contract to RIL.'s larger mission. I accept this responsibility as a tribute to millions of RIL stakeholders, as well as to my tireless colleagues at Reliance foundation.”

Nita Ambani, the wife of India’s richest man was at the forefront of the ecological development of RlL's Jamnagar refinery site where a biodiversity plan covering 3.2 million trees over 2000 acres was implemented.

She developed the world-class township in Jamnagar from scratch, setting new standards in quality of life. Nita has also led initiatives spanning education, health, rural transformation, environmental protection and sports over the past two decades. She has also built institutions in fields such as education, sports and healthcare in India, through Reliance Foundation and Mumbai Indians from scratch. She also leads 13 schools in the Reliance fold, including 1 international school- Dhirubhai Ambani International School- which is a testament to her commitment to excellence in education. These schools are striving to provide quality education to more than 15,000 students.

With RIL acquiring Network 18 and now announcing Nita as one of the directors in the board, it will be interesting to see the developments shaping up in the company.