NIHAL JAYAWARDENE PC
Appointed: August 2021
Appointed Chairman : 9th June 2023
Skills & Experience:
Mr. Jayawardene who is a distinguished old boy of St. Anthony’s College – Kandy, joined the Bar in 1983. He has his career experience as an officer of the Attorney General’s Department of Sri Lanka in excess of 20 years, Senior Lecturer of Sri Lanka Law College and Legal Consultant and Board Member in numerous Institutions. He is an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales.
Mr. Jayawardene has actively contributed for many law reforms initiatives taken place in Sri Lanka in the field of Civil Aviation, Company Law, and has extensive experience in Public Enterprises reforms programmes carried out in the areas of Insurance, Telecommunication, Aviation, Port & Shipping and Plantation sectors.
In recognition of immense contribution made to the Legal Profession as an eminent senior counsel in Corporate, Commercial, Aviation and Public Law he was appointed as a President’s Counsel in the year 2012.
Mr. Jayawardene also played a leading role in the process of drafting the Colombo Port City Economic Commissions Act. Presently involved in drafting Electricity Sector Reform Laws and Chairman of a Committee appointed to review the Bills of Exchange Ordinance and related Banking laws by the Minister of Justice.
Other Current Appointments:
He is presently the Chairman of Company Law Advisory Commission and a member of Board of Governors in Asian Institute of Business and Science (AIBS) and the in-house Counsel of Capital City Law. He is also a Member of the Intellectual Property Law Advisory Commission.
Previous appointments
Mr. Jayawardena has served as the founder Chairman of Lanka Sathosa Limited and a Director of Hotel Developers Lanka Limited from 2004 to 2015, a Director of Milco (Pvt) Ltd from 2005 -2008 and he also served as a Director of People’s Leasing and Finance PLC. Mr. Jayawardena has also been a Member of the Board of Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka.
DAMITH PALLEWATTE
Appointed: 22nd November 2024
Prior to his appointment as MD/CEO, Mr. Pallewatte was the Acting Chief Executive Officer of Hatton National Bank PLC. Previously, he held the positions of Deputy General Manager – Wholesale Banking Group, overseeing business segments covering Corporate Banking, Emerging Corporates, Trade Finance, Financial Institutions, Treasury Services, Payments & Cash Management, Custody and Trustee Services, Islamic Banking and Project Finance, and Deputy General Manager Risk / Chief Risk Officer (CRO) / Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the Bank. Mr. Pallewatte was also the Chief Risk Officer of Nations Trust Bank PLC prior to joining HNB PLC.
Mr. Pallewatte is a qualified Banking & Risk Management Professional with 28+ years of experience in the banking sector, of which 14+ years are in Senior/Corporate Management, having exposure to the full spectrum of banking covering Credit, Branch Banking, Transformation, and Operations, including Strategy & Risk Management.
Mr. Pallewatte holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, and earned his Bachelor of Science – Management (Hons) degree from the University of London, London School of Economics (LSE). He has been admitted as a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) and is an “ACI Operations Certificate” holder covering Treasury Operations from the Financial Markets Association, France, a “Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate” (SCR) holder from GARP, and a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (FCMA), and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).
Mr. Pallewatte is the Chairman of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd (APL), a full-service investment bank promoted as an equally owned joint venture between HNB & DFCC Bank. He is also the Chairman/Director of Lanka Ventures PLC, a venture capital company listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), and LVL Energy Fund PLC, another entity listed on the CSE with investments in renewable and thermal power projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. In addition to that, he is a Director of Acuity Securities (Pvt) Ltd, an appointed Primary Dealer which is a part of the APL group. Mr. Pallewatte has also been appointed as a Director of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Limited (LFSBL) and Vice President/Director of the International Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka (ICCSL) in January 2024.
Mr. Pallewatte has been appointed to the MESANA (Middle East South Asia and North Africa) Regional Advisory Panel of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) for the year 2020/21 and the MESANA Regional Engagement Panel for 2022/23 by CIMA and elected as Vice Chairman of the CIMA Country Network Committee (CNC), Sri Lanka in 2021/22. He has also served as the Chair of the South Asia Area Committee of CIMA and AICPA for the year 2022/23. Mr. Pallewatte was a past president of the Association of Banking Sector Risk Professionals, also known as the “CRO Forum”. He was also appointed as Chairman of the Technical Committee to recommend technological advancements for the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Pallewatte was a resource personnel for the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka (IBSL) and Centre of Banking Studies, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID), and Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments (CISI).
MADURA RATHNAYAKE
Appointed: October 2018
Skills & Experience:
A Chartered Engineer, he holds a MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (Sri Jayawardenapura), a First Class Honors Degree in Software Engineering from City University in London and Dip.in Computer System Design (NIBM) Sri Lanka.
Has over 20 years’ experience in IT, digital transformation, project and service delivery. He has experience in large scale business transformation program design and execution, driving corporate innovation, cyber security, solution architecture, customer support, consultancy and general management in UK, USA, Australia, India and Sri Lanka. He has delivered multi-million-dollar projects to Fortune 1000 companies with geographically spread software teams.
Other Current Appointments:
Mr Rathnayake is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Scybers (Pvt) Ltd, a global cybersecurity consulting and managed services company, and Director of HSenid Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd, first listed software technology company in Sri Lanka.
He represents the IT industry on the boards of several leading universities / institutions.
Previous appointments
Mr. Rathnayake was the Executive Vice President / Global CIO and the Center Head for Virtusa Sri Lanka. He has also served as a Director of Sanasa Development Bank from December 2014 to January 2016 and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology.
He is also the Founder Director and former Chairman of Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM), the industry body for IT and BPM in Sri Lanka and the Chairman of Sarvodaya Fusion, the ICT4D arm of Sarvodaya, the largest NGO in Sri Lanka and he was an Independent/Non-Executive Director of Sri Lanka CERT (Pvt) Ltd, national cybersecurity agency and Director of Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), the National Agency for Digital Government.
DEVAKA COORAY
Appointed: July 2020
Skills & Experience:
Mr Cooray is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the United Kingdom.
Other Current Appointments:
Mr. Cooray is the Chairman of United Motors PLC and its subsidiaries. He is also the Managing Director of Management Systems (Pvt) Ltd and its subsidiaries. He serves as Director of HVA Foods PLC and JAT Holdings PLC.
Previous appointments
He has worked with Ernst & Young for over 40 years of which 30 years was as a Senior Assurance and Talent Partner. He functioned as the Deputy Managing Partner from 2016 to 2019 and served as a member of Ernst & Young’s Management Committee from the time the Management Committee was established in 1998 until his retirement in 2019. He was instrumental in establishing the Ernst & Young Practice in the Republic of Maldives in 1995 and functioned as the Partner responsible for the overall management of the Maldivian Practice from its inception. He represented Sri Lanka and Maldives for a number of years in the EY ASEAN Regional Partner Forum. He was seconded to EY USA for a year, where practical experience was gained by being part of assurance teams that performed audit engagements on several large enterprises.
Mr. Cooray also spearheaded the Ernst and Young Sri Lanka/ Maldives Family Business Centre for Excellence which was instrumental in sending several eminent second generation family members to business schools worldwide. He has also served as a member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK.
PRAWIRA RIMOE SALDIN
Appointed: April 2021
Skills & Experience:
Appointed as a Director in April 2021. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, an associate of Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of London and a Certified Management Accountant Australia.
Mr Saldin has over 30 years of experience in Finance, Operations and General Management.
Prior to being appointed to the Board of Directors of Hatton National Bank PLC, Mr. Saldin functioned as Alternate Director to Mr. R.S. Captain from 26th July 2018 to 2nd April 2021.
Other Current Appointments:
He is presently the Director/CEO of Polypak Secco Ltd, a Director of Paints & General Industries Ltd and Polytex Properties and Investments Ltd. He is also the Chairman of Chemanex PLC and a Director of CIC Holdings PLC and serves on the Board of Directors of a number of companies in the CIC Group.
Mr. Saldin is an alumni of the Asia Institute of Management.
Previous appointments
Mr. Saldin has served as the Commercial Director and Group Finance Director of CIC Holdings PLC for the period 1995-2005. He was the Country Controller & Group Finance Director for Shell Sri Lanka for the period 2005-2010 and also the Group Chief Operating Officer, Browns Group of Companies PLC and the Managing Director of Browns Investments PLC from 2010-2014.
RASITHA GUNAWARDANA
Appointed Director – 21st January 2022
Skills & Experience:
Mr. Rasitha Gunawardana is a senior Banker with over 3 decades of experience covering major aspects of Banking.
Previous appointments
He served as the CEO/ General Manager of the Peoples Bank during the period 2019-2020. Prior to that, He held a number of Corporate and executive level positions, namely,
During this period, he played a major role in improving the Credit and Risk culture of the Bank, through introduction of risk-based credit and business policies/ procedures.
He held directorships in following establishments;
KITHSIRI GUNAWARDENA
Skills & Experience:
Has held a number of important positions in the State, including the office of State Counsel attached to the Attorney General’s Department, the Office of Director – Legal & Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka and the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka and was involved in setting up the Consumer Affairs Authority as its first Director General.
Other Current Appointments:
Mr. Kithsiri Gunawardena is the Chief Operating Officer – LOLC & Chief Executive Officer - LOLC Insurance, he Joined LOLC in 2004 and counts over 30 years of experience as a Lawyer. He serves on the Boards of a number of local and overseas subsidiaries within the LOLC Group.
DR. PRASAD SAMARASINGHE
Appointed: October 2022
Skills & Experience:
Appointed as a Director in October 2022. Dr Prasad Samarasinghe holds a Doctorate in Telecommunications bestowed upon by Australian National University of Canberra. He achieved Master of Engineering and Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Telecommunications with a First Class from University of Moratuwa.
In addition, Dr Samarasinghe is a Licentiate of Part I and Part II of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the recipient of best achiever status from the Institute in Financial Accounting, Business Mathematics Statistics and Data Processing in the year 1991.
Other Current Appointments:
Dr Samarasinghe is the Managing Director/ Director of Lanka Bell (Pvt) Ltd from July 2005 and also the Managing Director of Telecom Frontier (Pvt) Ltd, Bell Solutions (Pvt) Ltd from September 2008 and Bellvantage (Pvt) Ltd from April 2021.
Dr Samarasinghe is also a Director of Hayleys Fibre PLC, serving in its Board from September 2017, Director of DCSL Brewery (Pvt) Ltd and Maganeguma Road construction Equipment Company (Pvt) Ltd. Dr Samarasinghe represents Mr Damien Fernando on the Boards of HNB Assurance PLC and HNB General Insurance Ltd, as his alternate Director.
RENGANATHAN S
Appointed: 2nd April 2024
Mr. Renganathan was the former Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and had held several key positions in the Bank. In addition, Mr. Renganathan served as the Managing Director and a Board Member of the Commercial Development Company PLC, and Commercial Bank of Maldives Private Limited as the Deputy Chairman.
Mr. Renganathan has served among others, as a Member of the General Council of the Institute of Bankers of Bangladesh, Founder President of the Sri Lanka Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Executive Member of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh.
He is a senior banker counting over 41 years and has led Commercial Bank’s acquisition of the banking operations of Credit Agricole Indosuez in Bangladesh. He was the first Chief Risk Officer of the Bank and has held positions as the Deputy General Manager in charge of Bank’s island wide branch network and Chief Operating Officer.
He served as an Executive Director in the Board of Directors of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC for nearly eight years.
He was also a Director of the Lanka Financial Services Bureau Limited and the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (Guarantee) Limited. Further, he also served as a Council Member of the Employers Federation of Ceylon, Executive member of the Council for Business with Britain, Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka, and Executive Member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
He is presently serving as a Member of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka Policy Advocacy Committee, Sri Lanka Institute of Directors and the Vice President of the Sri Lanka India Society.
Mr. Renganathan currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Sunshine Holdings PLC, Sunshine Healthcare Ltd., Agility Innovations (PVT) Ltd, Janashakthi Insurance PLC, Ceylon Hospitals PLC, Lina Spiro (PVT) Ltd, Lina Manufacturing (Private) Ltd., Healthguard (Pvt) Ltd., Deputy Chairman of Damro Holdings Ltd, Chairman of Marino Leisure Holdings Ltd.
He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (FCMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Fellow of the London Institute of Banking & Finance, UK (FLIBF) and a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka (FIB), and had received extensive Leadership, Management and Banking training locally and in overseas.
NANDA FERNANDO
Appointed: 2nd April 2024
Mr. Nanda Fernando is a Banker with over four decades of experience in banking. He currently serves as a Business Consultant. He is the Managing Director of Professional Business Consultants, a company engaged in providing financial planning and advisory services. He is also a Director of Haycarb PLC, Dipped Products PLC, Hayleys Fabric PLC, Lanka Bangla Finance PLC, and Lanka Bangla Securities PLC.
He is engaged in uplifting productivity in companies, resulting in increased stakeholder benefits. He possesses a proven track record of strategic leadership, business growth, and exceptional financial performance. He provided effective leadership to Sampath Bank, utilizing his expertise to drive organizational success and deliver exceptional value to stakeholders.
He is also well known for his proven professional skills in Financial Management and Analysis, Business Development and Growth, Risk Management and Compliance, Team Leadership and Talent Development, Operational Excellence, Stake Holder Engagement, and Relationship Management.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Nanda Fernando was attached to Sampath Bank as its Managing Director. He served Sampath Bank for 36 years from the year of its inception.
He is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka and possesses a Master of Business Administration from Sikkim Manipal University, India. He is a product of S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia.
SURESH SHAH
Appointed – 10th May 2024
Skills & Experience:
He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
Other Current Appointments:
Mr. Suresh Shah is Chairman of Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC and a Director of Carson Cumberbatch PLC, Bukit Darah PLC, Hunter & Co PLC and Lanka Canneries (Pvt) Ltd. He also serves as the Head of the State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring Unit of the Government of Sri Lanka. Previously, he was Director & CEO of Ceylon Beverage Holdings PLC & Lion Brewery Ceylon PLC, a position he held for 30 years.
Previous appointments
He is a Past Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and of the Employers Federation of Ceylon. Previously, he has served as a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, a Member of Council of the University of Moratuwa and a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. As a past Chairman, he continues to serve as a Committee Member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and as a Trustee of the Employers Federation of Ceylon.
DILANI ALAGARATNAM
Appointed : 31st January 2025
Skills & Experience:
Dilani Alagaratnam is an Attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and her legal background is notable, with both a law degree and master’s degree in law. She has had an impressive and extensive career and has held numerous leadership roles. Beyond her corporate responsibilities, she is also actively involved in various professional organizations as well.
Other Current Appointments:
She is a director of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce-ICLP Alternate Dispute Resolution Centre, Women’s Fund Asia, a regional women’s fund committed to supporting women and trans people to strengthen access to their human rights and Kalyana SL Guarantee Private Limited, an organization committed to enhancing the mental well-being in Sri Lanka. She is also a member of the Legislation Sub Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Ombudsperson for South Asia Gateway Terminals (Pvt) Limited.
Previous appointments
She joined John Keells Holdings in 1992 and at the time of her retirement, in December 2019, she was a member of its Group Executive Committee of the Group and had Group level responsibility for the Functions of Legal & Secretarial; Human Resources; Enterprise Risk Management; Sustainability and CSR; Group Sourcing and for the business of John Keells Office Automation. She has held the position of director in several subsidiaries of John Keells Holdings PLC, including several listed companies. She has also held the position of director in Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka and served as an advisory committee member of the State-Owned Enterprises Restructuring Unit. Mrs. Alagaratnam was a Council Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors and a member of the National Labour Advisory Committee. She has been recognized as a Career Woman Role Model by Women in Management and as one of the most powerful women in Sri Lanka by the Echelon Magazine, among other accolades she has received.
SHIROMI HALLOLUWA
Appointed: Board Secretary - January 2023
Appointed: Senior Vice President / Board Secretary - 3rd May 2024
Skills & Experience:
She is an Attorney-at-Law & Notary Public and counts over 22 years of service in the Bank and 27 years of experience as a Legal Professional.
Other Current Appointments:
Head of Legal - Member of Sri Lanka Bank Company Secretaries Association.
Previous appointments
Company Secretary of HNB Assurance PLC ( 2012 January – 2016 September),HNB General Insurance Limited ( initial Company Secretary) and HNB Finance Limited ( 2014 November - 2017 January ).
