AJIT GUNEWARDENE

Chairman

Among Sri Lanka’s most renowned business leaders, Mr Gunewardene’s career has been instrumental in providing strategic direction and business insight which enabled John Keells Holdings PLC to grow from an LKR 1 billion Market Cap (1992) to LKR 190 billion (2016). In his 34 years at the company, his focus has been on real estate, leisure, financial services, retail businesses- distinguishing himself by leading the respective businesses to market leadership positions.

He functioned as a founding Director and, subsequently, Chairman of Nations Trust Bank where he provided strategic direction and leadership in building the Bank. In addition, he provided leadership for other financial organizations when he served as Director and subsequently Chairman of Union Assurance Ltd .

In retail, Mr Gunewardene was instrumental in mentoring and guiding the island’s largest branded retail business ‘Odel’. As its seed Investor and Chairman, Mr Gunewardene guided the management, took them public and sold the company in 2014.

His leadership has also been sought by regulatory authorities when Mr Gunewardene functioned as the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) from 2000 – 2003. He was also an advisor to the various governments in Sri Lanka, functioning independently without any political affiliations. He was a member of the Prime Ministers Taskforce for Financial Sector Reform and also functioned as a Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Recently, he was a member of the Board of the BOI and Head of the Task Force for Foreign Direct Investment and Exports.

He is currently the Founder and Chairman of Bluestone Capital Ltd a leading private equity investment company. He is also the Founder Chairman of Digital Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd better known as PickMe the leading ride hailing and delivery company in Sri Lanka.

RONNIE PEIRIS

Non-Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr Peiris was, till end December 2017, an Executive Director on the Board of John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) and was its Group Finance Director. He was also a Director in several Listed and Non-Listed Companies involved in Leisure/Hoteliering, Food and Beverage Manufacturing/Retailing, Financial Services including Banks, Insurance and Brokering, Property Development/Real Estate, Information Technology, Plantations/Plantation Services and Transportations, Logistics and Ports.

He was, prior to JKH, the Managing Director, Anglo American Corporation (Central Africa) Limited, a subsidiary of Anglo American Plc, a company listed on the UK Stock Exchange.

Mr Peiris has, over 47 years of Finance and General Management experience with, more than 44 of them at Senior Management level, in Sri Lanka, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Mr Peiris was an active member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) during the period 2004 to 2017 and was the Chairman of its Taxation Sub Committee for several years. He is a Past President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors and was also recognised by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Sri Lanka, as its Business Icon of 2014.

In addition to holding a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa with specialisation in Marketing and Human Resource Management, Mr Peiris is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, (FCMA), UK, a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), Scotland, a Fellow Member of the Society of Certified Management Accountants (FSCMA), Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the Zambia Institute of Certified Accountants, (FZICA), Zambia.

Mr Peiris has successfully concluded a course on “Transformative Coaching; A Revolutionary Approach to Enable Change” at Classroom Learning conducted by the Coach Masters Academy, Singapore. He has been, and is now, a direct mentor/coach to many in the past several years and has been a natural coach/mentor in his several roles. He is currently consulting on strategic issues at many prominent organisations.

He has been, and is, a presenter of Papers on various topics at Workshops, Seminars and other fora and authored “Tough Journey Great Destination” – a behavioural guide for Professionals and Leaders.

SHANTANU NAGPAL

Non-Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr Nagpal is a Co-Founder of Bluestone. Mr Nagpal worked in asset management and equity research for 20 years, in Hong Kong and London before he moved to Sri Lanka. He has worked as portfolio manager for UBS Asset Management, Ellerston Asset Management and Brevan Howard Asset Management.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University where he was a Chevening Scholar, and an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD where he was a Misys Scholar. Mr Nagpal started his career at the Tata Administrative Service, where he worked with several CEOs of various Tata Group companies on strategic projects.

Mr Nagpal started working in UBS Hong Kong in 1995 in the equity research department and was responsible for three sectors where he covered the automobile, metal and shipping sectors in the region.

Mr Nagpal’s move to asset management happened in London, where he moved to UBS Asset Management, O’Connor, and was subsequently posted to Hong Kong where, as Portfolio Manager, he covered Japan, China, Hong Kong, India and the sub-continent.

In 2011 Mr Nagpal moved to Sri Lanka with his family and joined the Expolanka Group, specifically to restructure their holdings and find an exit for the largest shareholders, which, after a 2 year restructure, culminated in a strategic sale of the Company to Sagawa, Japan.

AHAMED SABRY IBRAHIM

Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr. Ahamed Sabry Ibrahim was appointed as a Director at Fintrex Finance Ltd with effect from 14th June 2021.

Prior to appointment of Director at Fintrex he was Chief Executive Officer/General Manager at Peoples Leasing and Finance PLC.

Mr. Ibrahim has over 37 years of banking experience, primarily in the areas of corporate banking, treasury management and risk management and has held very senior positions both locally and internationally including Senior Deputy General Manager, Wholesale Banking (October 2014 to September 2016) and Senior Deputy General Manager, Risk Management (August 2007 to October 2014) of People’s Bank, Deputy General Manager, Head of Treasury, Head of Corporate Banking and Recoveries, Chief Risk Officer and Chief Credit Officer of Hatton National Bank PLC (2004 to July 2007) and Head of Credit and GSAM, Standard Chartered Bank (2002 to 2004).

Mr. Ibrahim has also been a Director of HNB Securities Ltd. (2005 to 2007) and People’s Merchant Bank PLC (2009 to 2011). In addition he held the positions of Director of People’s Insurance PLC, People’s Micro-commerce Ltd., People’s Leasing Fleet Management Limited, People’s Leasing Property Development Limited and People’s Leasing Havelock Properties Limited, and Lankan Alliance Finance Limited.

He holds an Honours Degree (B.Sc) from the University of Colombo and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers – UK (FCIB).

SHRIHAN B. PERERA

Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr. Perera holds B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering (Honors) degree from University of Moratuwa and also Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants/CGMA, UK.

Mr. Perera was named CEO of Teejay Group in May 2018. With a decade of experience in the apparel industry, Shrihan started his career as a Management trainee at Dankotuwa Porcelain. He has served in Al Mulla Group in Kuwait followed by 13-year tenure at Unilever Sri Lanka, before joining Brandix Apparel Solutions as CEO of its Intimate Apparel Division in 2010.

At present, he is an Independent Director of Teejay Lanka Prints Pvt Limited, Teejay India Pvt Limited and Ocean Mauritius Limited (Teejay India holding Company)

Mr. Perera has counts many years of experience as CEO and senior management level in diverse sectors encompassing Apparel, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Porcelain and Service Industry in the corporate sector.

NILAM JAYASINGHE

Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr Nilam Jayasinghe was appointed as a Director of Fintrex Finance Ltd with effect from 01st October 2021.

He is presently an Independent Consultant and prior to his appointment as a Director at Fintrex, he was Group Director Finance of the CBL Group (Ceylon Biscuits) and an Executive Director of CBL Investments Limited the Holding Company and certain subsidiaries from 2012 until his retirement in July 2021.

Mr Jayasinghe possesses over 35 years of experience in the areas of General Management, Finance & Planning, Corporate Finance, Banking, Treasury, Risk and Audit and Compliance in excess of 35 years. Prior to joining CBL, he was Vice President, NDB Bank for sixteen years and also served on the Boards of subsidiary companies of the NDB Group. He was the Group Treasurer of the Aitken Spence Group and a Director of Aitken Spence Corporate Finance Ltd and was responsible in introducing the Corporate Treasury concept in Sri Lanka and certain financial instruments. Prior to this, he was Finance and Commercial Manager of Lanka Tiles PLC when the company was originally set up. He is an alumnus of KPMG.

Mr Jayasinghe is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK, a Past President of CIMA Sri Lanka Division and served on the Global Board of CIMA UK and was the Vice Chair of the Global Markets Committee.

He was a past Chairman of the Industrial Association of Sri Lanka affiliated to the Ceylon Chamber and has served on the Main Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the Company Law Reforms Commission, and on the Board of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board. In 2019, he served as an Independent Director, Bank of Ceylon and chaired it’s Audit Committee.

FONNY DE FONSEKA

Independent
Non-Executive Director

Mr Fonny De Fonseka has over 30 years of professional experience in the field of Information Technology. He held the positions of Director, John Keells Software Technologies, and was Assistant Vice President of the Group IT Division prior to moving to MAS Holdings to head the IT function of the swimwear cluster.

Mr De Fonseka has broad experience in Information Technology, Cyber Security, Enterprise Resource Planning, Manufacturing and Retail Systems, Project Management, and Process Improvement.

Mr De Fonseka has an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura and is a Certified SAP Consultant.