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.