Board of Directors

Appointed as the Chairperson on 06th July 2015. Mrs. Rose Cooray, having served the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for over 35 years retired as the Deputy Governor and counts over 47 years of experience in the financial sector. She is the Chairperson of Ceylon Guardian Investment Trust PLC, Ceylon Investment PLC and HNB General Insurance Limited. She functioned as Director of Hatton National Bank PLC for nine years and retired in 2019. Whilst being a Director of HNB, she also functioned as a Director of HNB Finance Limited and as the Chairperson of Sithma Development (Pvt) Limited. On release from the Central Bank, she had served the Ministry of Finance and Planning as Director General Fiscal Policy and Economic Affairs for nearly 6 years and represented, the Government on the Boards of DFCC Bank, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, Sri Lanka Telecom, Ceylon Electricity Board, De La Rue Currency and Security Print (Pvt) Ltd, Export Development Board, National Housing and Development Authority. She has represented the Monetary Board on the Board of West Coast Power (Pvt) Ltd. Mrs. Cooray has been extensively involved in policy making in the financial sector and implementing development projects. She has wide experience in negotiating financial facilities with multilateral donors/bilateral trade agreements. She has contributed papers to professional journals.

Mr. Fernando is a Fellow member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of United Kingdom. He has been awarded a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura in 1992. He holds Directorship in Addison (Pvt) Ltd and HealthCey (Pvt) Ltd also serving as a non-executive Director of Hatton National Bank PLC and Consultant - Strategy of Melstacorp PLC. He served as the Executive Director of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited from 2003 to 2009 and held Board positions in companies in sectors of Food & beverage, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Finance, Asset Management, and in Unit Trusts.

Mr. Chapman holds an MBA from the University of Colombo, a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK. Mr. Chapman also holds a Diploma in Life Insurance Sales and Marketing from the Life Underwriters Training Council USA and a Diploma in Business Management from the National Institute of Business Management Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and the Institute of Management UK. He is also a Member of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, Australia. Mr. Chapman’s management experience, spanning over 30 years include Sales, Marketing and general management functions. His Industrial exposure spans Healthcare, FMCG, Consumer Durables, Insurance, Banking and Telecommunications. Mr. Chapman is also an Independent Non-Executive Director of Hemas Pharmaceuticals (Pvt) Limited and United Motors PLC. Mr. Chapman was the former Managing Director GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Pharmaceuticals and served on the Boards of Glaxo Wellcome Ceylon Limited and SmithKline Beecham Pvt Ltd. Some of his previous appointments include Managing Director-Hemas Healthcare Sector, Marketing Director- Reckitt Benckiser, Senior Brand Manager Unilever, Managing Director/CEO–Lanka Orix Leasing Company and Director Life- Ceylinco Insurance. Mr. Chapman was also a former Director/ CEO of Janashakthi Insurance PLC. Mr. Chapman held several Industry positions including Honorary President and a Founder Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka, President of the Sri Lanka Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry – the apex body for the pharmaceutical industry in Sri Lanka and Co-Chairman of the Pharmaceutical & Cosmetics Steering Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Ashoka has more than 36 years of experience in the Banking industry covering financial reporting, financial management, taxation, financial operations and risk management. He is a Master of Business Administration of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (PIM) and a fellow member of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Sri Lanka. Ashok has been in the corporate management of Hatton National Bank PLC as the Chief Financial Officer and in the DFCC Bank PLC as the Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer and the Senior Vice President Integrated Risk Management/Chief Risk Officer. He had served in the Boards of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd, Acuity Stock Brokers (Pvt) Ltd, Acuity Securities Ltd and of Sithma Development Ltd. Ashok also served as a Board member of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board and in addition had chaired and served in several Board sub committees.

Started the professional career with the Department of Inland Revenue of Sri Lanka and joined the DFCC Banking Group in 1987. Was seconded to the service of DFCC Vardhana Bank in 2003 and functioned as the Chief Operating Officer until appointment as the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director in January 2010. Held the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer/Director of DFCC Bank PLC from October 2015 and appointed as the Chief Executive Officer/Director in August 2017. Until retirement in December 2021, held the position of Chairman of DFCC Consulting (Pvt) Limited, Lanka Industrial Estates Limited and Synapsys Limited, subsidiary companies of DFCC Bank PLC, and the Chairman of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Limited as well as Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (Guarantee) Limited. Also held the position of Chairman of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Limited, the joint venture company of DFCC Bank PLC. In addition, was Chairman / Director of Lanka Ventures Limited, LVL Energy Fund PLC and Director LankaClear (Pvt) Ltd. Was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), and Board of Management of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority. At present act as an Independent Director at Seylan Bank PLC, Independent Director of Finetech Consultancy (Pvt) Ltd, whilst serving as Chairman & Director of Panasian Power PLC & it’s Subsidiary Companies . Also serves as. Member of the Stake Holder Engagement Committee of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Mr. Silva is a Past President of Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka. Holds a BCom (Sp.) from the University of Kelaniya and an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. Associate Member of the Association of Development Financial Institutions of Asia & Pacific.( ADFIAP).

Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige holds a PhD and a BSc in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and he is also a passed Finalist of CIMA, UK. With over two decades of expertise in Digital and Electronics Product Engineering, Dr. Gamwarige currently holds the position of Managing Director at Nagarro in Sri Lanka. As a key member of the Global Leadership Team, he contributes to steering Nagarro SE, a renowned Digital Product Engineering Services company listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with a global workforce of over 19,000 Digital Engineering Professionals spanning 35 countries. Prior to his role at Nagarro, Dr. Gamwarige served as the General Manager and Vice President of Engineering at Zone24x7, a California-based Digital Product Engineering Company and served in various capacities at Symbol Technologies, Interblocks, and Millennium IT. He has served as a board/council member for Technologically Re-Awakening the Culture of Excellence (TRACE), National Innovation Agency (NIA), SLASSCOM, Sri Lanka Institute of Biotechnology (SLIBTECH), and the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Moratuwa. Dr. Gamwarige has also been an advisory member of Export Development Board (EDB), National Science Foundation (NSF) and Chamber of Commerce. He has a number of US Patents and Peer-reviewed Publications in Digital and Electronics Engineering to his credit.

Rimoe Saldin is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and an Associate of Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in UK and a Certified Management Accountant, Australia. He is an alumni of the Asian Institute of Management Manila. He has over 30 years of top management level experience in the areas of Finance, Human Resource Development, General Management and Operations as well as Chief Executive Officer. He is currently employed as Director of Paints & General Industries Limited and Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polypak Secco Limited. He is also the Chairman of Chemanex PLC and serves as a Director of CIC Holdings PLC. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Private) Limited, Link Natural Products (Private) Limited, CIC Agri Businesses (Pvt) Ltd and a number of companies in the CIC Group. He is the Chairman of CISCO Speciality Packaging (Private) Limited. He also serves in the Board of Directors of Hatton National Bank Plc and also is Chairman of Sithma Development (Private) Limited and serves as a Trustee of the HNB Sustainability Foundation. Previously Mr. Saldin 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.

Yoga Sanjeewani is an Attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and holds Bachelor’s degree in law from University of Colombo, Master’s Degree in Law from University of Colombo, Post Attorney Diploma in International Trade Law from Advanced Legal Studies Unit of Sri Lanka Law College and Diploma in Human Resource Management. Yoga joined HNB Assurance PLC, Parent organization of HNB General Insurance Ltd in year 2007 and currently heads the overall Legal, Corporate Secretarial and Compliance operation of HNB General Insurance Limited in the capacity of Head of Legal & Compliance Officer/Board Secretary and she is a member of the Senior Management Team. She has over 16 years of professional experience in the fields of Corporate law, Intellectual property, Insurance Law, Property Law, Labour Law and is experienced in all civil litigation. Prior to joining HNB Assurance PLC, Yoga had served in Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited and had worked as a legal researcher at Law & Society Trust, an organization engaged in legal research.