Board of Directors

Chairperson

Ms. Sherin Cader is the Chief Financial Officer of the Financial Services Sector of John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH). She has been with the JKH Group since 1998, serving in many capacities across multiple sectors. She has played diverse roles across finance and operations in Financial Services, IT Enabled Service sector and JKH Centre functions. She functioned as the Financial Controller at John Keells Holdings PLC from 2009 till 2012. Subsequently she took on the role of General Manager - Finance and Planning at Union Assurance PLC until her current role within the financial services sector of JKH. She is a Chartered Accountant from Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA-UK).

Senior Director

Mr. Chanaka Wickramasuriya is currently the Joint Managing Partner of Ironwood Capital Partners. Prior to that, in 2012, he was the Managing Partner of LR Global Lanka Private Equity Fund and was a Partner and the Global Portfolio Manager of Aureos Capital Limited from 2000 to 2005 and 2009 to 2011, respectively. For the period from 2006 to 2009 he was the Country Head of Fitch Ratings Lanka Limited, Colombo. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute of Charlottesville, USA.

Independent Non Executive Director

Mr. Russell De Mel is a professional accountant with over 20 years experience in development banking including project financing, SME financing and merchant Banking, and around 9 years of experience in commercial and investment Banking. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of UK (FCMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and Fellow of the Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (FCMA).

Mr. De Mel has served in the National Development Bank (NDB) and Group as the Director/ CEO and the Group CEO from March 2010 to August 2013. Prior to that he has held the positions of Vice President – Group Risk Management and Vice President of Corporate Banking Group of NDB.

He has also served on the Boards of over 25 listed and non listed companies over a period of 25 years, covering a wide range of sectors, i.e. Industry, Food & Beverage, Banking & Finance, Insurance & Capital Markets, Healthcare, Hospitality & Tourism, Plantations, Education & Communication, both within and outside NDB Group, and within and outside Sri Lanka. He currently serves on the Boards of TAL Lanka Hotels PLC, EAP Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., EAP Broadcasting Ltd., EAP Films and Theatres Ltd. and Singer Finance Lanka PLC.

Non Executive Director

Mr. Arjun Fernando is a professional banker with over 30 years’ experience in banking, finance and business administration. He was the Chief Executive Officer/ (Ex-Officio) Director of DFCC Bank from October 2013 to August 2017. During this period, he also functioned as Chairman/Director of many of DFCC’s subsidiaries and was the Bank’s Nominee Director on the Boards of the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Banks Association. He has also served as the Chief Operating Officer of HSBC Sri Lanka, Chief Technology and Services Officer of HSBC Bangladesh and also as Regional Head of Change Delivery, Commercial Banking, Trade & Supply Chain – Asia Pacific of HSBC Hong Kong. He holds an MSc in Management from Clemson University of South Carolina and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (U.K.)

Non Executive Director

Dr. Shanmuganathan is an Executive Vice President and the Group Chief Information Officer of the John Keells Group with over of 25 years of experience. His work with the John Keells Group has been focused on business-led digital and IT strategies and execution across the Group including subsidiaries such as John Keells IT and John Keells X. Dr. Shanmuganathan is a Hayes-Fulbright Scholar and is currently reading for his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at the International School of Management, Paris. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Technology Management from Keisei International University in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Shanmuganathan started his academic career at the University of Moratuwa, graduating with First Class Honours in Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. He then pursued a Masters in Business Administration from Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura and a Masters of Science, Information Technology and Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, USA, where he graduated with Phi Kappa Phi Honours. He is also a Chartered Engineer and Chartered IT Professional and a Fellow of the British Computer Society and Institute of Engineers, UK. 

Non Executive Director

Nations Trust Bank PLC appointed Mr. Chandika Kushan Hettiarachchi as a Non Executive Director of the Bank with effect from today, 05^th January 2022. Director, Bank Supervision of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has approved the appointment in terms of Section 42 of the Banking Act. 

Mr. C. K. Hettiarachchi is a professional having 23 years of experience in Financial Services sector specially in credit and leasing related areas which includes over 20 years at Central Finance Company PLC. He  serves as an Executive Director (Director Marketing) on the Board of  Central Finance Company PLC (CFC) since June 2018. Mr. Hettiarachchi also a serves on the Boards of three subsidiary companies of CFC namely CF Insurance Brokers Limited, Central Transport and Travels Limited and CF Growth Fund. 

Mr Hettiarachchi has carried out many assignments for International Development Agencies as a Consultant including International Finance Corporation (IFC). 

Mr Hettiarachchi is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of UK (ACMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) and a passed finalist of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK. He holds a Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Wales, UK.

Non Executive Director

Dr. Sanjeev Jha has over three decades of extensive experience in business leadership, strategy and overall business operations. He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Paramount Health Care Services & Insurance TPA, Maxop Engineering Company Pvt Ltd and Jaynix Engineering Pvt Ltd. He is on the advisory Board of CamCom Technologies (Pvt) Ltd and Symbo Platform, India. He also serves as a consultant to Fairfax Asia Limited which is a subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. He serves as a member of the industry advisory panel for the Birla Institute of Management Technology. He served as the CEO and Managing Director of Fairfirst Insurance Limited, Sri Lanka unill April 2021. Dr. Jha is a Fulbright Scholar in Leadership Management from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business, USA. He holds BA, Economics from St. Xavier’s Collage, MA Economics from University of Mumbai and Ph.D, Economics, University of Mumbai.

Non Executive Director

Mr. Charitha Subasinghe is President–Retail of the John Keells Group since 2018. The Retail sector of John Keells comprises of the Keells supermarket chain consisting of 132 outlets and John Keells Office Automation, the national distributor for Samsung phones, Asus laptops and Toshiba photocopiers. The Keells brand transformation took place under the leadership of Mr. Subasinghe and it went on to become the strongest brand in the country for the year 2022 based on the Brand Finance rankings.

With over 25 years of experience in the fields of accounting, financial management and marketing, Mr. Subasinghe holds an MBA from the University of Colombo, is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA), UK and holds a Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr. Arjuna Kumar Wignaraja is a professional with three decades of experience in the fields of business strategy, private equity investment, entrepreneurship, and governance.  He commenced his career at the Boston Consulting Group, and then spent two decades at advisory firm Stax before joining Cerberus Frontier, an investment fund.

Mr. Wignaraja currently serves as a Partner and Director at Good Life X (Pvt) Ltd, a catalyst for circular and regenerative growth. He also serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director in multiple companies including Asia Securities and related entities, Bartleet & Company, and Cenmetrix (Pvt) Ltd.  He is also an advisor to the Board of Medihelp and Xebiro Group.  

Mr. Wignaraja holds Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the Princeton University, USA and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, USA.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Dr. Roshan Anne Perera is a professional with three decades of experience in the fields of economics, risk management, policy research and corporate governance. During her career, Dr. Perera was engaged as the Director of Risk Management Department and as the Additional Director of Bank Supervision Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. She has also worked as a Member of Governing Council of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors. Prior to joining Nations Trust Bank PLC, Dr. Perera served as an Independent Director of Union Bank of Colombo PLC.

Dr. Perera currently serves as an Independent Director of Senkadagala Finance PLC, Course Coordinator of Bandaranaike Academy for Leadership & Public Policy and Senior Research Fellow of Advocata Institute.

Dr. Perera holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA And  a Master in Environmental Geography from University of Illinois in Chicago, USA. She also holds a Master in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Independent Non-Executive Director

Ms. Coralie Pietersz has over 30 years’ experience at senior levels, across several industries, in both the public and private sectors. Ms. Pietersz trained with Thornton Baker, Chartered Accountants, in London, now known as Grant Thornton. On her return to Sri Lanka, she joined the Mahaweli Authority. She moved into the banking sector, as the Finance Manager of Commercial Bank of Ceylon followed by roles in Internal Audit and Corporate Banking. She later held the position of CFO of Nations Trust Bank and that of Group CFO of Richard Peiris & Co PLC, a diverse group which included five listed companies. She joined Finlays Colombo in November 2010 as Finance Director and was appointed as Finance Director of Hapugastenne Plantations PLC and Udapussellawa Plantations PLC in 2016 and held these roles until 2020.

Ms. Pietersz was appointed to the Board of Seylan Bank PLC in September 2013 as an Independent Non-Executive Director. She also served as the Senior Director, Chairperson of Board Audit Committee, Board Human Resources and Remuneration Committee, Board Nomination Committee and as a member of Board Integrated Risk Management Committee, Board Governance and Compliance Committee and Related Party Transactions Review Committee of Seylan Bank PLC. In September 2022, she retired from the Seylan Bank PLC after nine years of service. She also served as an Independent Director of People’s Leasing & Finance PLC.

Ms. Pietersz currently serves as the Chairperson of Bogala Graphite Lanka PLC and an Independent Director of R I L Property PLC, United Motors Lanka PLC, Panasian Power PLC and Hemas Pharmaceuticals (Private) Limited and several other unlisted companies.

Ms. Pietersz is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka. She has a BSc (Hons) in physics from the University of Sussex and holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

Director / Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Hemantha is a career banker with extensive international banking experience in Corporate Banking, Credit Risk and International Trade Finance.

He started his career at Standard Chartered Bank, Colombo in 1997 and subsequently moved to HSBC where he held leadership positions such as Head of Commercial Banking, Colombo, Country Head, Maldives and Global Head of Lending Product Management - Global Commercial Banking, Hong Kong.

Mr. Hemantha joined Nations Trust Bank in 2016 to lead Corporate Banking and was later appointed Deputy CEO in 2020. Since then, he has been leading the bank’s Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking businesses.

An alumnus of Royal College Colombo, Hemantha holds a BSc in Management Science from University of Warwick, UK and a BSc in Financial Services from the University of Manchester, UK. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (ACIB), UK.