Chairman
Professor Lakshman L. Ratnayake brings more than 40 years' experience in the education industry and currently he is the Chairman of SLIIT. He is also a Board member of the National Research Council and the National Science Foundation. Prof. Ratnayake is an Adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering at University of Calgary, Canada and served as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Utah State University, USA.
He was the Vice Chairman of the UGC, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Head of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Moratuwa. He worked as the Project Director of the World Bank funded project on Higher Education for the Twenty-First Century (HETC) and the Project Director of the World Bank funded IRQUE Project.
Professor Lakshman L. Ratnayake was also the President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Transport, Sri Lanka
President / CEO
Professor Lalith Gamage was the chief architect in establishing the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) in 1999 and is currently holding the position of its Vice Chancellor and CEO. In 2000 he won The Outstanding Young Person of the year (TOYP) award for Academic Leadership. Professor Gamage is an Affiliate Professor of the University of British Columbia, Canada.
He contributed to promoting the IT industry and served the government of Sri Lanka as the Chairman of Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Chairman of Lanka Software Foundation (LSF), Chairman of Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies (ACCIMT), Chairman of the ICT Cluster and the Executive Director of Trade Information Network of Sri Lanka Export Development Board. Prof. Gamage also took the lead in establishing Sri Lanka’s first technology incubator, Conceptnursery which has produced a large number of successful technology companies. He won the ‘Most Outstanding ICT Contributor of the Year’ Award at the NBQSA 2020, the National ICT Awards 2020 organized by the Sri Lanka Section of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, for the contributions made towards the development of the IT industry of Sri Lanka.
Prof. Gamage is an Advisory Board Member of Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) and is the Founding President of Sri Lanka Association of Non-State Higher Education Institutes (SLANSHEI).
Professor Gamage is an Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering graduate from the University of Moratuwa and holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia, Canada. His research areas include Computer Vision, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Evolutionary Computing. Prof. Gamage won the Most Outstanding ICT Contributor of the Year award at the NBQSA, the National ICT Awards 2020.
Board Member
Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe has been a co-founder Director of SLIIT from its inception. He has degrees in Industrial Engineering, Economics and Business from State University of New York and Cornell University, USA.
Thilan is currently Chairman and CEO of TWCorp (TWC), an investment bank he founded 11 years ago, and sits on Boards of several public and private companies. TWC is engaged in private equity, corporate finance, Mergers & Acquisitions and PPP advisory work for local and international clients in Maldives, Bangladesh and Nepal. Thilan has also co-founded and become shareholder of several pioneering businesses. These include Ceylon Tea Trails, the world’s only tea plantation resort connected by walking trails, which is majority owned by Dilmah; Sapphirus Lanka, the highest value-added exporter of sapphire in Sri Lanka, and Wow.lk, an e-commerce company later sold to Dialog and now owned by Daraz.
Thilan commenced his career as a Senior Consultant at PWC and then as Head of strategic planning at Sampath Bank. He ventured into investment banking in early 1990s and co-founded Asia Capital PLC and Asia Stock Brokers, which became Sri Lanka’s largest investment bank and stock broker in 1993 and 1994. In September 1995, Thilan was invited to become the youngest ever Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI) and soon after sold his shareholding in Asia Capital. At the BOI, he pioneered Public-Private Partnership (PPP) transactions when he set up the Bureau or Infrastructure Investments (BII) of the BOI in 1996.
In his corporate career Thilan has served as the Group Managing Director of Overseas Realty PLC (owning company of World Trade Centre and Havelock City), Forbes & Walker (Sri Lanka’s largest commodity broker) and Co-CEO of Asian Hotels Properties PLC (owning company of Cinnamon Grand and Lakeside). From 2017 to 2109, Thilan served as the founder Chairman of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP) that developed a PPP project pipeline of over USD 2 Bn.
Board Member
Prof. Nimal Rajapakse is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology and a Professor of Civil Engineering. He has been a Professor in the School of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University, Canada since 2009. He was a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba (UM) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Rajapakse has extensive experience in academic administration having served in administrative roles in four research universities in Canada.
Board Member
Mr. Madu Rathnayaka holds over twenty years of IT industry experience in delivery management, project management, solution architecture, customer support, consultancy and general management in UK, USA, Australia, India and Sri Lanka. Delivered multi-million dollar projects to Fortune 1000 companies with geographically spread software teams. Industry domain expertise in document management, content management, shareholder information management, health care and Internet billing.
The lead designer of the Virtusa’s agile global delivery methodology (GIP) and the successful assessment of capability at CMMI Level 4. Spearheaded the development of the Advanced Technology Center in Sri Lanka from less than 10 people to become the Employer of Choice with over 2000 software professionals. Spearheaded the building of leading academic relationship program and the strategic CSR program. Experience in leading multiple functional areas including Software Project Delivery, HR, Knowledge Management, Quality, Logistics & Admin, Marketing and Corporate Communication, and IT.
Mr. Rathnayaka is also the founder Director and Chairman of emeritus of Sri Lanka Association for software and services companies ( SLASSCOM ) which represents the Sri Lankan IT / BPM industry. He is also Chairman of Sarvodaya Fusion, the ICT4D arm of Sarvodaya, the largest NGO in Sri Lanka, Co-Chairman of the National Council on ICT and Space Technology for the coordinating secretariat for Science Technology and Innovation ( COSTI ), the Government agency for monitoring and promoting Science, Technology and Innovation Sri Lanka. Member of the advisory board for ICT at the Export Development Board ( EDB ) and represents the IT Industry on the boards of several leading Universities.
Mr. Madu Rathnayaka holds an MBA from The Postgraduate Institute of Management, Sri Lanka and a First class honors degree in Software Engineering from City University, London.
Board Member
Mr. Reshan Dewapura is currently the CEO at GSS International (Pvt) Ltd, a state-of-the-art BPO operation providing AI+ services to a range of international clients. GSS is one of the largest BPO operations in Sri Lanka with centers in Colombo and Kurunegala and employing over 4000 staff.
His previous corporate positions include the position of CEO at the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka, where he also served as Program Director & COO over a period of 11½ years. As head of ICTA, Mr. Dewapura led the implementation of the World Bank funded flagship e-Sri Lanka Development program, which contributed significantly to the progression of ICT in the country. He was appointed to the Board of ICTA in April 2018 and continued as a Board Director until April 2022.
Immediately prior to joining the ICTA, Mr. Dewapura worked in Hewlett Packard (HP) for nearly a decade based out of the UK. He held many senior management positions mainly with HP Professional Services in EMEA. He has also won the HP’s Top Achiever’s Award for his outstanding contributions to the company.
He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, a Master’s in Project Management from the George Washington University, and counts over 35 years of experience in the ICT industry. He holds many Board Director and Advisory positions in both national and international ICT related entities.
Board Member
Prof. Chandana Perera is the Dean, Faculty of Business, SLIIT. Prior to joining SLIIT, he is a Professor and the Head of the Department of Management of Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He has experience in teaching both engineering and management students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has served as a visiting faculty in several national universities. Prof. Perera holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Moratuwa. He obtained Master’s degree in and Doctoral degree from Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. He has obtained post-doctoral training in the areas of Technology Management and Manufacturing Management from the University of Manchester Science and Technology, UK and University of New Foundland, Canada. He is also a chartered engineer.
Prof. Perera has authored several books and book chapters and contributed to numerous articles in both international and local journals. He has presented a number of technical papers in both international and national conferences. In addition to teaching in degree programs, Prof. Chandana Perera has conducted a number continuous professional development programs for the practitioners in the industry. He has rendered his service to industry as a consultant in Engineering and Management.
Board Member
Mr. Jehan Prasanna Amaratunga is a distinguished professional in the fields of accounting, finance, and management. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant and a Fellow Chartered Management Accountant, with a wealth of experience in corporate governance, financial management, and strategic planning.
Mr. Amaratunga has served on the Boards of many leading organizations in Sri Lanka and overseas, including People's Bank, People's Leasing and Finance PLC, People's Insurance PLC, Lankan Alliance Finance Limited (Bangladesh), Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology (SLINTEC) and JAT Holdings PLC. He has also been a Member of the Council of the University of Colombo and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Amaratunga's extensive experience and knowledge have earned him a reputation as a thought leader in the industry. He is known for his ability to develop and implement innovative strategies that drive growth and profitability, while also promoting sustainable and socially responsible practices.
Board Member
Board Member
Dr. Cabral is a President’s Counsel in Sri Lanka with thirty-five (35) years’ experience in the field of Commercial Arbitration, Company Law, Intellectual Property Law, Commercial Law, Securities Laws, International Trade Law coving both civil and criminal aspect of the said areas of law. He has been a President’s Counsel for sixteen (16) years and commands an extensive practice in the Commercial High Courts and the Supreme Courts of Sri Lanka, and has fifteen (15) Attorneys-at-Law working in his Chambers. He holds a doctorate in Corporate Law from the University of Canberra, Australia. He is a former member of the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka. He is also a former sitting member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration in Paris and a Representative Member of the Federation of Integrated Conflict Management (FICM) as well as a Representative Member of the International Commercial Disputes Tribunal (ICDT). Dr. Cabral is a director of the CCC-ICLP (Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law and Practice) International ADR Centre, a member of the Council of Management of ICLP, and a member of the Ministerial Committee appointed to reform Commercial Arbitration in Sri Lanka. He was the Founder Board Member of the Sri Lanka International Arbitration Centre and was involved in the drafting of the Arbitration Act, No. 11 of 1995, the current Act. At the request of the Government of Sri Lanka he was part of a two-member delegation sent to create awareness on commercial arbitration to the official & unofficial bars of the Republic of Maldives. Dr. Cabral is also a member of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka, a member of the Intellectual Property Advisory Commission in Sri Lanka and the Chairman of the Intellectual Property Law Reform Project of the Ministry of Justice, a member of the Corporate Governance Faculty and the Corporate Governance Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, a member of the Council of Legal Education in Sri Lanka and University Grants Commission (UGC) nominee on the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM). As a member of the Advisory Commission on Company Law in Sri Lanka, Dr. Cabral was one of the architects of the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, the current Act. Dr. Cabral is also a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Sports in drafting the new National Sports Law, a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Justice on the new House of Justice Project (Chairman) and a Senior Advisor to the Ministry of Justice on Commercial Law Reform.
Dr. Cabral serves as the Chairman of the Tokyo Cement Group, which commands the largest market share for cement in Sri Lanka. He was the immediate past Chairman of LOLC Finance PLC, one of the largest Finance Companies in Sri Lanka. He was also the immediate past Acting Chairman of Hatton National Bank PLC (HNB). In addition, Dr. Cabral was a senior Director of the Union Bank of Sri Lanka. Dr. Cabral currently serves as Independent Non-Executive Director of DIMO PLC, Hayleys PLC, Alumex PLC, Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC, Tokyo Super Cement Company Lanka (Private) Limited, Tokyo Cement Power Lanka (Private) Limited, Tokyo Eastern Cement Company (Private) Limited, Tokyo Super Aggregate (Private) Limited, Tokyo Supermix (Private) Limited, World Export Centre Limited, Darley Property Holdings (Private) Limited, CCC-ICLP Alternative Dispute Resolution Centre (Guarantee) Limited and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (Guarantee) Limited (SLIIT), SLIIT International (Private) Limited, and he serves on several Audit Committees, Nomination Committees, Remuneration Committees, Recoveries Committees and the Related Party Transaction Committees, chairing most of them.
Dr. Cabral is a senior visiting lecturer at several Universities here and abroad, a regular speaker at public seminars and an author of several books. He has also presented several papers on Commercial Arbitration, Corporate Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Trade Law here and abroad. In addition to his active practice in courts and lecturing, he has been a counsel in many a Arbitration and has served as Sole-Arbitrator, Co-Arbitrator and Chairman in a large number of Arbitrations, domestic and international.