Stewardship and Governance

Mr Lalith Seneviratne, was appointed to the Board as an Independent Non–Executive Director on 23 January 2020. Thereafter, he was appointed as an Executive Director/Group Chief Executive Officer on 1 May 2020. He is also a member of the Technology Subcommittee. He serves in the Boards of eChanneling PLC, Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., Sri Lanka Telecom (Services) Ltd., SLT Digital Info Services (Pvt) Ltd. and SLT VisionCom (Pvt) Ltd.

He is an engineer by training. He has over thirty-five year’s experience in the corporate field, primarily with Motorola Corporation.

Mr Seneviratne obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics from the University of Kent, UK and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada. He pursued a career in telecommunications starting in 1982 at the then Sri Lanka Telecommunications Department (present day SLT). In 1988, he became the head of engineering of Celltel, setting up South Asia’s first mobile telephone network.

In 1990 Mr Seneviratne accepted a position with Motorola Corporation and moved to Singapore on a regional role. During this period he developed Motorola’s relationship with SLT that enabled SLT to provide telephone service to remote areas including restoring telephone service to Jaffna in 1996.

Since leaving Motorola, Mr Seneviratne has carried out several professional consulting assignments in telecommunications and renewable energy, while engaging in rural electrification activities during his spare time. He was part of a team that set up four grid connected mini hydropower systems. He implemented Sri Lanka’s first off-grid village solar electrification system in 2001 and Sri Lanka’s first off-grid village biomass electrification system in 2004.

In the period 2006 to 2009, Mr Seneviratne was a member of the Board of Directors of Lanka Transformers Ltd. and its Chairman during the latter part. He was a member of the inaugural governing Board of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

Currently Mr Seneviratne is a member of the Board of Directors of four mini hydropower companies – Messrs Escas Owala (Pvt) Ltd, Escas Ankanda (Pvt) Ltd, Escas Diggala (Pvt) Ltd, and Escas Kiula (Pvt) Ltd.

Mr Seneviratne is the recipient of the Year 1999 Motorola CEO Award for Volunteerism. For his voluntary services to the Department of Wildlife Conservation he was made an Honorary Director in the Department. For his innovation he was elected a Lemelson Fellow and for his sustainable development activities he was elected an Ashoka Fellow. On the 20th Anniversary of the Internet Society of Sri Lanka, he was recognised as one of twenty-five people having contributed to the early development of the Internet in Sri Lanka.

Mr Seneviratne is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineering & Technology, UK.

An in depth understanding of technology and its continuous immersion into the lives of people everywhere, this is what gives Mr Kiththi Perera an edge in this now predominantly digital world. He possesses a passion for understanding the evolutionary nature of businesses and how best to support them with the solutions they need to sustain themselves as they grow. Currently, he sits at the helm of Sri Lanka Telecom’s decisive and pioneering shift into Fibre and draws from years of experience and expertise that has seen the Company grow year-on-year.

Mr Perera believes in the power of contribution through collaboration. He understands that high-level products need multiple partners bringing the best of their creative intellect to the table in order to be successful. This thinking is a result of years he himself has spent working with some of the finest minds in engineering – a road that leads all the way back to the Engineering Council and the Institution of Engineering and Technology in the UK, of which he is a Chartered Engineer. Being a Masters Graduate from the University of Moratuwa in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering only solidifies the foundation of his career, which now spans a quarter of a century.

Having been instrumental in the growing of several business segments from Government to Enterprise and SME, Mr Kiththi Perera now brings his attention to Consumer Businesses and Fibre connectivity, which he believes require the most amount of focus at this time. He is aware that the process requires as much an internal transformation as it does the external preparations. Creating meaningful and effective new products in the digital space for customers across all business segments is a priority, and the plan to go global is a firm eventuality on his watch.

Mr Priyantha Fernandez joined SLT in 1991 following multiple roles in various multinational telecommunications organisations. He holds a BSc (Eng.) in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and an MBA from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. His 32-year career as a professional in telecommunication industry, includes attending to technological updates in the forum of overseas training and seminars, organised by international training institutions, telco operators, and equipment vendors. He has recorded over 700 such days of exposure during his tenure. He has held a string of senior positions within SLT, culminating in his current position as the Chief Operating Officer. In this role he oversees the entire planning, operation, maintenance and projects in Planning, Network, Regional, IT, Procurement, Projects and Innovation, Quality and Security groups within Sri Lanka Telecom. In addition, he has had overseen operation of SLT’s Call Centre in line with improving customer experience. He has played a leading role in planning and deploying very large scale programmes for SLT network transformation. Some of the flagship projects in which he made a significant contribution are New Generation Network (NGN), Sri Lanka Backbone Network (SLBN), Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH), LTE (4G), National Broadband Programme (i-Sri Lanka), National Data Centre, Submarine Cable Systems, and establishment of Cable Depot in Galle. He was a member of the International Management Committee for the submarine cable consortium of SEA-ME-WE 3, 4 and 5, Dhiraagu Cable, and the Bharath Lanka Submarine Cable System. He additionally serves as a management committee member under the South-East Asia and Indian Ocean Cable Maintenance Agreement (SEAIOCMA). He is a permanent member of the Senior Tender Board of SLT. In addition to the above responsibilities his authority extends to planning, formulating and overseeing implementation of policies that promote profitability, company culture, and quality of operations. His role involves strategic decision-making for achieving agreed short-term, medium-term and long-term corporate objectives towards making SLT business viable and profitable. In the areas of responsibilities as the Chief Operating Officer, he is empowered to execute agreements for the procurement of goods and services, financial instruments, notarial documents, special category agreements and international agreements. His recent involvement in preparing national Digital Road map to achieve SMART SRI LANKA has paved the Next Generation transformation of SLT falling in line with global operators.

Mr Fernandez is a permanent member of the Technical Subcommittee of SLT since 2011. He also has been functioned as a Non-Executive Director of SLT Services Limited for over twelve years from 2007 to 2019.

Mr Ajantha Seneviratne joined SLT in 1993. He holds a BSc in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa and a Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering from the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL). In addition, he holds an MBA from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Mr Seneviratne is a Chartered Engineer and a member of The Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka. He counts over 20 years of experience in Marketing. He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of SLT VisionCom (Pvt) Ltd. and holds Group Chief Marketing Officer position.

Mr Saman Perera possess over 25 years experience in the IT industry as a thought-leader and innovative technology manager with a strong technical background. During his career, he has given leadership to large scale software development projects for business and at national-level including the Electronic Travel Authority for the Department of Immigration and Emigration and mTicketing for Sri Lanka Railways. He has also given leadership in implementing complex large-scale projects in the telecommunication industry with multiple international suppliers. He has also served as the Senior Manager IT for Lanka Bell.

He holds an MBA in Management of Technology from University of Moratuwa, MSc in Computer Science, and BSc from University of Colombo. He serves as a resource person for the MBA in IT at University of Moratuwa, and served as a visiting lecturer for MBA in Information Systems, University of Colombo. He is currently serving as a Board member of the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) representing the industry.

He is an active member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka, and has served as a council member. He won the prestigious “CIO of the Year” award from the Computer Society of Sri Lanka.

Mr Sanjeewa Samaranayake is the Group Chief Financial Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC and counts over 25 years of management experience, holding senior positions in reputed manufacturing, trading and service organisations in Sri Lanka and overseas. He has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Colombo and is a Chartered Management Accountant with an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka.

He joined Sri Lanka Telecom PLC as Group Chief Financial Officer in September 2018. Prior to joining SLT, he held various senior positions such as Managing Director, Director Finance, Group Chief Financial Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Group Financial Controller in many reputed companies in Sri Lanka

He held many senior positions of the Chamber of Pharmaceuticals Industry of Sri Lanka and last being the Senior Vice President position for two consecutive years. He was a committee member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Import Section for several years holding senior positions.

He was awarded the prestigious “Platinum Honours Award” by the Postgraduate Institute of Management Alumni in 2010 and the “Diamond Service Award” for the Most Outstanding Business Leader of the Year, organised jointly by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Postgraduate Institute of Management Alumni in 2016.

Mr Prabhath Ambegoda currently holds the position of Chief Corporate and Digital Officer of the Company. His current portfolio spans Corporate Strategy, Regulations, Tariff, Programme Management, Digitalisation, and Corporate Relations of the Company.

He joined Sri Lanka Telecom in 1991 as an Engineer, and counts over 29 years of multidisciplinary experience in the telecommunication industry, in the field of Engineering, Management, Customer Services, Human Resources, and Regulations. He has previously served in several managerial positions at Sri Lanka Telecom as Regional Telecommunication Engineer, Project Engineer, Operations Engineer, Deputy General Manager in Human Resources, Deputy General Manager in Corporate Strategy, General Manager in New Business Development, General Manager in Regulatory Affairs, General Manager in Tariff and Interconnections, and General Manager in Corporate Strategy. He counts 19 years of experience in Corporate Management within the telecommunication industry.

During his career, he has gained extensive industry related knowledge and training from National University of Singapore, University College Dublin, Ireland, Korea Telecom Training Centre, South Korea, NTT Training Centre, Japan, and Telecom Training institutes in Sweden, UK, India and Malaysia. Further, he has undergone several certificate courses in other disciplines such as Management Accounting, Marketing, Secretariat Services, and General Management. He is also a trainer of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) programmers.

Mr Ambegoda is a Chartered Engineer by profession, holds a BSc (Eng) Honours degree from University of Peradeniya, specialising in the field of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He is a Fellow member of The Institution of Engineers in Sri Lanka (IESL) and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Anglia Ruskin University, UK.

With a career spanning over 25 years at Sri Lanka Telecom, Mr Prabhath Dahanayake’s multidisciplinary exposure in the fields of Engineering, Project Management, Business and Marketing position him as an invaluable resource in this dynamic time in the Organisation’s journey.

During his quarter-century tenure at SLT, he has held an illustrious variety of Senior Management positions at the telecom giant, including but not limited to over a decade’s worth of marketing experience, as well as Head of Province and General Manager – Product Development and Management.

A Chartered Engineer with a BSc Degree in Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa, he completed a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with core studies at the University of Ruhuna.

Mr Prabhath Dahanayake has been instrumental in driving the Company’s broadband-led new services development, as well as the crucial repositioning of SLT’s flagship products and services. His new role as Chief Marketing Officer stations him on an ideal platform to revolutionise Sri Lanka Telecom’s strategy and marketing vision.

During his carrier, he has gained extensive industry related knowledge and trainings from NTT training centre – Japan, Training institute in Netherland, Nokia of Finland, Spain, and UK.

Mr Abeysinghe joined SLT in 1991. He holds a BSc degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Kansas, USA. He is a Chartered Engineer, a member of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, and a member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka. He is a Fulbright Scholar.

In his present role, he leads the Enterprise and Wholesale business of SLT that provides integrated voice and data solutions to Enterprises, Government Institutions, domestic Telco operators and global wholesale carriers. In his career at SLT spanning 28 years, he has held a number of senior positions, including General Manager Enterprise and International Sales and has extensive experience in the areas of Domestic and International Switching, Data Communications, Business Development, Enterprise Communications Solutions and International Voice and Data Business.

Mr Abeysinghe served on the Board of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) as a Non-Executive Director from 2014 to 2018. He was a member of the Taskforce on Formulating a National ICT Plan 2011-2016. Before joining SLT he was an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and at present serves as a Visiting Lecturer.

Ms. Hissalle is a Fellow Charted Engineer having BSc and a MSc with 27 years of service gained extensive experience in regional operations, administration and human resources.

She was the Gold Award winner of HRM at the 7th Professional and Career Women’s awards in 2017 organised by “WIM in collaboration with International Finance Corporation/World Bank”. She was also awarded the Women Leadership Excellence citation and the Asian HR Leadership Award in 2018 and 50 Top Global HR TECH MINDS Award and Pioneering Woman Leader award at the 6th World Women Leadership Congress and Awards 2019 held in Mumbai, India consecutively by World HRD Congress. She has won the award “101 Most Fabulous Global HR Tech Leaders” also by World HRD Congress.

She is the Assistant Secretary of the Association of Human Resource Professionals, Fellow Member of the IESL, a Member of IEEE (USA) and the Treasurer of the MTT Society. She is a visiting lecturer of the University of Peradeniya since year 2006 up to date. She is a member of Industry Advisory Board of Faculty of Engineering, UOP and the Head of Academic Board of Edexcel BTEC in SLT as well as Sponsor of Franchise Degree awarding program of University of Hertfordshire, UK.

She is awarded Executive diploma on Employment Relationships with the Employers Federation of Ceylon with collaboration of International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation.

Ms Maneesha Jinadasa has over 35 years of experience at SLT, of which she served as a Deputy Chief Officer for 17 years. She has served in the capacity of Deputy Chief Human Resource Officer, Deputy Chief Quality Assurance Officer, Deputy Chief Officer/Corporate Programmes where she headed Quality Assurance, Transformation and Project Management Office, and Deputy Chief Network Officer, before being promoted to Chief Logistics Officer in April 2018. Ms Jinadasa holds a BSc Engineering Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa, a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Netherlands, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo. She is also a Corporate Member of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL).

Mr Imantha Wijekoon is a Chartered Engineer with a Degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Moratuwa. In addition, he holds an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

In his career at SLT spanning over 25 years he has gained extensive exposure in the fields of Regional Operations, Project Management, and Consumer and SME sales operations. He has undergone telecommunication operation and business-related trainings in several foreign countries. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) of Sweden, LG Cables and Machinery Ltd. of South Korea, Korea Telecom of South Korea, and AOTS of Japan are few such institutes to mention. He has also participated in many international and local conferences and workshops. Next Generation Networks, Fixed Mobile Convergence, CRM Change Management, Telecommunication Business Simulation, Value Driven Marketing, Total Telecom Congress and World Mobile Congress are several such events.

Mr Wijekoon counts for over 10 years of experience in the consumer sales segment. In his professional carrier at SLT he has held the senior positions of Head of Province, Deputy Head of Regions, General Manager Customer Service, Regional General Manager and Chief Sales Officer. Since November 2019 he serves as a Non-Executive Director of SLT Services.

Mr Lionel Imbulana joined SLT in 1984. He was appointed as Head of Division – New Connections in 1998 and thereafter promoted to Chief Sales and Regional Officer in November 2018. He is a Chartered Engineer of the Institute of Electronics and Radio Engineers (IERE) in UK and a member of the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) of UK. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Kelaniya. He has wide experience in Electronics Switching Projects implementation development and manages Operations and Maintenance of the Outside Plant Network and Customer Service Assurance. He has made an immense contribution to design and development of Workforce Management (WFM) system, which automates customer faults management systems with improved customer satisfaction. The system is in use by field operational staff.

Currently he is in charge of Sales and Operational activities of the 17 districts of the country including three (3) Regional General Manager offices, ten (10) Provincial Deputy General Manager offices, twenty-four (24) Regional Telecom Officers and twenty-three (23) Regional Operational and Maintenance Centres.

Mr Kaluarachchi joined SLT in 2010 as Chief Marketing Officer. He is a Chartered Marketer, holding a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing – CIM, a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), and a Fellow of The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (FSLIM). He is a Fellow of Chartered Professional Managers (FCPM). He holds a Master’s in Business Studies from the University of Colombo. He is a member of the Advisory Board of CMO Council, Asia Pacific Region. He is a Board Director of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region and had been a judge at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards. Currently, he is reading for PhD in Management and Business Studies at the University of Colombo.

He is a veteran in the field of Marketing and Business Management with over 24 years of practice in the entire spectrum of Marketing, Sales Management, and Strategic Business Management in both multinational and blue-chip companies in Sri Lanka. He has cross-industry experience covering FMCG, Consumer Durables, and over 12 years in telecommunications, both Fixed and Mobile categories in Sri Lanka. He is the Former Chief Marketing Officer at SLT from November 2010 to March 2015. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of SLT Human Capital Solutions (Pvt) Ltd.

Mr Mangala Samarajeewa joined SLT in 1997 and holds a BSc (Eng.) in Electronics and Telecommunications from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He is a Chartered Engineer and corporate member of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka. With 23 years of work experience in various capacities, he has strong managerial and technical skills to provide leadership to SLT’s Network Group.

As a professional in the telecommunication industry, he has participated in many overseas trainings, seminars, and various forums organised by international training institutions, top ranking telecommunication service providers, and reputed telecommunication equipment vendors. In this role he oversees the entire network operation of SLT including Transport and Access, Network Services, Data Centre and Cloud Services, Application Services, Power and AC, Service Operations, and Projects.

In the path to his current position as Chief Network Officer, he has proven excellence in management of technology and programme management as a senior manager. His major achievements are leading the implementation of National Broadband Network (i-Sri Lanka Programme), Lanka Government Network (LGN) and the SEA-ME-WE-5, 6 Submarine Cable System. He has overseen the operations of the Field Services Projects Unit in SLT for fast deployment of the network in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka and also held a range of positions in operations and maintenance of the SLT network at regional level. He is also working as the sponsor for the National Fiberisation Program.

He is a member of the International Management Committees for the submarine cable consortiums of SEA-ME-WE-3, 4, 5 and 6, Dhiraagu – SLT, and Bharath Lanka Submarine Cable Systems.

Mr Samarajeewa is the present Vice-President of the Japan-Sri Lanka Technical and Cultural Association (JASTECA) and was the Past Secretary General of the South Asia Federation of AOTS Alumni Societies (SAFAAS).

Mr Gamalath joined SLT in 1992. He holds a BSc (Eng.) Honours Degree in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He is a Chartered Engineer of the Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka and is a member of IET (UK). He has over 27 years’ experience in IT and Telecommunication. His experience counts 8 years in International Switching, and 19 years in IT. He has held the positions of DGM/System Administration, GM/Systems, GM/System Development and Network, and GM/IT Infrastructure during his career in IT. He has pioneered introduction of IT Disaster Recovery, IT data centre construction, Infrastructure Consolidation and Virtualisation, and Data Analytics, and has contributed to the introduction of multiple IT applications in SLT. He has vast experience in IT project management delivering successful projects.

Mr Terrance Fernando joined SLT in 1984. He holds a Bachelor of Technology (Honours) Degree in Computer Engineering, a Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Engineering and an MBA. A Chartered Engineer, he also obtained Graduate Membership of the Institution of Radio and Electronic Engineers, Corporate Membership of Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Corporate Membership of the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

He served as Chairman of the Next Generation Network Implementation Team and led a range of initiatives to transform legacy switching systems to Soft Switches and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) enabling the path for digitalisation. He was instrumental in planning, designing, commissioning, and operating Satellite Earth Stations, International Transmission Maintenance Centre, International Switching Centres, and Submarine Cable Systems at SLT. He was the Project Manager of the Telecommunication Network Expansion Project (TNEP) funded by the Japanese Bank for International Corporation (JBIC), under which all main nodes in SLT’s network were linked through optical fibre ring networks and introduced Fibre to Curb (FTC) concept in Sri Lanka. He undertook responsibility for operation of IP Networks, ISP Network, Data Centres, and IP TV Network in the capacity of General Manager.

Mr Fernando has gained 35 years of extensive experience in the field of Telecommunications including Fixed & Wireless Communication, Process Management, Operation & Maintenance, planning & Designing and Project Management.

By profession Ms Sonali Wijekoon is an Attorney-at-Law, who holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Colombo.

She is currently holding the position of Chief Legal Officer of the Company. She heads the Legal Department which handles variety of Litigation matters for the Company, in addition to the wide range of international and local contracts, Intellectual property matters, conveyancing and other legal matters. Further, she provides a very vital legal input for the formalisation process of Company’s land titles.

Her experience in the field of Law counts over 31 years with 27 years of experience in Sri Lanka Telecom Legal Division, previous experience in the banking sector and a short stint in the Private Bar.

Mr Saman Abeysekara joined SLT in 1998 following various roles in recognised organisations. He holds a BSc (Eng.) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka.

He has 25 years of vast experience as a professional in telecommunication industry. During his career he has served as a Greater Colombo Telecommunication Improvement Project Engineer for an international Company, Supply Credit Project Engineer for Sri Lanka Telecom Services, Assistant Director Interoperability for Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Sri Lanka. He has served for SLT in the capacity of Project Manager of the Rural Telecommunication Development Project, Regional Telecommunication Manager, Provincial Deputy General Manager, Regional General Manager and Deputy Chief Regional Operating Officer, before been promoted to the Chief Asset, Property and Security Management Officer of SLT. He has wide experience in areas such as Project Management, Regional Operation and Maintenance, Customer Service, Consumer and SME Sales Operation, Property Development and Security Management.

Mr Lalith Waragoda joined SLT in November 2019 as the Group Chief Internal Auditor. Prior to this appointment he held the responsibility of Asia Regional Auditor of a Multi-National Corporation (MNC), a global logistics solutions provider. Also, he has worked as a Director/Chief Financial Officer at few leading private business enterprises in Sri Lanka. He counts over 33 years of professional experience in Audit/Assurance, Shipping/Logistics, Trading and Manufacturing industries.

He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), and an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, affiliated to the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Also, he is a holder of Diploma in Taxation (CA Sri Lanka).