Dr. M. P. Dissanayake

Chairman

Dr. Dissanayake joined the Board of Elpitiya Plantations PLC on 15th March 2019. Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Aitken Spence PLC , he was Secretary to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Southern Development. He was appointed as the first non-British International President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, U.K. founded in 1911 and Royal Charter conferred in 1920. Dr. Dissanayake has also held positions in the past that include, Chairman – Sri Lanka Ports Authority (two stints), Chairman – Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (Sri Lanka), Board Director Urban Development Authority and Board Director of Ceylon Shipping Corporation. During the period June 2004 to May 2017 he served as a Director of Aitken Spence PLC and the Chairman & CEO of its Maritime and Logistics sectors. Dr. Dissanayake is an Alumni of the University of Sri Jayawardenepura, NORAD, JICA, Business Alumni of the University of Oxford (UK) and a Fellow of Harvard Business School (EEP). He is also the Co-Chairman of CINEC Campus, Hon. Consul of Fiji Islands and serves as a Professor in Maritime Studies (visiting) at Shanghai Maritime University and Dalian Maritime University.

Dr. Rohan Fernando

Managing Director

Dr. Rohan Fernando was appointed to the Board of Elpitiya Plantations PLC on August 01, 1997 and as Managing Director on May 14, 2004. He is the Managing Director of Aitken Spence Plantation Managements PLC and an Executive Director of Aitken Spence PLC. Dr. Fernando, is currently responsible for the Business Development of the Aitken Spence Group covering sustainability and branding. He has extensive experience in the plantation industry; both in the Public and Private sectors; Corporate management, Corporate strategy and has played a key role in the plantation privatization programme. He was the Chairman of United Nations Global Compact Network, Sri Lanka, a former President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Chapter, a past Chairman of the Planters Association of Ceylon and is currently the President of the Palm Oil Industry Association which comprises growers, processors and refiners in the Palm Oil Industry. He holds a PhD and a MBA from the University of Colombo and is also a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), UK.

Mr. Malik J. Fernando

Non - Executive Director

Mr. Malik Fernando was appointed to the Board of Elpitiya Plantations PLC on 1st August 1997 as a Director. Mr. Fernando is a Director of MJF Holdings & Dilmah Tea. Established by Deshamanya Merrill J. Fernando; Dilmah, named after his two sons Dilhan and Malik, was the first producer owned tea brand, offering tea ‘picked, perfected and packed’ at origin. Dilmah is founded on a passionate commitment to quality and authenticity in tea, it is also a part of a philosophy that goes beyond commerce in seeing business as a matter of human service. He is also the Managing Director of Resplendent Ceylon, the first Sri Lankan luxury resort brand. Resplendent Ceylon is developing a collection of small, luxury resorts offer discriminating travelers a remarkable circuit across Sri Lanka, with a range of authentic experiences, while contributing towards local communities & the environment through the MJF Foundation & Dilmah Conservation. Mr. Fernando has a BSc in business management from Babson College in the US

Mr. D. A. de S. Wickremanayake

Non-Executive Director

Mr. D. A. de S. Wickremanayake was appointed to the directorate of Elpitiya Plantations PLC on 2nd October 2017. In addition, he serves as a Director of Aitken Spence Plantation Managements PLC since 18th July 1997 and is a Director of Pelwatte Sugar Colombo PLC as well. Mr. Wickremanayake has wide experience in the corporate sector, having pioneered many companies and served on the board of many others. He is the founder Chairman / Managing Director of Master Divers (Pvt) Ltd, which created a landmark area of activity in the shipping industry. He is the Chairman of Pelwatte Dairy Industries Ltd which produces wide range of dairy products including milk powder and butter using locally produced milk. He also is the Chairman of Mawbima Lanka Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting Sri Lankan goods. He is also a Director of Bogawantalawa Tea Estates PLC. In the state sector, his experience was sought by the Government to help to run the National Livestock Development Board and the State Engineering Corporation where he served as Chairman of these two institutions, at difference times. He is a Member of the University Grant Commission Standing Committee on Agriculture, Veterinary, Medicine and Animal Science, Advisory Board Member of Sabaragamuwa University, Council Member of Ocean University, Faculty Representative for the Faculty of Technology, University of Colombo.

Mr.D.C. Fernando

Non-Executive Director

Mr. D C Fernando was appointed to the Board of Elpitiya Plantations PLC on 9th August 2023 as a Director. Mr. Fernando is the younger son of Dilmah Founder Merrill J. Fernando. A graduate of the London School of Economics and the Chairman/CEO of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC, as Trustee of the Merrill J. Fernando Foundation, and Director of Dilmah Conservation he directs the fulfillment of his father’s unique commitment to serving humanity and environment through business. Mr. Fernando serves as Chair of UN Global Compact Network Sri Lanka and Biodiversity Sri Lanka, a pioneering environmental collaboration amongst the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, IUCN and Dilmah Conservation. Mr. Fernando is also the Chairman of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC, Kahawatte Plantations PLC, and holds directorship in The Fortress Resorts PLC, Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC and several other Private Limited Companies

Mr. M.J.S. Rajakariar

Non-Executive Director

Mano Rajakariar possesses a distinguished career spanning over three decades and was until June 2024, the CFO at South Asia Gateway Terminals (SAGT), where he held pivotal roles within the executive committee and senior management. Prior to joining SAGT, he was an Executive Vice President and Group Financial Controller of John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH). Mano joined the John Keells Group in 1996 and initially was the Sector Financial Controller for the Tea Broking and Plantations Sector, and later CEO of their Shared Services arm and finally held the position of Group Financial Controller before joining SAGT in 2018. He also had a tenure at Coopers and Lybrand (PWC), both in Sri Lanka and Malawi, where he garnered experience in audit assurance and compliance. Mano holds prestigious qualifications from The Institute of Chartered Accountants (CA) Sri Lanka, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK and the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka and is a Fellow member of all three institutions bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. Additionally, his active involvement in professional and community initiatives, includes him serving on the Ethics Committee at CA Sri Lanka and holding non-executive independent board positions at Alumex PLC, Hayleys Fibre PLC and Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka Limited (Pick-Me).

Prof. Ajantha S. Dharmasiri

Non-Executive Director

Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri is a leading “pracademic” in Sri Lanka with solid “industry experience” and “international academic exposure.” He has a rare combination of being a Chartered Manager, Chartered HR Professional and a Chartered Electrical Engineer. He is acclaimed as a conference speaker, corporate trainer, strategy consultant, author and an academic. He has over three decades of both private and public sector working experience in diverse environments including Unilever and Nestle. He has engaged in consulting, lecturing, training, and conference speaking in over thirty countries around the globe. He serves in the Boards of Softlogic PLC, DSI Samsons Group, UB Finance PLC and Sri Lanka Institute of Biotechnology (SLITEC) and in the Governing Council of the Benedict the 16th Catholic Institute (BCI). He was as a member of the Governing Council of National Institute of Business Management (NIBM) and the Association of Management Development Institutions of South Asia (AMDISA). He completed his nine year stint as an Independent Non-executive Director at the Citizen’s Development Business Finance PLC (CDB) last year. He was an independent member of the ethics committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He became the first home-grown Senior Professor in Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and was a former Director / Chairman of the Board of Management of it. He also serves as an adjunct professor in International Human Resource Management at the Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, USA. He is the Immediate Past President of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) – Sri Lanka Chapter. Being a Past President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), he became the first Sri Lankan to lead both CMI and CIPM. He was also a Vice President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management (APFHRM). He is a Commonwealth AMDISA Doctoral Fellow, Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow, and a Commonwealth Postdoctoral Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. and an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa. As an academic scholar, he has presented research papers at key international conferences and was the editor of Sri Lankan Journal of Management (SLJM), the pioneer local publication that became the first to be hosted by EBSCO global research database. He has published articles in local and foreign journals and is also an author of ten books. He has won many accolades including gold medals for best papers in two international management conferences, Emerald best paper award in 2014. In 2010, he won the Platinum Award by the Alumni of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIMA) for outstanding academic contribution. He also was bestowed with the prestigious IPM Lifetime Gold Award 2014, the highest honour for an HR professional in Sri Lanka. He is a fellow member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Training and Development (SLITAD). He also functions as a certified Peer Reviewer of the South Asian Quality System (SAQS) and an advisor to the Old Royalists’ HR Professional Association (ORHRPRA). Prof. Dharmasiri likes to identify himself as one who transitioned from being an “Engineer of Electrical” to an “Engineer of Hearts and Minds.”

Dr Ravi Fernando

Non-Executive Director

Dr Ravi Fernando is an Alumni of the University of Cambridge having completed both a Post Graduate Certificate in Sustainable business in 2008 and Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership in 2014. He has an MBA from the University of Colombo. He holds a Doctor of Business Administration Degree from the European Business School in 2016. He completed the Advanced Management Program at the INSEAD Business School (France) and is an Executive in Residence since 2010. He is a Member of the Board of Study at the Post Graduate Institute of Management (PIM) since March 2023. In April 2020, he created the ‘21st Century Board Leadership Model-MasterClass’© for the Institute of Directors of Luxembourg. In February 2023 he published ‘21st Century Leadership to Fight the Code Red for Business’ (Archway Publishing USA). His career with Multinationals spanned 1981-2007 with Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Smithkline Beecham International covering Africa, Middle East and Asia. He was the first CEO of the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology 2008-2011 and Operations Director of the Malaysia Blue Ocean Strategy Institute 2011-2016. He was the first UN Global Compact Focal point 2007 and set up the UNGC Sri Lanka Network. He serves on the Boards of Global Strategic Corporate Sustainability Pvt.Ltd, Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC, Melstacorp PLC, Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC, Madulsima Plantations PLC, Balangoda Plantations PLC, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC, Browns Beach Hotels PLC, Elpitiya Plantations PLC, Aitken Spence Plantation Managements PLC, UN Global Compact, LOLC Holdings PLC, Ceylon Graphene Technologies Ltd. In 2007 “Global Strategy Leadership award” was presented to him by Professor Renee Mauborgne of INSEAD at the World Strategy summit.