Board of Directors and Profiles

Appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors in March 2022.

Appointed as the Deputy Chairman in December 2020.

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in April 2015.

Appointed as the Chairman of the Board Related Party Transactions Review Committee (BRPTRC), Board Nomination Committee (BNC), Board Human Resources Remuneration Committee (BHRRC), Board Credit Committee (BCC) and Board Strategy Development Committee (BSDC) in March 2022.

Skills and experience:

He served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa for six years until November 2017, and as an Endowed Professor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Moratuwa.

He obtained a BSc Eng Degree in Civil Engineering with first class honours from the University of Moratuwa, a Master of Science Degree in Construction from the Loughborough University of Technology UK and holds a PhD in Construction Management from the same University.

He is also a Corporate Member, a Fellow and an International Professional Engineer of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL), CEng, FIE(SL), IntPE(SL), Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, FNAS(SL), Founder Member of the Society of Structural Engineers Sri Lanka MSSE(SL), Fellow of the Institute of Project Managers, Sri Lanka, FIPM (SL), Life Member of Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science.

Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since December 2015. Graduate Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) since 2018.

Other current appointments:

Director of Sierra Cables PLC, Chairman of CBC Tech Solutions Limited (a subsidiary of the Bank), a Director of Mother Lanka Foundation, a Commission Member of the University Grants Commission, a Board Member of National Science Foundation, Arthur C Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, a Member of the Stakeholder Engagement Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and has served as a member of the Board of Management of several other institutions. He is also a Senior Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Moratuwa.

Previous appointments:

Dean, Faculty of Engineering for six years, First NDB Bank Endowed Professor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Moratuwa, President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) and Director General of National Science Foundation.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 13,580 voting shares

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in February 2021 and as the Deputy Chairman of the Bank in March 2022.

Appointed as the Chairman of Board Investment Committee and Board Technology Committee in March 2022.

Skills and experience:

A senior Investment Banker with extensive experience in areas of Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets who has served in a senior capacity working with company boards and senior leadership teams of financial institutions across Asia to help drive their Strategic Corporate Agenda and Roadmap. He is credited with some leading research reports including reports on Banking sector efficiency, currency depreciation and budget deficit in his role as Head of Sri Lanka Banking sector research coverage and lead Economist at Jardine Flemming. He has also worked at Standard Chartered Bank in the Corporate Banking Division, where he started out as a Management Trainee and at Rodman and Renshaw stock and commodities broker based in Chicago.

In his Investment Banking career spanning over 20 years, he has completed landmark mergers and capital raising transactions in excess of USD 100 billion. The Asia FIG sectors team at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse has won the “FIG Asia House of the Year” awards from the Asset magazine for several years under his leadership. Multiple transactions he led have been awarded as best country deals and best financial sector capital raise transactions.

He also has experiences at the policy level working as a Team Leader at the National Council for Economic Development (NCED) under the Ministry of Finance as well as a Director at the Task Force to Rebuild the Nation (TAFREN), Presidential Task Force for rebuilding the economy after the 2004 Tsunami.

He holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Colombo, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) from Western Michigan University and has completed the Corporate Finance training program with JP Morgan in New York.

Other current appointments:

Director of CBC Finance Ltd. (a subsidiary of the Bank), Chairman/Director of Platinum Advisors Pte Ltd. and Non-Independent Director of H2O One Pte Ltd., Director of Canary Wharf Holdings Pte Ltd., Independent/Non-Executive Director of Amana Takaful Life PLC, Director of Lankan Angel Network Sri Lanka, Director of Gestetner Ceylon PLC, and Director of David Peiris Holdings (Pvt) Ltd.

Previous appointments:

He previously worked in best-in-class global investment banks, Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan in leading regional coverage roles. His most immediate previous role was as Managing Director Head of South East Asia Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and Head of Asia Insurance at Credit Suisse based in Singapore. He was a Director of Merrill Lynch and an Associate Director of Deloitte.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 2,598 voting shares

Appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in May 2022.

Appointed as a Non-Independent/ Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer in July 2018.

Skills and experience:

He joined the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC in 1989. Prior to being appointed as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, he functioned as the Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of the Bank since 2018. He counts 33 years of experience at the Bank, having held Corporate Management/Senior positions such as Deputy General Manager – Corporate Banking, Chief Risk Officer, Head of Credit Risk and Chief Manager – Corporate Banking.

He is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (FCMA – UK) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). He has obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura with a Merit Pass. He is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Bankers – Sri Lanka (FIB), a Fellow of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (FCMA) and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, UK (FCMI). He is also a Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since August 2017.

Under his management, the Corporate Banking Division of the Bank experienced a rapid growth in the loan book and in areas such as Trade Finance fee-based income while maintaining the quality of advances. During his tenure as Chief Operating Officer, he headed strategically important business units of the Bank such as Personal Banking, Corporate Banking, Information Technology, Cards, and Digital Banking guiding them to become industry leaders. He has also given leadership and strategic inputs for transformational projects of the Bank such as “SME Transformation”, establishing a long term digital roadmap for the Bank and many projects to improve operational excellence.

He was adjudged the “Chief Information Security Officer of the Year” at the EC – Council Global CISO Forum held in Atlanta – USA in September 2013 in recognition of his outstanding contribution in strengthening and promoting information security practices and IT Risk Management. He was instrumental in forming the Association of Banking Sector Risk Professionals, Sri Lanka and was the President in the year 2014. He has also served as a Council Member of the Association of Professional Bankers (APB) and a member of the CIMA – “Thought Leadership Committee”. He was a visiting lecturer for the MBA Degree programme at the University of Colombo and was a resource person at the Training Centre of Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.

Other current appointments:

Managing Director of Commercial Development Company PLC, Deputy Chairman of Commercial Bank of Maldives Private Limited, Director of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd., Vice Chairperson of Sri Lanka Bank’s Association (Guarantee) Ltd., and Council Member of the Employer’s Federation of Ceylon and Executive Member of The Council for Business with Britain.

Previous appointments:

Director CBC Tech Solutions Ltd.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 75,815 voting shares

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in July 2015.

Retired in January 2023

Skills and experience:

A senior banker with 38 years of diversified banking experience both within and outside Sri Lanka.

Holds a B.Phil. (Econ) and B.Com with first class honours from the University of Colombo. Also an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.

Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since December 2015.

Other current appointments:

None

Previous appointments:

Non-Executive Nominee Director on the Boards of Janashakthi Insurance Ltd., Sabaragamuwa Development Bank, Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka PLC, BOC Travels (Private) Ltd., BOC Property Development & Management (Private) Ltd, Ceybank Holiday Homes (Private) Ltd., Hotels Colombo (1963) Ltd., Ceybank Asset Management Ltd, Lanka Securities (Private) Ltd., Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, Lanka Financial Services (Bureau) Ltd., Lanka Clear (Private) Ltd., Bank of Ceylon (UK) Ltd., Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka and Managing Director of Nepal Bank of Ceylon Limited in 2002.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director in August 2016.

Skills and experience:

He has a proven track record of over 35 years in the corporate environment and is qualified in various management fields both locally as well as internationally.

Consultant, Business and Administration experience for a period of 40 years.

Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Peradeniya.

Former member of numerous professional bodies, including the Council for Agricultural Research Policy of Sri Lanka, Standing Committee of Agriculture and Veterinary Studies, University Grants Commission, Member of Board of Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya.

Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since March 2000.

Other current appointments:

Chairman of A Baur & Co. (Pvt) Ltd.

Previous appointments:

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of A Baur & Co. (Pvt) Ltd., Chief Operating Officer of A Baur & Co. (Pvt) Ltd., Director of Baur Asia (Pte) Ltd. Singapore.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in September 2016.

Skills and experience:

A senior finance professional with wide experience in the private sector.

Holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Colombo, Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (FCMA – UK).

Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since July 2006.

Other current appointments:

Chairman and Managing Director of Jetwing Travels (Pvt) Ltd. and serving on many other Boards within the Jetwing Group. She is also a Director of Capital Alliance Holdings Ltd., Ceylon Tea Brokers PLC, Allianz Insurance Lanka Ltd. and Allianz Life Insurance Lanka Ltd.

Previous appointments:

Former Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors. Director – Finance and Administration on the Board of J Walter Thompson, Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Capital Alliance Finance PLC, Trade Finance and Investments PLC and served on the Boards of many other private and public companies. A member of the Board of the Management of several other institutions.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 363,592 voting and 56,429 non-voting shares

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in August 2020.

Appointed as the Chairman of the Board Integrated Risk Management Committee in March 2022.

Skills and experience:

A pioneer and leading expert in quantitative risk management and its applications to strategy. She has over 30 years of experience as a banker, capital markets expert and partner in management consulting firms serving CEOs and Boards in US and Asia. She is the co‐author of the books “What Every CEO Must Know About Risk” and “RAROC and Risk Management”. Ms Lee holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BSc from NYU Stern School of Business. She also completed the Advanced Management Program and the Women on Boards program at Harvard Business School. Since 2000, Ms Lee lives and works in both New York and Asia.

Other current appointments:

Managing Director of Dragonfly LLC which she co-founded in 2000. The New York based consulting firm provides strategy, risk management and investment advice to Boards, CEOs, and business leaders globally covering all sectors. CEO of Dragonfly Capital Ventures LLC which she founded in 2009 that develops and invests in renewable energy in South East Asia.

Ms Lee is an independent director of: DBS Group Holdings Ltd & DBS Bank Ltd., Alvarium Tiedemann Holdings, SMRT Corporation Ltd., Chairperson of Strides DST Pte Ltd. (a SMRT Group JV company), Mapletree Logistics Trust Management Limited, JTC Corporation, and Temasek Life Sciences Accelerator where she is also an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

She serves as an independent director on non-profit Boards: SG Her Empowerment Ltd., NYU Stern School of Business Executive Board, and is the Co-President and Director of Break Some Glass Inc. “WomenExecs on Boards”, the alumnae network of Harvard Business School, Women on Boards Program.

Previous appointments:

Ms Lee, a Principal of Bankers Trust, was a key member of the pioneering team that developed quantitative risk methodologies and ran the bank’s daily global risk and capital reporting. She served as EVP and Board Director of Solar Frontier, a renewable energy subsidiary of Japan-listed Showa Shell Sekiyu KK, now Idemitsu. She was Adjunct Professor at Singapore Management University, developed and taught Enterprise Risk Management for 10 years and has also taught Risk Management at Columbia University and Peking University.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in September 2020.

Appointed as Chairman of Board Audit Committee in September 2020.

Skills and experience:

A Fellow Member of CA Sri Lanka with over 30 years of post-qualifying experience and holds a B.Com. (Special) degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura with a second class upper division pass and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from the PIM of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Completed his articles at Ernst & Young.

Mr Senanayake is passionate about and possesses extensive domain knowledge on the financial services industry, financial management and corporate reporting in particular, including such aspects as risk management, capital management, corporate governance, compliance, sustainability and integrated reporting. Besides many other local and overseas training programmes, he has undergone training on banking and finance with Euromoney and on general management with the National University of Singapore.

Other current appointments:

Heads the Smart Academy at Smart Media The Annual Report Company, an International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) Accredited Training Foundation Partner, Independent Non-Executive Director of Senkadagala Finance PLC since April 2017 and a Director of Virtual Capital Technologies (Pvt) Ltd., a software development company that specialises in enterprise solutions in the real estate, retail and telecom spaces catering to the New Zealand and the Australian markets since August 2017.

Previous appointments:

Independent/Non-Executive Director from October 2014 to March 2021 and as a Non-Independent/Non-Executive Director from April 2021 to June 2022 of CBC Finance Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC. Financial Accountant, Singer Industries (Ceylon) PLC, held several positions from Senior Manager Finance up to Assistant General Manager (Finance & Planning) from 1994 to 2007 at Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and Chief Financial Officer at Nations Trust Bank PLC.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed to the Board as an Independent/ Non-Executive Director in March 2021.

Skills and experience:

She is a corporate executive with a proven track record in the IT industry both locally and internationally. She has been serving in various senior positions in the industry for many years gaining diverse experience in providing technology solutions for high tech startups to large multinational businesses in the world.

A Graduate Member of British Computer Society, United Kingdom, she gained her board executive education at Harvard Business School. She also earned Strategy Certification for Game Changing Organisations and Artificial Intelligence in impact for business strategies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management. WIM together with IFC and Government of Australia awarded her as the Best Woman Board Director 2021 (Sri Lanka/Maldives) at the WIM awards 2021 in Colombo.

Other current appointments:

Chief Executive Officer of Aventude (Pvt) Ltd. (“Aventude”) which she co-founded in 2018.

Director/Shareholder of Aventude Pte Ltd, Singapore. Aventude is a technology strategic consultation & solutions company based in Colombo, Stockholm and Singapore with the specialisation of expertise in solving business problems using technology in an end–to–end spectrum.

Director of Meta Dynamics, UAE, a newly formed company intended to carry out advance technical services for Web 3.0 related development.

Previous appointments:

Vice Chairperson of the Cabinet approved national initiative, Women’s Chamber for Digital Sri Lanka (WCDSL), an initiative to uplift women participation in digital economy of Sri Lanka through ICT education, career empowerment and supportive policies.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed as an Independent/Non-Executive Director in April, 2022.

Skills and experience:

He holds a MBBS degree and a Master’s Degree (M.Phil). He has over twenty years of diverse and extensive experience in serving on the Boards related to varied fields including Manufacturing, Healthcare, Insurance, Logistics, Packaging, Renewable Power, Plantation, Retail etc. He serves on the Boards of many Public listed and Private companies. Has extensive experience on serving on Board sub committees which include Audit , Human Resource and Remuneration, Investment, Strategic Planning, Related Party, Nomination, etc.

Other current appointments:

Deputy Chairman of Asiri Hospital Holdings PLC, Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC and Asiri Central Hospitals (Pvt) Ltd., Director of Lanka Tiles PLC, HNB Assurance PLC, Lanka Walltiles PLC, ACL Cables PLC, and Swisstek (Ceylon) PLC and Chairman of JAT Holdings PLC, Vydexa (Lanka) Power Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. and Cleanco Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. He has also served on many other Boards in the past. Currently, he also serves on many Board Sub Committees of the companies listed above as the Chairman or a Member.

Previous appointments:

He was a Director of Expolanka Holdings PLC, Horana Plantation PLC, Unidil Packaging Pvt ltd in the past. He was also Director at Lanka Ceramic PLC, Softlogic Holdings PLC, Odel PLC and Swisstek Aluminium (Pvt) Ltd. He has served as a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya for many years in the past and served on several committees. He was the Head of the Department of Physiology, University of Kelaniya for a period of nine years during his tenure at the Faculty. He has also served as a Council Member at the University of Colombo.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 27,161 voting shares

Appointed as the Chief Operating Officer and an Executive Director in May 2022.

Skills and experience:

A senior banker with over 27 years of diversified banking experience with Commercial Bank. He has served as Branch Manager of mid sized and larger branches in Colombo, performed duties as the Chief Operating Officer and the Country Manager of the Bank’s Bangladesh Operations, provided leadership to Internal Audit function of the Bank as the Head and Assistant General Manager, spearheaded the Bank operations as the Assistant General Manager in charge of Operations and lead Corporate Banking as the Deputy General Manager, which was the last position held by him before taking up this responsibility.

Having turned around the branches he managed to greater performance, he contributed and was instrumental in bringing up Bangladesh Operations from a two branch two booth operation to that of a 19 branch operation, 3rd highest profitable bank next only to SCB and HSBC out of 10 foreign banks, which also contributed to around 15% of the overall bottom line of Commercial Bank. Under his leadership, operation in Bangladesh earned AAA credit rating by the leading credit rating agency CRISL.

He represented the Bank at National Payment Council meetings at CBSL. He also functioned as the Bank’s Ombudsman in resolving customer complaints with Financial Ombudsman of the country. He was the representative of the Bank to BTAC (Bankers Technical Assistance Committee) appointed by Bankers Association of Sri Lanka, to take up operational issues faced by banks.

He served in the panel of lecturers to the Post Graduate Diploma in Bank Management offered by Institute of Bankers (IBSL) and carried out lectures for over 4 years. He was a Secretary to Bangladesh-Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, actively promoting trade and investment between the countries.

Mr Prabagar holds an MBA in Banking from University of London, an Associate of Institute of Bankers (AIB – SL), and B.Com from Bharathidasan University in India.

He is a fellow of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK (FCMA – UK) and CISA (Certified in System Audit – USA), also holding a Diploma in System Security and Control Audit (DISSCA – CA Sri Lanka).

Other current appointments:

Non-Independent/Non-Executive Director of Commercial Bank of Maldives Private Limited (a subsidiary of the Bank).

Previous appointments:

Non-Executive Director of CBC Tech Solution Ltd.

Chairman of Roadmap Committee appointed by the CBSL on implementation of Blockchain technology in Sri Lanka.

Shareholding of Bank:

Holds 165,703 voting and 24,578 non-voting shares

Appointed as an Independent Non-Executive Director in February 2023.

Skills and experience:

A professional banker, who retired from active service in the banking sector in August 2020 with a career spanning over 33 years at the Bank of Ceylon (BoC). He has vast experience in branch banking, customer service and Corporate/Retail credit in rural and urban branches for over 14 years and training/exposure in international and treasury operations, which he gained during his tenure at the (then) Bank of Ceylon London branch. Under his guidance as the Chief Executive Officer/Director of Bank of Ceylon (UK) Ltd, London [BoC (UK)] he had played a key role in successfully redirecting the BoC (UK) for a strategic turnaround.

He has assumed many prominent roles in the Recoveries Department and the Product Development Banking Unit, where he had initiated a number of noteworthy innovative liability and asset products.

Holds a Bachelor of Science (Hon) from the University of Colombo and served briefly in the Academic Staff of the (then) Batticaloa University College and at the Ministry of Education as a Graduate recruit to “Sri Lanka Education Service”.

An Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka since 1998.

Other current appointments:

Currently, he is the General Manager of Ceybank Holiday Homes (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary of Property Development and Management (Pvt) Ltd, which is a subsidiary of BoC.

Previous appointments:

He was the Chief Risk Officer (Deputy General Manager) of BoC (which he held until his retirement in August 2020) and the Chief Executive Officer/Director of BoC (UK).

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil

Appointed as Company Secretary in April 2019.

Skills and experience:

An Associate of Chartered Governance Institute – UK & Ireland, formerly known as Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA – UK) and a Graduate of the Institute of Chartered Corporate Secretaries (ICCS) of Sri Lanka counting over 19 years of experience in the field of Company Secretarial Practice including 12 years of experience at the Bank. He is a member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors since September 2017.

Other current appointments:

Vice President of the Chartered Governance Institute – UK & Ireland, Sri Lanka & Asia Pacific Branch. Appointed as an All-Island Justice of the Peace in 2019.

Previous appointments:

Company Secretary of Bank’s fully owned subsidiary – CBC Finance Ltd. from November 2014 to March 2019. Assistant Company Secretary of the Bank from February 2011 to March 2019.

Shareholding of Bank:

Nil