New President of Ananda College OBA

Manju R. Fernando was elected the new President of the Ananda College Old Boys Association at the 101st Annual General Meeting held recently. He is the 17th President to be elected to this prestigious position in the 124 year history of Ananda.

He had his entire Primary and Secondary education at Ananda College. He was a Senior Prefect and Lance Sergeant of the senior cadet band. He was awarded College Colours for Cadetting in 1975.

After leaving, Manju got involved in college activities through the Old Anandians' Sports Club initially and subsequently as member of the main OBA. He held the position of Secretary of the Sports Club for more than six years and then was elected the President in 1997. During his tenure of three years as the President, he contributed immensely to the development of sports at Ananda. Two important events he initiated during that time, as fund raising projects were "Amara Uvasara" to felicitate Pandith Amaradeva and "Tribute to Clarence" in memory of late Clarence Wijewardena which were considered as outstanding musical events, even today. He was instrumental in introducing rowing as a sport at Ananda during this period. On behalf of the OBA, in 2008 he organised a recital of fusion music titled "Pradeepanjalee" performed by Pradeep Rathanyaka at the college Kularatna Hall.

As a social worker, he was involved in many community projects through the Lions Club of Wellawatta West where he was the Secretary and then the President in the Lionistic Year 1991/1992. During this period, he initiated many noteworthy projects namely eye camps held in the Ampara District and at Embilipitiya with collaboration of eye care Sri Lanka. As a post care service, free spectacles were gifted to these patients. These projects won the best service project award at the Lions multiple district convention in 1991/1992. He also conducted international twining programs with Lions Clubs of Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai which wont he best International program award at the Annual Lions Convention held at the BMICH in 1991/1992. Manju was also an Executive Committee member of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2004/05. He serves as the Hony. General Secretary of Bloomfiled Cricket and Athletic Club for past five years.

He started his professional career at Metropolitan Agencies Ltd; where he served for more than 12 years. Thereafter he joined Informatics Ltd; and Informatics Trading Ltd. In 1991, he went to the US for higher studies and obtained a Masters Degree from the University of Dallas in Texas. He is also a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Management, UK.

On his return from US, he re-joined a subsidiary of Informatics namely Visual Computing Systems Ltd. He moved form there to Apparel Technologies Group and currently attached to Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd.