Ratnayake elected Ceylon Chamber Chairman

John Keells and the Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Susantha Ratnayake was elected as the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce at the 172nd annual general meeting held yesterday. He took over from Dr Anura Ekanayake.

Lion Breweries Director and CEO Suresh Shah was appointed as Deputy Chairman and CIC Managing Director and CEO Samantha Ranatunga was elected Deputy Vice Chairman.

Ratnayake takes over as the 21st Sri Lankan Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. In the 172 year history of the Chamber, the early Chairmen were from amongst the British-origin businessmen in Sri Lanka, until Mallory Wijesinghe took over in 1965.

Several young industry leaders make their appearance in the new committee for 2011/2012. Among them are Husein Essufally (CEO, Hemas Holdings PLC), Sriyan De S Wijeyeratne (Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka (Pvt) Ltd), Vidyani Hettigoda (Director, Hettigoda Group of Companies), Anushman Rajaratnam (Managing Director, Lankem Ceylon PLC), Amanda Weerasinghe (Managing Director, Almar Trading Co. (Pvt) Ltd, Vish Govindasamy (Group Managing Director, Watawala Plantations PLC) Ravi Dias (Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Bank of Ceylon), Manjula de Silva (Managing Director, HNB Assurance Ltd) and Krishan Balendran (President -Corporate Finance, John Keells Holdings PLC).

World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives, Diarietou Gaye was the chief guest.