Devaka Cooray, Dilshan Rodrigo appointed to HNB Board

Top professional Devaka Cooray has been appointed as a Non-Executive Independent Director at Hatton National Bank Plc with effect from 3 July whilst current Chief Operating Officer Dilshan Rodrigo too has been appointed as an Executive Director from 1 July.

Devaka Cooray

Dilshan Rodrigo

Cooray’s appointment follows the resignation of Asoka Pieris, former Group CEO of Singer (Sri Lanka) Plc.

Cooray is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the United Kingdom.

He has worked with Ernst & Young for over 40 years of which 30 years was as a Senior Assurance and Talent Partner. He functioned as the Deputy Managing Partner from 2016 to 2019 and served as a member of Ernst & Young’s Management Committee from the time the Management Committee was established in 1998 until his retirement in 2019. 

He was instrumental in establishing the Ernst & Young Practice in the Republic of Maldives in 1995 and functioned as the Partner responsible for the overall management of the Maldivian Practice from its inception.

He represented Sri Lanka and Maldives for a number of years in the EY ASEAN Regional Partner Forum. He was seconded to EY USA for a year, where practical experience was gained by being part of assurance teams that performed audit engagements on several large enterprises. Devaka also spearheaded the Ernst and Young Sri Lanka/Maldives Family Business Centre for Excellence which was instrumental in sending several eminent second generation family members to business schools worldwide. He has also served as a member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK.

He currently functions as the Managing Director of Management Systems Ltd and also serves as a Director of Life Insurance Corporation (Lanka) Ltd. 

Dilshan Rodrigo also serves on the Board of HNB Assurance, HNB General Insurance, Guardian Acuity Management, Sithma Development Ltd., and Credit Information Bureau.

He is a proven leader having held many senior positions in multiple industries ranging from banking, insurance, investment banking, and apparel. 

As COO at HNB he played a catalyst role in the bank’s transformation and culture change by being the driving force towards centralisation, automation, outsourcing and process improvement initiatives. He possess a wealth of experience encompassing both retail business and support functions as deputy to the CEO providing leadership to cross functional teams, improving governance and compliance by serving on board and management committees. 

Previously among positions held at HNB were Deputy General Manager Retail, and Chief Risk Officer. Prior to HNB, he worked at Brandix as a CEO of a SBU and General Manager Supply Chain of its largest cluster comprising 5 SBUs around the country and Head of Credit, Head of Institutional Banking and Finance Manager at Standard Chartered Bank for over eight years.