Isuru new Chairman at People’s Insurance

• Three more new Directors appointed to the Board

Top lawyer Isuru Balapa-tabendi has been appointed as the new Chairman at People’s Insurance PLC.

He currently serves on the Board of People’s Bank, the parent of People’s Insurance. 

Isuru Balapatabendi

People’s Insurance also announced three new members to its Board. They are; Ranjith Kodituwakku as Non-Executive Non-Independent Director, and Johnson Anthony Fernando and Dr. Kasun Indunil Wijetilleke as Non-Executive Independent Directors.

Balapatabendi is an Attorney-at-Law and currently operates a law chamber in the practice of Civil and Commercial Law. He also holds a LLM from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Balapatabendi served as a State Counsel in the Attorney General’s Department, prior to being appointed a Diplomat to the Embassy of Sri Lanka in The Hague, The Netherlands from 2008 to 2010, during which he served as the representative of Sri Lanka, to the organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Hague Convention of Private International Law (HCCH).

He was also appointed as the Head of Chancery at the Sri Lankan Mission in The Hague. He was appointed as the Legal Advisor to the Minister of Investment Promotions in 2012, for legal matters relating to investment laws in Sri Lanka and Board of Investment. Balapatabendi has also served in the Director boards of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Seylan Bank and Bank of Ceylon.

He has served as an Executive Committee Member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. He was appointed the Chairman of the Junior National Law Conference in 2007 and as the Convener of the National Law Conference 2020.

Kodituwakku is currently the Deputy General Manager of Commercial Banking and Digitalisation at People’s Bank. He has over 37 years of banking experience in a wide spectrum of areas covering Consumer Banking, Commercial Banking, Corporate banking, Off-shore Banking, Branch Banking, International Banking, Project Financing, Recoveries and Digitalisation. 

With extensive local and international training/exposure and having worked in different capacities at different geographical locations, he is currently spearheading two portfolios; commercial banking and digitalisation of the bank.

He also serves as a Director of Lankan Alliance Finance Limited Bangladesh, Board of Financial Ombudsman Sri Lanka (Guarantee) Ltd., Regional Development Bank, and as an alternate director of the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka and Lanka Financial Services Bureau.

Kodituwakku holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration specialised in Finance from the University of Colombo, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of New Buckinghamshire, UK and is an Associate member of the institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.

Fernando is currently Expo Industrial Engineering Ltd., Expo Property Developers Ltd., Expo Printers Ltd., Expo Cargo Links Ltd., Expo Trade Links Ltd., and Shore to Shore Ltd.  He is also an advisory Board Member of the Benedict XVI Catholic Institute of Higher Education and Colombo Catholic Press, a Committee member of National Hospital of Sri Lanka and Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka.

He has also held many senior positions within the Expo Industrial Group which has diversified interests in Apparel, Food Packaging, Industrial Printing, Commercial Printing, Logistics Management, Engineering and Construction. 

He was also President of the Sri Lanka Association of Printers, Vice President of the Sri Lanka-China Business Council Cooperation and served as Director of People’s Leasing and Finance PLC, Lankan Alliance Finance Ltd., Bangladesh and People’s Merchant Finance PLC.

Dr. Wijetilleke is a Consultant Psychologist, currently operating as the Joint Managing Director of Pubudu House of Education and Genesis Consultancy, Visiting lecturer in Management, Psychology and a practicing Counsellor. 

He is a Fellow of Institute of Charted Professional Managers (FCPM) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) (FCIM), member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID), Life Member of Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA). 

He is also a member of many professional associations namely the Institute of Certified Management Accountant (CMA), Certified Global Business Analysis (Aus) (CGBA), Sri Lanka National Institute of Professional Counsellors (MIPC), Institute of Management (MIM) (SL), Young Members Forum of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and a Certified Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM).

Dr. Wijetilleke holds a doctorate in Psychology and is reading for his second PhD in Economics at the University Of Colombo, also has Master of Business Administration from Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK), Master of Business Administration University of Wales (UK), Master of Commerce and Bachelor of Computer Application, Advance Diploma in Train the Trainer from City and Guilds (UK) and many more diplomas and certifications including Certified Innovation Manager.

He has also served as Director Client Leadership at Mind Share World/Unilever (Sri Lanka), Head of Strategic Planning and Business Analysis at MAS Holdings, Head of Cost Reduction at Star Garments Group, worked at Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC)/British American Tobacco (BAT) IT Dept. and was appointed as a resource counsellor for the Sri Lankan Navy in 2008 apart from being a Consultant at the Police Academy.