Ranjith Rubasinghe, three others appointed to SLT Board

Top in-house professional Ranjith Rubasinghe has been appointed to the Board of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) as a Director along with three others – Lalith Seneviratne, Mohan Weerakoon PC, and A.K. Seneviratne.

Rubasinghe and Seneviratne are Non-Independent Non-Executive Directors, and the other two as Independent Non-Executive Directors. Earlier on, tea industry veteran Rohan Fernando was appointed as Chairman of SLT.

Rubasinghe has been with Sri Lanka Telecom for over 18 years and holds a wealth of experience in the fields of organisational development, telecommunication and it, human resources, marketing and education.

He is the Founder, President and CEO of Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC). Rubasinghe held the positions of Chief Executive Officer of Mobitel Ltd. (2014-17), Founder-CEO of SLT Manpower Solutions Ltd. (2008-15), which he transformed into SLT Human Capital Solutions Ltd. in 2013, and Founder-Head of RAINBOW PAGES (2006-08).

He has served as the Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL). Rubasinghe has also served as a Council Member of the University of Colombo. He’s a founding Director and the current Chairman of TRACE.

With an MBA from the University of Colombo, a Postgraduate Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, and a B.Sc. Engineering in Electrical and Electronics, Rubasinghe is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), Fellow Member of Chartered Professional Mangers of Sri Lanka (CPM), Certified Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM).

Among his other personal achievements, he was awarded ‘Chartered Engineer of the Year 2011’ at IESL’s Engineering Excellence Awards and the ‘HR Leadership Award’ at the Global HR Excellence Awards 2010 and 2013.

Independent Non-Executive Director Lalith Seneviratne is an engineer by training. He has over 35 years of experience in the corporate field, primarily with Motorola Corporation.

Seneviratne obtained a bachelor’s degree in electronics from the University of Kent, UK, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Calgary, Canada.

He pursued a career in telecommunications starting in 1982 at the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Department (present day SLT). In 1988, he became the Head of Engineering of Celltel, setting up South Asia’s first mobile telephone network.

In 1990, Seneviratne accepted a position with Motorola Corporation and moved to Singapore on a regional role. During this period he developed Motorola’s relationship with SLT that enabled SLT to provide telephone services to remote areas, including restoring telephone services to Jaffna in 1996.

Since leaving Motorola, Seneviratne has carried out several professional consulting assignments in telecommunications and renewable energy, while engaging in rural electrification activities during his spare time. He was part of a team that set up four grid-connected mini hydropower systems. He implemented Sri Lanka’s first off-grid village solar electrification system in 2001 and Sri Lanka’s first off-grid village biomass electrification system in 2004.

In the period 2006 to 2009, Seneviratne was a member of the Board of Directors of Lanka Transformers Ltd., and served as its Chairman during the latter part. He was a member of the inaugural governing board of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

Currently Seneviratne is a member of the Board of Directors of four mini hydropower companies Escas Owala Ltd., Escas Ankanda Ltd., Escas Diggala Ltd., and Escas Kiula Ltd. Seneviratne is the recipient of the Year 1999 Motorola CEO Award for Volunteerism. For his voluntary services to the Department of Wildlife Conservation, he was made an Honorary Director in the department. For his innovation, he was elected a Lemelson Fellow, and for his sustainable development activities, he was elected an Ashoka Fellow. On the 20th Anniversary of the Internet Society of Sri Lanka, he was recognised as one of 25 people having contributed to the early development of the internet in Sri Lanka.

Seneviratne is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK.

Independent Non-Executive Director Mohan Weerakoon PC is a senior legal practitioner who counts more than 36 years of experience as a civil and criminal counsel. He was appointed a President’s Counsel in 2017. He served as a Director of Sinhaputhra Finance PLC and Deputy Mayor and Councillor of the Municipal Council of Matale. He is also the Senior Legal Counsel of Sinhaputhra Finance PLC.

Non-Independent Non-Executive Director Ananda Kithsiri Seneviratne is a special grade officer of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS). Seneviratne holds an honours bachelor’s degree specialising in chemistry from the University of Kelaniya. He obtained a postgraduate diploma in business and financial administration from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and a master’s in business administration from the University of Colombo.

He joined the Sri Lanka Administrative Service in 1995. Upon completion of his in-service training year, he was appointed as an Assistant Director to the Department of Fiscal Policy of the Ministry of Finance in 1996. In 2006, he was assigned to the Department of National Budget of the same Ministry as a Director. In 2015, he was appointed as the Director General of the Department of Fiscal Policy. Since January 2018, Seneviratne has been working as the Director General of the Department of National Budget until he was appointed as a Deputy Secretary of the Treasury in February 2018.

Seneviratne has held several directorships representing the Treasury on several boards coming under the purview of Secretary to the Treasury, Ministry of Finance.