Conrad Dias of LOLC named CIO of the Year

Conrad Dias receiving the CSSL CIO of the Year Award from Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne

LOLC Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) Conrad Dias was honoured with the prestigious CIO of the Year Award at the recently held ICT Awards 2016. 

The Annual ICT Awards presentation is organised by The Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) with the objective of encouraging, recognising and celebrating the excellence in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country by rewarding the best and the finest of ICT Professionals. 

CSSL is renowned as the premier organisation dedicated to promoting and improving professional standards in the ICT sector of Sri Lanka. The selection for the CSSL ICT Awards were made by a panel of expert adjudicators from the ICT industry.

Speaking about his achievement, Dias said: “I am honoured to receive this prestigious award from CSSL which has for the last 40 years contributed immensely as the apex body for ICT professionals in Sri Lanka. Further, I feel honoured to receive this accolade on the inauguration of the National ICT Conference 2016. It is my firm belief that this award was not presented to me for my efforts as an individual alone but for the overall role and to the office of CIO for which I played my part as a leader. This award belongs to my team in the CIO office who continuously strive to execute and implement the strategic vision to the best of their ability. Also, this couldn’t have been achieved without the support and guidance of the LOLC Group and its Board of Directors who have at all times believed in us and supported us with our decisions. Finally, on a personal note, I wish to thank my family who has been the key to my success, all along.”

Dias joined the LOLC Group in 2006 and is currently the Chief Information Officer of the Group.  His business focus ICT strategy execution not only delivers technology driven projects but drives business value throughout the many diversified sectors of the LOLC Group. Most of the IT initiatives implemented within the Group has enabled organisations to leverage on state of the art technology investment at a fraction of the cost and realise high business value and ROI. Some cost effective ICT initiatives that requires less staff have saved millions of rupees annually to the Group. 

The LOLC Group IT division which began with only 16 locations and less than 200 computers has today expanded to over 250 locations and nearly 5,000 network computers and multiple data centres and systems.

With experience that spans over two decades, Conrad Dias is renowned as a seasoned veteran in Information Technology, Software Engineering, Project Management, Strategic and Investment Planning, Finance Management, Corporate Restructuring as well as Unit Trust and Fund Management. He possesses domain expertise in sectors such as Trading, Banking and Finance, Asset Management and Manufacturing. 

Under his leadership and guidance, the ICT Division of the LOLC Group which provides efficient and effective IT solutions to all sectors and businesses within the Group, initiated and implemented several key projects to digitalise the many diversified sectors. Over the years, Dias has played an instrumental role in introducing a comprehensive ICT strategy that drives business value in all subsidiaries and business units of the LOLC Group.

The Group ICT Division of LOLC, which operates as a centralised shared service unit, ensures that the IT functions within the Group is fully compliant with the globally accepted ISO standards in Service Delivery (ISO 20000), Information Security (ISO 27001) and Service Quality (ISO 9001) making LOLC Technologies the only conglomerate ICT unit to be backed by all three standards.