Devaka Cooray named United Motors Chairman from end-July

United Motors Lanka Plc has appointed Independent Non-Executive Director Devaka Cooray as the Chairman of the Company with effect from 27 July. 

He succeeds Sunil Wijesinha who has decided not to seek re-appointment at the upcoming AGM of the Company and will cease to be a Director. Wijesinha was appointed to the Board as Chairman and Non-Executive Director in July 2013.

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 is the Managing Director of Management Systems Ltd.

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 the practical experience was gained by being part of assurance teams that performed audit engagements on several large enterprises.

Cooray 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 also sits on the Boards of HNB Plc, Life Insurance Corporation (Lanka) Ltd., HVA Foods Plc, JAT Holdings Ltd., MSL Kandy Properties Ltd., Lanka Tours and Trades Ltd., Secretarial Services Ltd., Colombo Medical and General Company Ltd., MSL Management Audit Services Ltd. and MSL Audits Kandy Ltd.

The existing Board of United Motors Lanka Plc comprises Sunil Wijesinha (Chairman), Devaka Cooray (Chairman designate), C. Yatawara (Group Executive Director and CEO), A.W. Atukorala, R.H. Yaseen, A.H. Fernando, K.A.M.K. Ranasinghe, S.A. Chapman, M.C. Pietersz and J. Takami.