Leadership Group: External – Council Members

Ranila is an experienced corporate lawyer currently functioning as in-house legal counsel for the Capital Alliance Group. She has an LL.B from the University of London and a Masters from the University of Colombo. Before joining Capital Alliance, she was a Senior Associate at Julius & Creasy a leading law firm in Sri Lanka and specializing in Commercial/Corporate law and Infrastructure, Telecom & IT law. She also interned at the prestigious UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia located in the Netherlands where she was part of the judges’ chamber hearing the biggest trial in the Tribunal’s history. Ranila presently handles the in-house legal function for Capital Alliance, a leading Investment Bank in Sri Lanka with an overseas footprint in Bangladesh, and Tempest P E Partners, a boutique private equity firm in Sri Lanka.

Professor Siril Wijesundara, Ph.D (CUNY), F.N.A.S. (S.L.), currently serves as a Research Professor at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy. Previously, he held the position of Director General at the Department of National Botanic Gardens from 2006 to 2015. Professor Wijesundara earned his B.Sc. (Botany) and M.Phil. (Botany) degrees from the University of Peradeniya, followed by a Ph.D. in Biology from the City University of New York. With over 85 publications in scholarly journals, 120 abstracts and conference proceedings, 10 books, and 6 book chapters, he has made significant scholarly contributions, including chairing national committees and leading initiatives to establish botanic gardens in Sri Lanka. Currently, he serves as a council member at SLTC Research University and has held various roles at the University of Peradeniya, including serving on councils and supervising Ph.D. students. Professor Wijesundara was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (Sri Lanka) in 2006, holds an honorary professorship at the University of Hong Kong, and has received multiple Presidential Research Awards. He has also served as editor for international and national journals.

An accomplished corporate leader with a proven track record in  organizational transformation, capacity building and business  development. Has a strong understanding of the shipping, ports  and logistics industries as well as international trade and  investment, with a background in marine engineering. Experience serving in numerous local and international  committees related to the maritime industry, economic sector,  tertiary education, vocational education & training (TVET) and  skills development. An active participant for many national and  regional symposia in speaker, panelist and resource person  capacity. Following 30+ years of experience in the private sector, joined  the public sector as the Technical Adviser to the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade of Sri Lanka  from March 2016 to November 2019. In addition, has served on  the Board of Investment, Sri Lanka as board member (July 2017  – October 2018) and subsequently as the chairman (April – November 2019). Contributed in many national level  committees, task forces and boards in a number of public  institutions, universities and other tertiary & vocational  educational institutions. Marine engineer/naval architect; chartered engineer; fellow of  IESL (Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka); member of IMarEST  (Institute of Marine Engineers Scientists and Technologists UK)  and a founder fellow of CPM (Institute of Certified Professional  Managers, Sri Lanka). Master of Science in Engineering (Hons.) from Astrakhan State  Technical University, Astrakhan, Russia and Master of Business  Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management  (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Alumni of  National University of Singapore (Faculty of Business  Administration) and Harvard Kennedy School (Executive  Education). He is the Executive Director/Lanka Data Foundation and a  Visiting Lecturer – SLIIT Business School.

Kapila G.A.Goonesekere B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D,,D.Sc. (Honorary)  Emeritus Professor of the University of Peradeniya. He has  served the University of Peradeniya, Senior Lecturer in  Agricultural Engineering, (1985 -1985), Director of Student  Welfare (1986 – 1988), National Coordinator on Forest  Hydrology, Peradeniya — Oxford University Forestry Link  Program (1990 – 1991), Head, Department of Agricultural  Engineering (1985 – 1991), Member of University Senate (1995- 2013), Professor of Agricultural Engineering (1995-2013),  Dean, Faculty of Agriculture (1997-1999), Vice-Chancellor,  University of Peradeniya (2000-2006), He also served  Postgraduate Institute of Agriculture as Secretary, Board of  Study in Agricultural Engineering, (1986-1987, Member,  Coordinating Committee, (1997-2000), Member, Board of  Management (1997 -1999). He was also a Member of the  Governing Council of the Vice Chancellors of Commonwealth  Universities (2004), Chairman, the Committee of Vice Chancellors & Directors (2004), and Part-time Chairman, of the  National Institute of Fisheries & Nautical Engineering (1999- 2001). He served as a Member of the UGC Standing Committee  on Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and Animal Science  (1997-2000) and as a Member, of the Board of Governors,  Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy (2008-2015).

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga is the former Permanent Secretary to the  President of Sri Lanka also known as the President’s Secretary.  He was the top Civil Servant in the country and head of the Sri  Lanka Administrative Service, prior to the appointment as the Secretary to the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. His primary education was at Rahula College, Matara before  moving to Royal College for his secondary education. Mr.  Weeratunga holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration  from the University of Colombo and Bachelor’s degree in  Natural Sciences from the same University. He is a Hubert H.  Humphrey Fell of the Pennsylvania State University, United  States. He assumed the position of Secretary to the President of Sri  Lanka in November 2005 and prior to that, he held the position  of Secretary to the Prime Minister in Sri Lanka from April 2004.  Formerly, he was the Director Re-Engineering Government in  the Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri  Lanka. He has also been a Senior Consultant at the Postgraduate  Institute of Management (PIM) of the University of Sri  Jayawardenapura, teaching both the Masters in Business  Administration and Masters in Public Administration  Programmes. In addition to the above, he held in the many positions in the  various Ministries as a Civil Administrator and elected to Chair  Committees of ESCAP and Commonwealth  Telecommunications Organization.

Dr. Ajith Pasqual is a Senior Lecturer and former Head of the  Department of Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, at  the University of Moratuwa, and also the former Director/Center  for Information Technology Services at the same university. He  is also the founder and CEO of the first Semiconductor Startup  Company in Sri Lanka – Paraqum Technologies which develops  products in high-performance hardware-accelerated Deep  Packet Inspection (DPI) based network analyzers and traffic  shapers and engages in high-end Electronics Product Design. At  present, he serves as the Director/Enterprise-University Business  Linkage Cell at the University of Moratuwa and also is the  current president of the Sri Lanka Electrical and Electronic  Manufacturers and Exporters Association (SLEMEA). He also  serves as a member of the advisory committee related to the  Electrical and Electronics Industry at the Export Development  Board (EDB) and at the Ministry of Industries. He is a council  member at National Research Council (NRC) and at SLTC  Research University. He received his B.Sc. Engineering degree with First Class  Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in  Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering in 1993, M.Eng.  and Ph.D. degrees from The University of Tokyo in Computer  Vision in 1998 and 2001 respectively. His primary research interests are in Computer Vision, Application Processors, and  SoC Architecture and he leads the Reconfigurable Digital  Systems Research Group at the University of Moratuwa which  works in the area of hardware acceleration, novel architectures  for application-specific processors and SoCs to improve  performance and power efficiency. Since 2004, he has been  focusing heavily on reconfigurable logic systems and their  applications in Computer Vision, Video Compression, Mobile  Communications, Networking, and Bio Signal Processing. He is driving the initiative to create an Advanced Electronics  Design Industry in Sri Lanka and was instrumental in getting a  government grant in January 2014 to establish a Facilitation  Center for Advanced Electronics Design at the University of  Moratuwa to promote startup companies. His vision is to make  Electronics Sector the highest export revenue earner for the  country.

Dr. Shamil Appathurai has over two decades experience in the Telecommunications and ICT industry. He is currently Head of SLT-Mobitel’s Network Strategy & Transformation, and is a Founder Council Member, advisor and lecturer at the Sri Lanka Technology Campus (SLTC). He was formerly a Design & Development Consultant at British Telecommunications Plc. (BT) in the UK, where he managed a European Union funded project on developing Long-Reach Passive Optical Networks. He was also Post Graduate Research Fellow at University College London, UK. Dr. Shamil was winner of the Institute of Engineering and Technology’s Annual Innovations in Engineering Award in 2007, and has authored/co-authored over 20 publications in international conferences and peer-reviewed journals.

Associate Professor Rohana Upendra Kuruppu, is the Consultant and the Lead of the Centre for Textiles, Fashion, and Clothing Technologies of Sri Lanka Technological Campus, Research University, Padukka. He has developed two-degree courses leading to textile and clothing technology; and fashion merchandise management and obtained the approval from the Ministry of Education. He graduated in textile technology from Derby University, UK in 1977 and subsequently obtained an honours degree in clothing from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He was conferred Master of Science (MSc) in Textiles from the Faculty of Pure and Applied Chemistry of the University of Strathclyde, UK. in 1982. He had a rare distinction when he was awarded the Albert Thompson Memorial Prize for outstanding success in textile technology at the Derby University in 1977 and the James Cunningham Memorial Medal for excellent postgraduate studies at the University of Strathclyde, UK in 1982. He was conferred Doctor of Technology (honoris causa) by the Faculty of Engineering of the Open University of Sri Lanka in 2005 and later Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Fashion & Textiles of the RMIT University, Australia in 2009. He is a qualified Chartered Textile Technologist since 1987 and Fellow of the Textile Institute, Manchester, UK from 1997 onwards. Kuruppu launched very successfully two Bachelor’s study programmes from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK for those already engaged in the clothing industry and another for school leavers from the RMIT University, Australia during the period of1997 to 2019. Both these courses were conducted in Sri Lanka. He has supervised over 350 research based undergraduate dissertations from Manchester Metropolitan University and RMIT University during this period. He has been serving as a review panel member of textile research papers of the University of Moratuwa and the Open university of Sri Lanka. He has made over 40 presentations and journal publications including papers in international conferences. He has made presentations and lectures in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, UK, and Australia. Kuruppu was conferred National Honours by Her Excellency the President of Sri Lanka at the Investiture of National Honours in 2005 for meritorious work rendered to the textile industry of Sri Lanka. He was presented the Textile Institute of UK the ‘Service’ award in 2010 and then the Textile Institute, UK the ‘Medal’ for distinguish service to the textile industry in 2011. He was an Adjunct Professor of the School of Fashion & Textiles of RMIT University from 2013 to 2019. Prof. Kuruppu was the lead Tutor of the Bachelor of Applied Science in Textile Technology degree conducted by the RMIT University, in Sri Lanka. He has held positions as Founder Director of the Clothing Industry Training Institute of the Ministry of Textiles from 1984 to 1996, the founder CEO of the Brandix College of Clothing Technology from 1996 to 2019. Kuruppu was the founder Director of Ayumi Apparels (Pvt) Ltd., a BOI venture under the 200 Garment Factories Project (200 GFP) from 1993 to 1996. He was a member of the Presidential Task Force on Reforms in Technical Education and Vocational Training from 1998 to 2003. He was the past President of the Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2016, founder Director of the Ranaviru Apparels of Sri Lanka Army from 1992 to 2018. He was a Board Director of the National Apprenticeship Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) and Board of Governor of the Textile Training & Services Centre, Ratmalana. He is presently a member of the Executive Council of the Textile Institute Headquarters, UK from 1998 to date, present Chairman of the Textile Institute Sri Lanka section and currently he is the Vice Chairman of the Textile Institute, Head Quarters, UK. He is also the CEO of Panaluwa Textile Products (Pvt) Ltd, a company which produces decorative home textiles for the domestic market.

Prof. Rosa graduated from the University of Colombo, in 1979 with first-class honours majoring in Physics. Subsequently, he joined the Department of Physics as an Assistant Lecturer in the University of Colombo. Prof. Rosa completed Master’s in Science 1982 and continued his doctoral research on ‘Weak Branches of Radio-Isotopes’, gaining invaluable experimental expertise in Gamma-ray Spectroscopy. After completing the Ph.D, Professor Rosa returned in 1987 when the country was in turmoil, where many intellects were inclined to migrate seeking greener pastures. Upon his return to Sri Lanka, he was placed the Senior Lecturer (Grade II) in 1987 and subsequently was promoted to Senior Lecturer (Grade I) in 1997 and thereafter to Associate Professor in Physics in 2009. Prof. Rosa was also the Head of the Department of Physics from 2006 to 2015. During his tenure as the Head, he donated his personal funds to complete the research wing of the Department. Prof. Rosa was a pioneer in establishing the master’s degree in physics education in 2006, and his international research experience in Physics Education at Open University, Milton Keynes, UK as a research associate in 2005 had largely motivated this effort. Prof. Rosa is the current Chairman of the Atomic Energy Board of Sri Lanka and has provided the leadership to establish the very first Cyclotron Facility in Sri Lanka, enabling the production of radioisotopes on demand for medical use, mainly benefiting cancer patients of Sri Lanka. Prof. Rosa has supervised many graduate students in various fields of science and has been a popular visiting lecturer in many academic institutions over the years. Prof. Rosa was the President of the University of Colombo Science Teachers Association (2005 – 2009). He has served as the Secretary (2006) and subsequently as the Vice President (2008) of the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA). He also was the President of the Institute of Physics Sri Lanka for several years since 2004. Prof. Rosa also held the position of Country Coordinator of the International Physics Olympiad and pioneered the initiation of the Sri Lankan Olympiad in Physics in 2005, helping to popularize Physics in the country.