Board Of Directors

Mr. Dilshan Rodrig | Chairman

Mr. Dilshan Rodrigo was appointed as HNBF’s Chairman and as a Non-Independent Non-Executive Director, effective from 10th of September 2021.
Mr. Rodrigo is a proven leader having held many senior positions in multiple industries ranging from banking, insurance, investment banking and apparel. Currently serving as Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer at Hatton National Bank PLC and holding Board positions in HNB Assurance, Guardian Acuity Management, Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd and Credit Information Bureau.

He possesses a proven track record of delivering results during challenging leadership roles driving sustainable business and transformational change. He has played a catalyst role in the Bank’s transformation and cultural change by being the driving force in centralization, automation, outsourcing and process improvement initiatives.

He currently serves on the councils of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID) and Asian Bankers Association (Taiwan) – the latter as Chairman Policy Advocacy Committee. He has served on local councils of CIMA, ACCA and Risk Professional Forum the latter two as President for two years terms. He has taught on various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (CIMA, ACCA, PIM MBA) for over a decade and currently serves as a guest lecturer on SLID Director Certification Programme, whilst serving on its council. Mr. Rodrigo is a Fellow of CIMA and ACCA UK accounting bodies and holds an MBA from Cranfield University, UK.

Mr. B.M.D.C. Prabhath | Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Prabhath is a financier by profession and an internationally certified Micro Finance expert from the Frankfurt School in Germany. He has over 25 years of experience in the private sector. He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Sp. in Finance) from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (MCIM) and an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (ACMA, UK & CGMA). He is also a Certified Management Accountant of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia (CMA, AUS). He has a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Financial Administration from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He is the winner of the prestigious award “Game Changer of the year 2014” from World Consulting Research Corporation (WCRC), India, awarded in recognition of his contribution to the Micro Finance Industry in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Brahmanage Premalal | Non-Independent, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Brahmanage Premalal was reappointed to the company’s Board of Directors as a Non-Independent, Non-Executive Director effective from November 29, 2022.

Mr. Premalal previously served as Deputy Chairman/Non-Independent, Non-Executive Director of HNB FINANCE until June 29^th, 2020, before retiring in terms of Finance Companies (Corporate Governance) Direction of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, after completing 9 years on the Board.

He has served Sri Lanka’s real estate sector for three decades and is a prominent figure in the Sri Lankan business landscape, is the Founder and Group Chairman of Prime Lands (Private) Limited.

He was conferred with the prestigious UCD Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011, based on his vast experience in the real estate industry and exposure to many other industries as an entrepreneur. He was also honored as being one of the 2018 A-List of “Sri Lankan Businesspeople” by LMD, listing among the top 50 businessmen in Sri Lanka who have driven the nation’s engine of growth and are the country’s true assets.

He currently serves as the Chairman/Executive Director of Prime Lands (Private) Limited, Bhoomi Realty Holdings (Private) Limited, Co-Chairman/Director of Prime Lands Residencies PLC and a Director of Prime Lands Australia Pty Ltd. He is the President of the Condominium Developers Association – Sri Lanka (CDASL) for the year 2021/22.

Mr. Anushka Wijesinha | Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr. Wijesinha is an economist and policy advisor and his research on innovation, SME development, and international economics, has been published in national and international publications. He is currently Advisor to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade and focuses on trade, competitiveness and innovation. He was previously the Chief Economist and Heads of the Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, the country’s apex industry body. Anushka is also a member of the Monetary Policy
Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He also serves on the Boards of Fair first Insurance Ltd and Seylan Bank PLC as an Independent Non-Executive Director. In previous roles, he headed Industry, Competitiveness and Regulatory Policy at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, was at the Presidential Commission on Taxation (2009), and has been a consultant for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP, UNESCAP, and GIZ. In 2014, the World Economic Forum recognized him as a New Champions Awardee at the
Annual Meeting of New Champions in Tianjin, China. He is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies and Bandaranaike Diplomatic Training Institute. Mr. Wijesinha holds a Masters in Economics and Development from the University of Leeds Business School, UK and a BSc in Economics from the University College London, UK.

Dr. Fernando is the Executive Directorof Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), a Colombo-based Think Tank. He has also held leadership positions in the Sri Lankan development organizations and also served as a Guest Researcher at University of Amsterdam, Senior Consultant of Context International, Netherlands. Dr. Fernando who focuses on areas of development cooperation and aid policy has worked in Sri Lanka, Europe, East and West Africa and South East Asia. Dr. Fernando is also a visiting academic at the Open University of Sri Lanka. He holds a PhD in International Development Cooperation from the University of Amsterdam. His specialization at Bachelor’s and Master’s level has been Law, Economics, Management and Labor Studies.

Mr. Rajive Dissanayake | Non – Independent Non-Executive Director

Mr. Dissanayake counts for nearly two decades of experience covering banking sector and capital markets. He currently serves as the Chief Strategy Officer of Hatton National Bank PLC. In addition to being on the Board of HNB FINANCE PLC, Mr. Dissanayake is also a Director of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Dissanayake chairs the Board Audit Committee and is also a member of Strategy & Investment Review Committee of the Company. Mr. Dissanayake is a CFA Charter holder, a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (UK) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. He also holds a bachelors’ degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo.

Mr. Mahinda Perera | Non-Dependent Non-Executive Director

Mr. Mahinda Perera is a Commercial Lawyer and a Business Consultant and counts many years of experience in advising on Commercial, Corporate and Employment Law as well as on compliance and regulatory aspects. In addition to providing legal advice, he also provides business consultancy services. He is also a qualified Management Accountant [FCMA (UK), CGMA] and has an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, Sri Jayewardenepura University, and counts over 25 years of professional experience in the commercial sector as a Director/ Chief Executive Officer of listed and unlisted companies before he moved into the legal field. At present, Mr. Perera is an Independent Director of Prime Finance PLC. He was appointed to the Board in September 2017.

Mr. Hasitha Wijesundara is an Advisor to GIZ SME Sector Development Program. He is a development expert attached to German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and counts over a decade of experience in microfinance and SME finance, trade, regulatory issues, sector strategies, social performance management and inclusive finance. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics (MA) from the University of Colombo, Bachelor degree in Law (LL. B) and Bachelor degree in Science (B.Sc.). He also has fellowships with several local and international professional bodies. He is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka since 2009 and is currently reading for the Master of Laws (LLM) degree at the University of Colombo. Mr. Wijesundara is an accredited trainer of microfinance and SME finance with reputed international bodies such as the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, Germany and CGAP. Further to that he serves as a visiting senior lecturer at several universities and higher educational institutions in Sri Lanka. In addition to his experience within Sri Lanka; he has hands on experience regionally. Being a team member of appraisal missions for the Sustainable Regional Economic Growth and Investment Program (SREGIP) in Indonesia and the Promotion of Green Economic Development (ProGED) Program in the Philippines, he contributed to the project design and shaping up. He is conversant with the financial systems in countries including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia and Pakistan and involved in numerous assignments.

Mr.Ruwan Manatunga | Non-Independent, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Manatunga was appointed as a Non-Independent, Non -Executive Director of HNB FINANCE PLC with effect from 15th February 2021.
Mr Manatunga is the Chief Risk Officer / Deputy General Manager of Hatton National Bank PLC.
He has a wealth of experience spanning over two decades in the banking and finance services sector. Mr Manatunga has previously worked at and. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the United Kingdom.

Mr.Mr. Lalith Withana | Independent, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Lalith Withana has held management positions in the corporate sector for over 25 years, during which he had held senior management positions in Banking, Manufacturing and Trading for more than 25 years. He has worked with many organizations such as Brandix Group, Ernst and Young, Amsterdam Rotterdam (Amro) Bank, IBM World Trade, Corporation and Carson Cumberbatch, Ceylon Tea Services Limited and Yamaha Corporation in (USA).

Mr. Withana served as the Group Chief Finance and Administrative Officer for SriLankan Airline and later as the Chief Executive Officer in its subsidiary SriLankan Catering till very recently. He is currently serving as the Founder and Managing Director of Agility Consulting Services (Pvt.) Ltd and as a Board Director of Laugfs Gas PLC, Laugfs Maritime Services (Pvt.) Ltd and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC. He is also currently serving on the Board of Acuity Partners (Pvt.) Ltd, and as Vice President of the Project Management Institute, Colombo Chapter, and is also serving on the executive committee of the Sri Lanka National Olympic Committee.

He had previously served as an Independent Director on the Boards of Bank of Ceylon, Dankotuwa Porcelain PLC, Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka PLC, Ceylease Limited and Seylan Bank.

Mr. Withana had also been a Commissioner of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL).
Mr. Withana holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Colombo and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) Hons. Degree from the University of Manchester Metropolitan, UK. He is a fellow member of the both Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA), UK, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (FCA). He is also a Project Management Professional at the Project Management Institute (PMI), USA.

Mr.Mr. Lalith Withana | Independent, Non-Executive Director

Mr. Polamarasetty was appointed to the HNBF BOD on 15th September 2022. He has held management positions in the corporate sector for over 15 years in diverse sectoral experiences such as Microfinance, Micro-Insurance, Micro-pensions, Affordable/Micro-housing, Housing Microfinance, Drinking Water, and Sanitation. He currently holds the position of Managing Director & CEO at S.M.I.L.E Microfinance Limited in India and serves as Director at Protimos Foundation of London, UK. Further. He is also an Investment Committee Member of Yunus Social Business Fund in Bengaluru, India. Mr. Murali previously has served as a director in many institutions specializing in Microfinance, IT, Bottled water, and Consultancy services in India and the United Kingdom such as Mimoza Enterprises Finance Company Limited- India, Signumtree Consultancy Private Limited, India, Hocare Limited, UK, Acer Engineers Private Limited, Hyderabad, India, and Tripod Impex Private Limited, India.

Mr. Murali Holds M.A. in Political Science from the Sri Venkateswara University of India and a B.S.C in Physics from the Madras University of India. He has also completed an Executive learning program in leadership in Microfinance from Harvard Business school executive Education. Mr. Murali was a Visiting Faculty Member of Leeds University – School of Design in United Kingdom. Further to his corporate portfolio Mr. Murali also serves as a Member of The Board of Advisors in Needy Illiterate Children Education which is an NGO for orphans’ education and a Member of The Board of Advisors of Partners in Prosperity an NGO for water solutions for the poor in India.