Managing Director of Informatics assumes duties as new Chairman of Bank of Ceylon

(May 2007) Dr. Gamini Wickramasinghe assumed duties on May 23 as the new Chairman of Bank of Ceylon, at a simple ceremony held at the Bank’s Head Office building.  He succeeds Mr. Udayasri Kariyawasam, who has been appointed the Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) with effect from May 24.

Dr. Wickramasinghe graduated with an M.Sc. in Systems Analysis from the University of Aston, Birmingham, U.K. With over a decade of extensive senior level experience obtained in the United Kingdom and Belgium, he returned to Sri Lanka in 1983 and founded the Informatics Group of Companies.  Considered a pioneering Information Technology company, Informatics currently comprises a multitude of companies generating over 1,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities nationwide, and it is one of the largest software development houses in the country.

Informatics Institute of Technology pioneered the concept of making quality British tertiary education locally available in Sri Lanka, and plays an important role in national higher education. Since it’s inception in 1990, over 1,500 Sri Lankan students have had an affordable opportunity to obtain world-class British undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications here in Sri Lanka.

Informatics has also invested in agriculture and agronomy and has a 1,000-acre plantation producing alternative crops such as cashew, coconut, and teak, and employs nearly 200 people.  This plantation, situated in the Mahaweli System C, is the first large-scale drip irrigation project implemented in the country. This groundbreaking project, implemented with the expertise of foreign agronomists, paved the way for other large-scale drip irrigation projects that were successfully modeled after it.

In clear recognition of his demonstrated vision for the future, his pioneering spirit and outstanding capabilities, His Excellency the President, in his capacity as Minister of Finance and Planning, has appointed Dr. Wickramasinghe as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, Chairman of the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka, and the Chairman of Bank of Ceylon.

Dr. Wickramasinghe obtained his Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI) of UK and a Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS).