Leadership

Board of Directors

Mr Munir Shaikh is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sunshine Holdings PLC. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Abbott India Ltd., and Abbott Pakistan Ltd. All three companies are publicly listed with their shares quoted on Colombo, Mumbai and Karachi Stock Exchanges respectively. Mr Shaikh has held several senior management positions in North and South America, Middle East and Africa, and the Asia Pacific with Abbott, a Global Health Care Corporation, headquartered near Chicago in the United States. At Abbot he was Managing Director – Pakistan based in Karachi, Regional Manager – Caribbean and the West Indies based in Puerto Rico, Director of Business Development based in Chicago, Vice-President – Middle East and Africa based in Dubai, and Vice-President – Asia Pacific based in Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Mr G Sathasivam began his career in the pharmaceutical sector. Over 50 years of success and innovation, he established Sunshine Healthcare Lanka Limited (SHL) as a leader in Sri Lanka’s pharmaceutical industry. Mr Sathasivam was the driving force behind the Group’s diversification into uncharted territories – moulding Sunshine Holdings into the pride of the nation. His business acumen has been recognised both in Sri Lanka and abroad. He is the Founder of Sunshine Holdings PLC.

Mr V Govindasamy pioneered the Group’s diversification, converting it from a largely agriculture-based company to one that covers other key economic sectors in newer fields such as consumer goods, renewable energy, dairy and retail. He was able to transform the plantation business, achieving perceptible improvement in quality, production standards, and penetration into new markets. Under his managerial direction, the Group established several new brands and consolidated and expanded its share in both domestic and international markets.

Mr Govindasamy, spearheaded the House of TATA investment in telecommunications in Sri Lanka. In recognition of his efforts, the House of TATA nominated him to several boards of their companies in Sri Lanka. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the University of Hartford, USA, and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Certified Professional Managers of Sri Lanka. Mr Govindasamy is the Deputy Vice-Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Vice-Chairman of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon.

Mr A D B Talwatte is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the UK, and has served as the Country Managing Partner of Ernst & Young for over a decade. Besides his distinguished career of more than 37 years in Assurance, Business Risk, and Advisory Services, Mr Talwatte has served as the head of numerous leading industry bodies and has been closely associated with the development of Corporate Governance in Sri Lanka.

A former President of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) (in 2002/03) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (in 1995/96), he now functions as the Chairman of Management Systems (Pvt) Limited (MSL). Mr Talwatte also chairs the Committee reviewing the applicability of Integrated Reporting in Sri Lanka and the Committee reviewing the Corporate Governance Code.

Mr B A Hulangamuwa is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, a Certified Fraud Examiner USA, and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo.

Mr S G Sathasivam is the Managing Director of Sunshine Healthcare Lanka Limited (SHL), Healthguard Pharmacy Limited, and Watawala Tea Ceylon Limited. He graduated from the London School of Economics & Political Science, UK and holds a Masters in Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management, USA.

Air Chief Marshal (Retd) Harsha Duminda Abeywickrama is a Graduate of the Air Command & Staff College at Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, USA, and the Royal College of Defence Studies, London UK. He holds a Master of Arts Degree in International Studies from King’s College, the University of London and a Master of Science Degree in Management from the Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka.

Mr Sanjeev Shishoo is a qualified healthcare management professional holding a B Pharma, M Pharma and MBA from the Indian Institute of Management – Calcutta, a leading business school in India.

He was the Corporate Vice-President, Global Shared Services, at Novo Nordisk a global healthcare company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in diabetes care. Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approximately 41,700 people in 77 countries and markets its products in more than 165 countries. Mr Shishoo has previously been the Vice-President, Business Area Oceania and South East Asia, based in Kuala Lumpur, Vice-President, Regional Office – Far East based in Bangalore, and Vice-President, Regional Office in India.

He has a track record for creating high performing teams that deliver ambitious targets and is skilled in marketing strategy and implementation. Building healthcare brands has been his passion, having been responsible for making Novo Nordisk’s insulin, Mixtard, the number 1 pharma brand in India.

Mr Amal Cabraal is presently the Chairman of Ceylon Beverage Holdings PLC, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC, CIC Feeds Group, and Silvermill Investment Holdings (Private) Ltd. He is a former Chairman and CEO of Unilever Sri Lanka and has over three decades of business experience in general management, marketing, and sales in Sri Lanka and overseas. He is also a Non-Executive Director of John Keells Holdings, Hatton National Bank, and an advisor to a number of leading companies. He is a member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. He is also a committee member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and serves on the Management Committee of the Mercantile Services Provident Society. A marketer by profession and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing – UK, he holds an MBA from the University of Colombo and is an executive education alumnus of INSEAD, France.

Mr Y Kitao is the Representative Director, President and CEO of SBI Holdings, Inc., which was previously the finance arm of SoftBank Corp. and established in July 1999. Mr Kitao began his career at Nomura Securities Co. Ltd., where he was mainly engaged in the investment banking business. He joined SoftBank Corp. in 1995 as Executive Vice-President and CFO and was then appointed CEO of the Softbank Finance group of companies. Mr Kitao graduated from Keio University with a Degree in Economics in 1974 and received a Degree in Economics from Cambridge University (England) in 1978.

Mr Shiran Dias is an alumnus of the prestigious Harvard University MA as well as the Boston University having completed postgraduate Degrees in both institutes. His professional career includes stints at Nomura Securities Japan, Merrill Lynch Japan, Union Bank of Switzerland, Barclays Bank PLC as well as JP Morgan Securities Japan. He is currently the Executive Officer for Global Advisory for SBI Securities Co. Ltd., Japan.