+ 94 11 2504010
info@cepa.lk

Prof. Camena Gunaratne

Chairperson

Professor Camena Gunaratne is an Attorney-at-Law and holds an LLB from the University of Colombo, LLM from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Waikato, New Zealand. She is currently a Professor at the Department of Legal Studies, Open University of Sri Lanka, with prior experience as the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Head of the Inter-Faculty Environmental Studies Unit and Head of the Department of Legal Studies. She was a Smuts Visiting Scholar in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is currently a member of the Incorporated Council of Legal Education and was previously on the Law Commission and the National Committee on Women. She has several years of experience writing and contributing to books, monographs, essays, book chapters and journal articles.

Mr. Irshad Halaldeen

Director

Mr. Irshad Halaldeen works as an independent HR consultant and is also a Director in Co-Energi Pvt Ltd., an energy consulting & engineering firm that promotes energy efficiency and conservation among Sri Lankan and regional
businesses. He has more than 25 years of senior management experience in local public listed and foreign
institutions. He has served as the Vice President HR & Organization Development at Amana Bank PLC, Head of Talent
Management at Al-Rajhi Bank, Saudi Arabia and prior to that as Group HR Director at Hemas Holdings PLC where he
also served in the Group Management Committee among others. His areas of specialization within the field of HR are Strategic Change Management, Talent Management and Organization Development. He obtained his MSc in Industrial Management specializing in Organizational Development from the Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Trondheim Norway.

Mr. Patrick Vandenbruaene

Director

Mr. Patrick Vandenbruaene is a Belgian national with over 30 years of experience in Sri Lanka. He currently heads the Development Partners Secretariat, an  office  supporting the coordination of over 40 foreign aid missions operating in the country. He previously worked for 12 years in a similar capacity as Development Partners’ Senior Coordination Officer, contracted by the World Bank.  Prior to that he served for 8 years as Humanitarian Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator.  Further to his UN work in Sri Lanka, he has supported UNDAF preparation process in the Philippines and Rwanda.  Other experience includes work for the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs – UNDESA.   He acted as Sri Lanka’s Post-tsunami UN Emergency Adviser in the Centre for National Operations (CNO), established within the Presidential Secretariat in the aftermath of the disaster. Previous work includes a 5-year period as Coordinator to Save the Children Fund (UK) Relief and Rehabilitation Program and 5 years as Project Director to the Integrated Fisheries Development Center (IFDC) in Negombo.  Early experience includes voluntary work in Tunisia, India, Thailand, Kenya and Madagascar.  His academic qualifications include an Engineering – Master equivalent degree in Agriculture and Rural Development from the Universite du Travail, Tournai, Belgium and a Tropical Agriculture Undergraduate degree from the Haute Ecole Provinciale du Hainaut – Ath, Belgium.

Shyamali Ranaraja

Director

Ms Shyamali Ranaraja is an Attorney-at-law and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo and is presently reading for a PhD at the Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo.

She is a practitioner in Employment and Labour Law, and a Human Resources Management Consultant since April 1998. She is currently a visiting lecturer and examiner at the University of Peradeniya; Department of Human Resources Management, Department of Law, and a visiting lecturer in the Master’s Degree in Business Administration. She also carries out consultancies for varying clients, such as the Asia Foundation, International Labour Organisation, World Bank and European Union among others

Ms. Ranaraja is the President, Alliance Française de Kandy, and a member of the Board of Trustees to administer and manage the paintings and artifacts donated the University of Peradeniya by the late Ian Goonetilake, and his wife, Roslin.

Prof. Sasanka Perera

Director

Professor Sasanka Perera is a professor of Sociology at South Asian University, Delhi, India. He holds a PhD and MA in Anthropology from The University of California, Santa Barbara. He obtained his BA in English Language and Literature, Sociology and Political Science from the University of Colombo.Having been trained as a cultural anthropologist, he served the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo for a period of 20 years. Since November 2011, he is based at the South Asian University in New Delhi. In his teaching career, he has straddled subject areas that are considered both sociology and anthropology.

His research interests are varied and have evolved over the years. It spans cultural and political analysis, education, language politics, urban space and migration. Broadly speaking, his main interest lies in contemporary social theory with an emphasis on the idea of culture and its politics. He has written extensively and published both locally and internationally in the English and Sinhala languages.

 

Mr Nayana Mawilmada

Director

Nayana Mawilmada is currently President – John Keells Property Group, the real estate development arm of John Keells Holdings and has been heading this cluster since 2017. He has a  Bachelor of Architecture degree from Hampton University USA, and a masters degree in City Planning  with emphasis on International Development  and Regional Planning from MIT.  He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.  Prior to this, he was the Head of Investments in the Western Region Megapolis Planning Project, Sri Lanka from May 2016 – June 2017. He was also the Director General – of the Urban Development Authority (UDA) Sri Lanka from January 2015 to April 2016.

Among the many prestigious international positions, he has held, his tenures at the Asian Development Bank Manila as  Urban Development Specialist from 2001 – 2007, and Strategic Planning Specialist/Team Leader (Independent International Consultant) 2009-2011 are noteworthy.  Nayana was involved in developing Sri Lanka’s first National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, covering all key sectors in the economy and engaging 500+ stakeholders —among the most comprehensive such efforts in Asia.