Mr. Sriyan de Silva Wijeyeratne

Mr Saiyan De Silva Wijerathne currently the chairman of Employees’ Trust Fund Board, was the Managing Director/CEO of Teejay Lanka PLC, which is one of the S&P Top 20 Companies, and was recognised during his time as a Winner of Forbes “Asia’s 200 Best under a Billion Dollar Company.”

He has served as the Country Manager of Microsoft for Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and was responsible for setting up and growing the footprint in Sri Lanka. He previously held the post of Director Marketing and Sales of Suntel and was a Brand Manager at Nestle.

He has several academic and business awards to his credit and is a frequent speaker at leading forums locally and globally. He was previously named the CIMA Business Manager of the Year and is involved in many business chambers and in several local and global charities. He was most recently the Group CEO of the conglomerate Abans.

He possesses a First Class Special Degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and a Master’s Degree from the same university. He is a Fellow member of CIMA, UK, and is also a CGMA. He was for many years, on the International Board of Youth Business International, which is one of Prince Charles’ Charities based out of the UK and he has served on several local Boards.

He enjoyed a distinguished school career at St. Peters’ College and obtained the All Island No. 1 ranking in A-Levels and is the author of the books, Human Resource Management in Enterprise Competitiveness & Transformation Of Labour Law And Relations.

He is someone who is passionate about travelling, wildlife, music, community work and photography among other things. He is the current President of WildLife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka as well.

Mr. Sarinda Unamboowe

A Director of MAS’ Apparel Board, Mr Sarinda Unamboowe is currently the CEO & Managing Director of MAS Kreeda, the Nike division of MAS Holdings, and heads Environmental Sustainability for the Group. Having joined MAS in 2001 as the CEO of Linea Aqua, he is also a member of MAS’ Innovations Leadership Team and serves on the Board of Biodiversity Sri Lanka.

He had held the positions of Chief Operating Officer of Jk Marketing Services Pvt Ltd., Chief Executive Officer for MAS Holdings (Pvt) Ltd., Account Officer at Standard Chartered International (USA) Ltd. and General Manager-Sales at John Keells Stock Brokers (Pvt) Ltd. as well.

An alumnus of Ithaca College, New York, Sarinda received his Executive Education at the INSEAD School of Business, Cornell University and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a proud past pupil of Royal College - Colombo.

He is a recipient of the Humanitarian Alumni Award 2016 conferred by his alma mater – Ithaca College for his humanitarian efforts and is a Trustee of two separate charities,

The Colours of Courage Trust; where he co-founded TRAIL – in 2011 he walked from the southernmost town of Sri Lanka to its northernmost tip, raising USD 2.6 Mn to build a cancer hospital in Tellipalai, Jaffna and most recently, Trail 2016 — a 28 day walk, this time from North to South to raise USD 5 Mn and build a Cancer hospital in Karapitiya, Galle.

The Wheels for Wheels Foundation, and under its banner “Around the Pearl”, participates annually in a 10-day bicycle tour around Sri Lanka to promote awareness for Cerebral Palsy and raise funds for wheelchairs to aid children afflicted with the disease.

He is an avid conservationist and published wildlife photographer, has also published books documenting Sri Lanka’s wildlife (Elusive - A journey through Wild), His passions also include endurance cycling and trekking and is an executive member of Biodiversity Sri Lanka as well.

Mr. Anuruddha Bandara

Entrepreneur, Niche Tourism Specialist, Management Trainer, Adventurer

z pvi Eco Team a01 Anuruddha Bandara, also known as AB, founded the Eco Team group – a company which has grown to become the most diversified tourism specialist group in Sri Lanka. Prior to finding his calling in life, he worked as a Trainee Executive in a leading insurance company and rose to the ranks of Sales Manager. His typical career path back in the late ‘90s included everything from Water Cooler Talks to Sales Calls. However, since childhood, he always knew his purpose belonged to the jungles outside the concrete ones. In the year 2000, his passion for nature, adventure, and Eco Tourism (inculcated in him from his younger days) eventually pushed him to resign from a lucrative post. From then on, AB’s career path included Water Holes and a very real Call of the Wild as he set out, with only the tools of an Entrepreneur, to become a sustainable adventure specialist, and inadvertently change the tourism landscape in Sri Lanka.

The risk paid off as, today, Eco Team comprises ten niche, award-winning tourism brands, renowned for Specialised Accommodation / Experience-based In-bound Tourism, MICE, and Eco & Adventure Tourism.

AB’s journey simply started with an idea that wasn’t present in Sri Lanka. He set out to pioneer Mobile Tented Safari Camps in Sri Lanka, with the introduction of the revolutionary Mahoora Luxury Safari Camps in 1998. Today, not only is it the ultimate luxury tented camp brand in the country, it’s also the first ever mobile tented luxury safari camp in the world to be completely carbon neutral. Ahaspokuna Bush Walks Camp, which he started in 2017, was the first ever bush walks camp in Sri Lanka. At its inception and even today, sustainability has been the lifeblood of both ventures.

AB On Banji Shortly after, and together with extremely talented individuals from Sri Lanka and overseas, he established two Destination Management Companies in Sri Lanka – Encounters Asia and Experiential Journeys, to cater to high-end experiential travel and mid-range local experience-based travel respectively.

AB always believed that the path to following one’s passion has its windfalls. With hard work and a bit of luck, in 2001 he became one of the three pioneers in Sri Lanka to establish experience-based corporate training. Growing from this experience, he started Beyond Boundaries Global (Pvt) Ltd. Shortly after the business took flight, it became the most sought after, innovative, and unconventional MICE operator and experience-based Team Building and Leadership Training outfit in the country.

His latest venture caters to Property Management, Information Technology, and Trading.

Today, as the Founder and President of the Sri Lanka Wilderness Foundation, AB has taken his passion for environmental conservation and sustainability to a nationwide platform. One of his numerous career highlights is serving as a consultant and a panelist to the Private, NGO and Government sectors, including The Ministry of Tourism, on various niche tourism initiatives.

Honouring the leadership provided in Conservation and Generation of Employment & Sustainable Development of Tourism in Sri Lanka, AB was adjudged the winner of the Environmental Leadership category in the Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Sri Lanka Awards in 2009 [TOYP -2009].

For higher recognition of innovation and business leadership demonstrated over a decade, he was awarded the Presidential Award for Most Outstanding Individual of the Year in 2010. This award has not been presented to any other individual since.

Looking to the future, he believes that his biggest adventure is yet to begin. After all, change doesn’t happen once; change is simply the process of evolution.