ICTA gets a new Board of Directors

The President’s Media Division has announced ICTA’s new Board of Directors with the recently appointed Hans Wijesuriya chairing the team. In addition to Hans, the eight-member board includes:

• Bandula Ranathunga, with experience in government and public administration domains. He held roles as a Chief Information Officer at the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government as well as Counterpart Project Manager at ICTA.
• Chandima Cooray, co-founder of ayubo.life and CEO/General Partner at Acornic Ventures, an early-stage VC focused on travel and leisure startups. He was also the Chief Digital Officer at Hemas Holdings. Chandima has over 25 years of experience in tech roles across healthcare, manufacturing, travel, and supply chain domains.
• Harsha Purasinghe, CEO and Founder of Microimage, a Sri Lankan-based group of ventures that specializes in Human Capital Management Solutions.
• Jiffry Zulfer, co-founder and CEO of PickMe (Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka). He was also a past President of the Digital Chapter of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS).
• Samisa Abeysinghe, CTO at the Avinya Foundation, a non-profit philanthropic organization focused on assisting underprivileged students. Samisa spent a large part of his career at WSO2 (13 years) with roles ranging from Software Architect to Chief Engineering and Digital Officer. He also served as Codegen’s Vice President of People Development.
• Sanjaya Karunasena, an Enterprise Software Architect with 26 years of industry experience with past roles at WSO2 and Virtusa. Sanjaya was also the CTO at ICTA from 2010 to 2013.
• Shanaka Rabel, Group Chief Digital and Transformation Officer at Stretchline Holdings. He was previously the Chief Technology and Solutions Officer at MilleniumIT ESP and Senior Director at Virtusa.

The President Media Division states that the appointments are part of the new administration’s efforts at accelerating Sri Lanka’s digital transformation while aiming “to boost economic growth, enhance national competitiveness, and expand digital benefits for all citizens.”

During the previous government, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to shut down ICTA in place of a new governmental agency. While details of this transition are yet to be revealed, the appointed Board of Directors offers a glimpse into what the agency may take form under a new government.