The Sri Lanka Association for Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) recently appointed their new office bearers for 2022/23, at the Annual General Meeting held on the 2nd of August 2022.
Ashique Ali was appointed as Chairman of SLASSCOM for the year 2022/ 2023. He is the Managing Director of Talliance, and is a veteran in the industry with over 30 years of experience. As a founding member of SLASSCOM, he has played an integral role in supporting the chamber’s initiatives, helping to guide and steer it to its current position as the leading association in the country for the IT/BPM industry. He also represents SLASSCOM in several key committees in government and state institutions in policy, export promotion, FDI, capacity initiatives.
Sharing his thoughts on this appointment, Chairman, Ashique Ali stated, “this is a demanding and difficult time for our industry, where the needs of the IT/BPM organizations, its people and stakeholders are severely challenged due to the volatile and rapidly changing economic situation in our country. Despite the many challenges our member companies have shown remarkable resilience in delivering on their commitments to foreign clients and investors, and looking after the wellbeing of their employees. These times call for strategic and innovative ways to successfully navigate the future to drive greater growth for our industry and country. I’m privileged to work alongside our board and general council members who bring together unrivaled tenacity and industry expertise, which will be a great strength to help position the industry for its next phase of growth.”
Outgoing Chairperson of SLASSCOM, Sandra De Zoysa, offering her congratulations to the newly elected Chairman and the board said “Ashique’s long history of leadership and experience in the industry as being a founding member of SLASSCOM actively guiding the SLASSCOM team to launch many value-driven initiatives for the industry, makes him an ideal person for this role. I look forward to supporting him to make a positive impact for all the industry’s stakeholders, including IT/BPM organizations and its people.”
The other main office bearers appointed included, Jehan Perinpanayagam as 1st Vice Chairman and Nishan Mendis as 2nd Vice Chairman, Shehani Seneviratne as the Director of Operations and Feroze Carder as the Director of Finance.
Jehan Perinpanayagam, the 1st Vice Chairman of SLASSCOM, is the CEO of Informate (Pvt) Ltd and the Vice President of the John Keells Holdings. Counting over 25 years of experience in the BPM industry, he was instrumental in setting up the first shared services center in Sri Lanka and pioneered the country’s first rural BPM. SLASSCOM’s 2ndVice Chairman, Nishan Mendis, is the Executive Director and the Technology Consulting Leader and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for PwC Sri Lanka. He has a legacy of extensive experience counting more than 23 years, where he has successfully spearheaded various projects of national importance.
Shehani Seneviratne, appointed to the position of Director Operations, is the Chief Operating Officer at 99X Technology, heads the SLASSCOM HR Forum and the Women’s Tech( Wtech) Forum. Shehani is also a Board Member of the Women’s Chamber for Digital and actively promotes the participation of more women in the IT industry.
Feroze Cader, appointed to the position of Director Finance, is the Director, Head of Market Services Shared Operations at the London Stock Exchange Group. He has also been a member of SLASSCOM’s Strategy Council which advices the board.
SLASSCOM’s new illustrious board of directors include Sampath Jayasundara, CEO of hSenid Business Solutions; Arjuna Nanayakkara, CEO & Head of Shared Services of GTN Group; Dilan Rajapakse, Managing Director of VitalHub Innovations Lab; Shanaka Fernando, DGM at WNS Global Services; Rohith Pradeep, CEO of SAKS Global; Shehan Selvanayagam, Founder of Loops; and Harshani Perera, Co-Founder of Inqbaytor.
The General Council for 2022-2023 includes Nuwan Dishan, Lead – Master Corporate Education of SLTC; Shanaka Abeywickrema, Head of Internal and Site Communications of LSEG Business Services; Sharon Kern, Associate Director of ConceptVines; Venura Mendis, Head of ICT Business at Dialog Axiata; Zahra Cader, Director at PwC Consulting; Mohan Chathuranga, Head of Data Protection & IT Governance at MAS Legato; Sanjini Munaweera, Country Manager of ADA in Sri Lanka; Hiran Jayaratne, Head of Product Management at LSEG Technologies; Charindra Wijemanne, Co-Founder & CTO of Maturify; Sanjeewa Alwis, Director of Pearson Lanka; Dhanusha Muthukumarana, Director/CEO of Potenza; Dhammika Marasinghe, Associate Technical Lead of Maurify; Cassendra Mascarenhas, Manager of Global Employer Branding at Fortude; Denver De Zylva, Senior Vice President of Virtusa; Sampath Thrimawithana, Head of HR of Virtusa – Sri Lanka; Thilanka Jayathilake, Director Human Resources at IFS; Dilina Gunathilake, Head of HR- Brandix Digital Ops at Fortude; Lalinda Ariyaratna, CEO/ Managing Director of Center for Employment at Entrepreneurship and Innovation Development (CEEID); Kushani Kalpage,Director-Marketing at Sysco Labs; Dhara Jayasinghe, Head of QA at BISTEC; Anuradha Gajanayake, COO of BISTEC; Omar Hassen, Group Manager Strategy & Operations at HCL; Jehan Perera, Manager – Quality Engineering at Wiley; M. W. Sadhikeen, VP & Country Head of Innodata; Nuwan Weerasinghe, Director of Nagarro; Prasath Mahalingam, Chief Business Development Officer of 99x.
Backed by its newly elected board that brings diversified leadership and industry expertise, the chamber today is well poised to accelerate the industry’s future growth and transformation in meeting its vision of generating USD 5.0 billion of revenue, creating 200,000 jobs and catalyzing 1000 startups.