Dr. Selliah was appointed to the Board of Directors of JAT Holdings in 2014 and has been the Chairman of the JAT Holdings since 2014. With over two decades of diverse experience in multiple fields including manufacturing, health care, insurance, logistics and packaging, renewable power, plantation, retail etc. he holds an MBBS degree and a Master’s degree (M.Phil).
Dr. Selliah is currently the Deputy Chairman of Asiri Hospitals Holdings PLC and the Deputy Chairman of Asiri Surgical Hospital PLC. He is a Director of HNB Assurance PLC, Lanka Tiles PLC, Softlogic Holdings PLC, ODEL PLC, Lanka Walltiles PLC, ACL Cables PLC, Lanka Ceramic PLC, Swisstek (Ceylon) PLC and Swisstek Aluminum Pvt Ltd. He is also the Deputy Chairman of Central Hospital Ltd. Dr. Selliah is also the Chairman of Cleanco Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, and Vydexa (Lanka) Power Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. He is the Deputy Chairman of Evoke International Ltd too. He has also served as a Senior Lecturer in the Medical Faculty for many years in the past. Currently he serves as a Council Member of the University of Colombo.
Dr. Selliah also serves on the following Board sub committees of some of the companies listed above as a Member or Chairman: Human Resource and Remuneration Committee, Related Party Transactions Committee, Audit Committee, Investment Committee and Strategic Planning Committee.
Aelian Gunawardene is the founder and Managing Director of JAT Holdings PLC and has been the driving force of the company ever since. As a Marketing professional he has pioneered new innovations while increasing JAT’s presence both locally and internationally and has built unequivocal brand equity. He has successfully led JAT to the recognition of being the only private company in Sri Lanka to be awarded a Moody’s ICRA rating of ‘A+ (Stable)’ outlook for five consecutive years. Gunawardene is one of Sri Lanka’s most respected corporate leaders, contributing more than 27 years of leadership experience and strategic expertise to the Board. In the year 2017, he was awarded the honour of Sri Lanka’s Entrepreneur of the Year and was also recognised among LMD’s ‘Top 23 Business people of the Year.’ In addition, he has been on the LMD’s A List for five consecutive years commencing in 2018; a list that features the top leaders of the business world in Sri Lanka.
Nishal was appointed as the CEO in 2017 and has over 10 years of experience in functioning as an Executive Director and over 15 years of experience in the construction, manufacturing and trading industries. He has completed the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School and has obtained the Alumni Status from Harvard University. His other qualifications include an MBA from the University of Wales and an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting.
Joyce Gunawardene currently serves as an Executive Director to Brush Master (Private) Limited. She has over 15 years of experience in the field of Advertising and Promotion and was appointed to the Board of Directors of JAT Holdings in 2015. She holds a B.Sc. Degree in Psychology from the University of NSW Australia.
Hussain Akbarally holds a degree in Science from the University of Melbourne, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Akbarally currently serves as an Executive Director of Akbar Brothers (Pvt) Ltd and its subsidiaries. Akbar Brothers is Sri Lanka’s largest exporter of Ceylon Tea to the international market and has diversified interests in the areas of pharmaceuticals, import trading, renewable energy, property management, manufacturing, hospitality, agriculture and environmental control. Hussain has spearheaded the Group’s ventures into the avenues of solar power, hospitality and agriculture amongst others. He was honoured as one of the New Energy Leaders by the Asian Development Bank in 2018 for his work in the renewable energy sphere. He is the incoming Chapter Chair for YPO Colombo and serves as the treasurer of the Ceylon Motor Sports Club.
Richard Gunawardene, a marketing professional with multi-faceted experience within and outside the JAT Group was appointed to the Board of JAT in 2020. He currently serves as an Executive Director to Worldwide Resins & Chemicals (Private) Limited. In 2017, Gunawardene co-founded JAT Property Group (Private) Limited. He is also the Co-Founder of Ceylon Hemp Effect (Pvt) Ltd and is a founding member of EO Sri Lanka (Entrepreneurs Organisation). He holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Entrepreneurship and Marketing from Curtin University, Western Australia. He was listed in the LMD A-list of Millennial Torchbearers in 2020.
Anika Williamson currently serves as an Executive Director at JAT Global (Private) Limited and was appointed to the Board of JAT in 2020. She has over 8 years of experience working in the finance, import, export and banking industries. In the year 2020, Mrs. Williamson was appointed as the Finance Director of JAT Property Group (Private) Limited. She holds a Double Degree in Accounting and Entrepreneurship from Curtin University, Australia and was a member of the prestigious Pro Vice Chancellor’s Chapter.
Devaka Cooray is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the United Kingdom.
He has worked with Ernst & Young for over 40 years. 30 years of which was as a Senior Assurance and Talent Partner. He functioned as the Deputy Managing Partner from 2016 to 2019 and served as a member of Ernst & Young’s Management Committee from the time the Management Committee was established in 1998 until his retirement in 2019. He was instrumental in establishing the Ernst & Young Practice in the Republic of Maldives in 1995 and functioned as the Partner responsible for the overall management of the Maldivian Practice from its inception. He represented Sri Lanka and Maldives for a number of years in the EY ASEAN Regional Partner Forum. He was seconded to EY USA for a year, where practical experience was gained by being part of assurance teams that performed audit engagements on several large enterprises.
Cooray also spearheaded the Ernst and Young Sri Lanka/Maldives Family Business Centre for Excellence which was instrumental in sending several eminent secondgeneration family members to business schools worldwide. He has also served as a member of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK. Cooray is the Managing Director of Management Systems (Pvt) Ltd and a Director of some of its Subsidiaries and also serves as a Director of Hatton National Bank PLC, HVA Foods PLC and Life Insurance Corporation (Lanka) Ltd.
Priyanthi Pieris is an Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, a Solicitor of England and Wales. With over 39 years of experience in the field of Corporate/Securities Law, Mrs. Pieris’ expertise spans across handling corporate restructuring, privatisations, capital market transactions, take-overs, mergers and amalgamations. Mrs. Pieris also serves on the Boards of Associated Electrical Corporation Ltd, MTN Corporate Consultants (Pvt) Ltd and is the current Chairperson / Consultant of P W Corporate Secretarial (Pvt) Ltd – a firm which provides capital market related services to listed companies. Mrs. Pieris has also served as the Legal Adviser to the Ministry of Finance from 2002 to 2004. She was a Legal consultant to the Colombo Stock Exchange (2004-2011). She is a Member of the Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka on Takeovers and Mergers Code and a Member of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and a Member of the Law Commission. She has served on the Boards of Asia Asset Finance PLC (2012-2021), Abans Electricals PLC (2012-2021) and LOLC Finance PLC (2012-2021).