John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) is pleased to announce the appointments of Messrs. Krishan Balendra and Gihan Cooray as Directors of the Company with effect from November 5, 2016.

Mr. Susantha Ratnayake, Chairman of John Keells Holdings PLC states that these appointments are in line with the plans of succession of the current Executive Directors who will be retiring shortly.  Messrs. Ajit Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman, and Ronnie Peiris, Group Finance Director, will be retiring at the end of December 2017 and Mr. Susantha Ratnayake will be retiring at the end of December 2018.

He further stated that the Group has, over the years, developed a substantial pool of young, talented individuals and that the depth of leadership augurs well for the Group’s future.

Resumes of Messrs. Balendra and Cooray are given below:

KrishanBalendra is currently the President of the Leisure Industry Group and is also the Chairman of Nations Trust Bank PLC.  He was previously the President of the Retail Sector in the Consumer Foods & Retail Industry Group.  Krishan joined JKH in 2002 as Head of Corporate Finance after stints at UBS Warburg, Hong Kong in Investment Banking and Aitken Spence Sri Lanka in Corporate Finance.  Krishan, a former Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange, holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of London and an MBA from INSEAD.  He is also the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Sri Lanka in addition to being a Member of the Main Committee of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. 

Gihan Cooray is currently the President of the Retail Sector.  He is also responsible for the Corporate Finance/Strategy and Group Treasury functions, John Keells Capital – the investment banking arm of the Group and John Keells Research.  He is also a Non-Executive Director of Nations Trust Bank PLC.  Gihan holds an MBA from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University, Houston, Texas.  He is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, a Certified Management Accountant of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, Australia and has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.  He serves as a Member of the Sub-Committee on Economic, Fiscal and Policy Planning of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.