Cargills Ceylon announces new appointments

Cargills Ceylon Board of Directors Executive Director Dilantha Jayawardhana

Kotmale Holdings and Cargills Quality Dairies Managing Director Saranga Wijesundara

Cargills Agrifoods and Cargills Quality Confectioneries Managing Director Buddhisha Herath

Millers Managing Director Delano Dias

Cargills Ceylon PLC, Sri Lanka’s leading food retailing and manufacturing company, announced significant new appointments effective from 1 July. Four members of Cargills’ senior management, Dilantha Jayawardhana, Saranga Wijesundara, Buddhisha Herath and Delano Dias have assumed their new roles having been affiliated with the Group for the majority of their careers.  

Dilantha Jayawardhana joined the Board of Directors of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC in the capacity of Executive Director. He joined Cargills as an accountant back in 1999, and worked his way up to head the Group’s finance division with his assignment as Group Chief Financial Officer in 2015. Dilantha holds an MBA from the University of Lincoln, UK and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, as well as an Associate Member of the Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka. 

Saranga Wijesundara took the reins of the Group’s dairy sector as Managing Director of Kotmale Holdings PLC and Cargills Quality Dairies Ltd. Having joined the Cargills Group in 2007, Saranga has consecutively been assigned to various posts across the Group’s food manufacturing, restaurants and distribution segments prior to his appointment as Chief Operating Officer of the dairy sector in 2017. A Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, and an Associate Member of the Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka, Saranga also holds a BSc degree in Accounting from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura. 

Buddhisha Herath assumed office as Managing Director of the subsidiaries, Cargills Agrifoods Ltd. and Cargills Quality Confectioneries Ltd. He joined the Cargills Group in 1996 as a salesman and rose through the ranks in the Group’s FMCG business. In 2018, he was tasked with managing the food manufacturing sectors of agrifood and confectionery as Chief Operating Officer. He holds an MBA from the Australian Institute of Business as well as an Executive Diploma in Business Administration (EDBA) from the University of Colombo.

Delano Dias took over as Managing Director of Millers Ltd., having been its Chief Executive Officer since 2016. He joined Cargills in 1991 and has held several positions in different sectors during his 30-year tenure with the Group. Delano holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (BBA) and is the current Chairman of the Import Section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. 

The Cargills leadership is deeply committed towards building a culture where team members are nurtured and inspired and where hard work and dedication is duly recognised. Cargills is an organisation where even fresh recruits are moulded to be future leaders in time to come.