Dr. Meewakkala appointed Chairman of HDFC Bank

Dr. R.H. Meewakkala has been appointed the Chairman of HDFC Bank with effect from 1 October 2018.

He succeeds R.D. De Silva, who retired on 30 September 2018 after assuming office in February 2015.

Prior to the latest appointment, Dr. Meewakkala had been serving on the HDFC Board as a Non-Executive Independent Director since June 2015.

Dr. Meewakkala is a professional marketer who has a Postgraduate Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, an MSc in International Marketing from the University of Strathclyde along with a PhD from the University of Honolulu. His career in the marketing profession spans 25 years, of which 19 years was spent at the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC), where he was the Marketing Director and also sat on the Executive Committee of the company. His international experience covers a three-year stint working as the Head of Brand Marketing for British American Tobacco, Cambodia and Laos. He was also a member of the South Asia Marketing Leadership team for British American Tobacco. 

He left the Ceylon Tobacco Company in September 2015 and in October 2015 was appointed CEO of Lanka Sathosa by the Minister of Industry and Commerce to manage the biggest retail operation run by the Government, which has 309 stores islandwide. 

He left Lanka Sathosa in November 2016 and started his own marketing consultancy company. He was appointed Chairman of the State Development and Construction Corporation, an institution under the Ministry of Housing and Construction.

Dr. Meewakkala has also been a Non-Executive Director at Ceylon Beverage Holdings and Ceylon Brewery Ltd. from 1 October 2017.

The HDFC Board of Directors comprises R.H. Meewakkala (Chairman), I.G.J. Palitha (General Manager/CEO), G.P. Gnanasena, L.S. Palansuriya, P.S. Punchihewa, D.P. Wimalasena, R.A. Chulananda, L. Jayasinghe, N. Wijeyanathan, S.A.N. Saranatissa and U.H.C. Priyantha.