Ex-COMB MD Renganathan, economist Nishan de Mel join Janashakthi Insurance Board

S. Renganathan

Dr. Nishan de Mel

Commercial Bank former Managing Director S. Renganathan and top economist Dr. Nishan de Mel have been appointed to the Board of Janashakthi Insurance PLC as Independent Non-Executive

Directors.

Renganathan was the former Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and had held several key positions in the Bank. He is a senior banker counting over 41 years and has led Commercial Bank’s acquisition of the banking operations of Credit Agricole Indosuez in Bangladesh.

In addition, Renganathan served as the Managing Director and a Board Member of the Commercial Development Company PLC, and Commercial Bank of Maldives Ltd. as the Deputy Chairman. He was also a Director of the Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd. and the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (Guarantee) Ltd. In addition, he also served as a Council Member of the Employers Federation of Ceylon. 

He is currently a Vice Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka, Executive Member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Executive Member of the Council for Business with Britain, Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors and the Vice President of the Sri Lanka India Society.

Renganathan has served among others, as a Member of the General Council of the Institute of Bankers of Bangladesh, Founder President of the Sri Lanka Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Executive Member of the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Bangladesh. He currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director at Sunshine Holdings PLC and Agility Innovations Ltd.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK (FCMA), Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), Fellow of the London Institute of Banking and Finance, UK (FLIBF) and a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka (FIB), had received extensive leadership, management and banking training locally and in overseas countries.

Dr. Nishan de Mel is already attached to the Group, by being a Non-Executive Director in the Board of First Capital Holdings PLC. He is the Executive Director and Head of Research of Verité Research, a think tank providing analytical research and advisory services on economic, political and legal issues in Sri Lanka and Asia. He is an economist with extensive academic, policy and private sector experience.

In Sri Lanka, he has been a Member of the Presidential Task Force on Health Sector Reform, Presidential Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol and Dangerous Drug Regulation and the National Steering Committee on Social Security. He has also served as an Executive Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) and on the Board of the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, amongst others.

Internationally, Dr. de Mel has held several governing, teaching and research positions, including as lecturer in Economics at the University of Oxford, UK. His undergraduate degree in Economics was from Harvard University, USA whilst he earned his masters and doctoral degrees in Economics at the University of Oxford where he was a Chevening scholar.

With the latest appointments, the Board of Janashakthi Insurance comprises Executive Deputy Chairman Prakash Schaffter, A. Rodrigo, P. Sivagananathan, Dinesh Schaffter, M. Jayawardena, W. de Costa, A. Senanayake, Nishan De Mel, S. Renganatha and Director/CEO R. Liyanage.