HNB Assurance announces two new Independent Non-Executive Directors

Lakshman Silva

Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige

HNB Assurance PLC has announced the appointment of Lakshman Silva and Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige as Independent Non-Executive Directors to its Board with effect from 1 January 2024. 

Silva is the former CEO/Director of DFCC Bank PLC. He started his professional career at the Department of Inland Revenue of Sri Lanka and joined the DFCC Banking Group in 1987. He was seconded to the service of DFCC Vardhana Bank in 2003 and functioned as Chief Operating Officer until his appointment as CEO/Executive Director in January 2010. Held the position of Deputy CEO /Director of DFCC Bank PLC from October 2015 and was appointed as CEO /Director in August 2017.

Until his retirement in December 2021, he was Chairman of DFCC Consulting Ltd., Lanka Industrial Estates Ltd., and Snapsys Ltd.(subsidiary companies of DFCC Bank PLC) as well as the Chairman of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd. and Sri Lanka Banks' Association (Guarantee) Ltd. He also held the position of Chairman of Acuity Partners Ltd., the joint venture company of DFCC Bank PLC. In addition, he was Chairman/Director of Lanka Ventures Ltd., LVL Energy Fund PLC and Director LankaClear Ltd.

Silva was a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP), and Board of Management of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority.

At present he serves as an Independent Director at Seylan Bank PLC, Independent Director of Finetech Consultancy Ltd, while serving as Chairman and Director of Panasian Power PLC and its subsidiary companies. He also serves as Member of the Stakeholder Engagement Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Silva is a past President of the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka. He holds a BCom (Sp.) from the Kelaniya University and an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the Sri Jayewardenepura University. He is an Associate Member of the Association of Development Financial Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).

Dr. Sankalpa Gamwarige, PhD is an Innovative Digital Transformational specialist and Tech Talent Enabler with a 20+ year Digital Product Engineering and Electronics Engineering background. He is a member of Global Leadership team of Nagarro, a Digital Product Engineering Company Listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with a global team of over 19,000 Digital Specialists across 35 different countries.

Prior to joining Nagarro, he was General Manager and Vice President of Engineering at Zone 24x7 a family-owned Digital Product Company with Operations in USA, UK, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. 

During his 16 years of Engineering Leadership career at Zone24x7, he led the teams towards: overall winner of the National Best Quality Software Award (NBQSA) 2015, winner of R&D category at Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards 2015, Presidential Awards for the highest Value-Added Exporter of the Hi-tech/Innovative Sector 2014, 2015 and 2016. 

Sankalpa has contributed many US Patents filed and owned by Zone24x7. Further, the academic papers published by him based on his PhD research have been extensively cited.

Sankalpa has voluntarily contributed to many national initiatives and forums including SLASSCOM, TRACE, National Innovation Agency (NIA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Export Development Board (EDB), Sri Lanka Institute of Biotechnology (SLIBTEC) and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), serving in various capacities such as Advisory and Board level.

In addition, he is/was a member of the Board of Studies - Faculty of Graduate Studies and Academic Committee of BIT external degree program – Faculty of IT, Moratuwa University.