Amitha to be appointed MD of Harry’s Melstacorp

Veteran banker Amitha Gooneratne is to be appointed as the CEO of Melstacorp Ltd., the future-centric subsidiary of Distilleries Company, controlled by tycoon Harry Jayawardena.

An announcement on the appointment is expected shortly as Gooneratne is likely to assume office in May. He is already on the Board of Melstacorp as a Non Executive Independent Director.

Having gone on leave in late February, Gooneratne formally ended his long stint at Commercial Bank last week. He retired as Managing Director, a position he held since January 1997. He joined the Bank in March 1983 and was appointed as General Manager/CEO in March 1996.

Melstacorp is the holding company of Distilleries subsidiaries and some of the recent investments such as portfolio investment in JKH, additional shares acquired in Aitken Spence. Under Melstacorp also comes Lanka Bell, as well as Pelwatte Sugar.

At present, Jayawardena is the Chairman and Managing Director of Mesltacorp and he will continue to be Chairman after Gooneratne assumes as Managing Director.

Among other members of the Melstacorp Board are Raj Obeysekera, Royle Janz, Captain K.J Kahanda, C.F Fernando, Dr. Naomal Balasuriya, Niranjan Deva Aditya.