Big changes in Blue Diamond Board

The Board of the Blue Diamond Jewellery Worldwide Plc has seen major changes with exits and reshuffle of designations.

Driven by new major shareholders mainly British American Technologies (BAT) and Sri Lanka Insurance (SLIC), a nominee of former W.A.D.V. Perera was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director after longstanding member Bandula Ranaweera resigned from the Board.

Perera is a Director of BAT and eChanelling Plc. He was previously headed the HR function at Ericsson Sri Lanka. He holds a MBA from the University of Preston USA and is also an Alumni of Harvard Law School USA.

Another longstanding member Godfrey de Krester has resigned as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director reverting to his former position as Working Director.

Two former Joint Managing Directors K.V.D.D.A. Dias and M.M.N. Priyantha have been made Working Directors. Completing the changes Directors W.K. Galagoda and Ms. K.N. Gunawansa have resigned from the Board of Blue Diamond. Galagoda was promoted as Joint MD (Finance) in September whilst Messrs Dias and Priyantha were made Joint MD (Production) and Joint MD (R&D) respectively. Gunawansa’s stay on the Board is also brief as she was first appointed in October.

In a series of additions, on October 18 the Company announced the appointment of K.S.C.P.K. Gunasinghe and U.D. Liyanagamge to the Board as nominees of SLIC.