Monday Nov 04, 2024
FT
Monday Nov 04, 2024
Friday, 17 February 2023 00:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Upul Dharmadasa has been appointed as the new Chairman of Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC, which operates the Hilton Hotel, Colombo.
Previously he was the Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL). Dharmadasa succeeds Nimal Perera who functioned as Chairman of Hotel Developers.
Dharmadasa, was a student of the Ceylon Hotel School specialising in F&B, and currently sitting for a MBA (UK). Following his migration to USA with the Air Ceylon experience he excelled in the travel industry in Los Angeles through the well-known name brand in the USA under Upul’s Travel Service. By servicing the approximately 750,000 Sri Lankans living in the USA and 400,000 in Canada.
Advancing along with the technology he developed Utravel.com in 2017 based in Los Angeles now being available and operated around the world as a Global Travel booking engine.
He is also a former member of the hospitality sector of Sri Lanka and served at Hotel Intercontinental, Holiday inn, and Oberoi, and was Head of the Food and Beverages on board Lanka Kalyani, the cadet training ship of the Ceylon Shipping Corporation before migrating to the United States joining his wife, Barbara Dharmadasa. He is an ex-employee of the Air Ceylon which was the National Carrier of Sri Lanka. There, he completed Nutrition and Food Service Professional Training at the University of North Dakota, USA and worked as an in-house hospital dietician before starting Upul’s Travel Service.
Once he began his travel career in the USA he was trained in Dallas FT worth by American Airline. He is among the 5% of the travel professionals in the USA who bear the designation of CTC (Certified Travel Counsellor), the program offered by the Institute of Certified Travel Agents in Wellsley, Massachusetts for travel professionals who completed a comprehensive travel program.
After several decades, Dharmadasa returned home in the year 2020 to take over the position at Chairman of the CAASL, where he was notably empathetic towards the staff needs at all levels and was often seen at their weddings, funerals, and other social functions, and the entire staff became one family who pulled the tug towards one direction.
His concern extended to the staff at all levels, including the minor staff of Abans Company who carried out the janitorial services, he was considered to be the silent contributor to the organisation’s success, further Dharmadasa thanked the previous board of CAASL for their audacious contribution to the aviation industry and being empathetic to employee grievances.
He excelled in the Airline industry in Sri Lanka during the COVID- 19 pandemic being a member of the Presidential Task Force facilitated numerous airline requests needed with sudden changes rescheduling etc.
