Sri Lanka’s oldest company fortifies its Board in readiness for a phase of accelerated growth under new stewardship.
Sarva Ameresekere has been appointed the Group Chairman of George Steuart & Co. Ltd.(GS&Co), Sri Lanka’s oldest company established in 1835. The appointment comes as Dilith Jayaweera resigned from the Group Chairmanship and all directorates he held within the Group in January, as Jayaweera’s entrepreneurial journey shifts focus to creating a national level political impact.
Dilith Jayaweera together with his partners Varuni Amunugama Fernando and Sarva Ameresekere acquired GS&Co in 2011. Buoyed by the post-war sentiment of the time, the investment saw GS&Co enter a sustained trajectory of expansion and growth. Today, GS&Co stands as a testament to the power of belief and entrepreneurship in staying competitive and relevant, after 189 years in business. The Group’s diversified sectors include tea exports, healthcare, travel, leisure, financial services, FMCG and industrial solutions.
The Board of GS&Co has been strengthened with the appointment of three independent directors, namely Devaka Cooray, Dimantha Seneviratne and Dr Dinesh Palipana, who joined the company in the recent past. Devaka Cooray is a finance and assurance expert with a distinguished career at Ernst & Young, while veteran Banker Dimantha Seneviratne recently retired as CEO of NDB Bank. Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM is a doctor, lawyer, researcher, senior lecturer in medicine and an equality advocate based in Australia. The Board’s composition now represents a wide variety of stakeholder interests and expertise, with visionaries and shareholders Varuni Amunugama Fernando and Sarva Ameresekere, stalwarts of GS&Co and industry leaders Dai Pathmanathan and Eran Ranasinghe, while Manoj Pilimatalawwe brings information technology to the fore at Board-level.
The new Group Chairman, Sarva Ameresekere was first appointed to the Board of GS&Co in 2020 and was then made Group Executive Director thereafter. He serves on many Boards within the Group including all its listed entities and had been the Chief Executive Officer of the Triad Group since 2008. Qualified in both business and engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Sarva has extensive local and foreign experience. Under his stewardship, Sri Lanka’s oldest company will head to its future with global ambitions and a bold outlook.
