Our Leadership

Krishan Balendra

Non-Independent - Non-Executive Director, Chairperson

Mr. Balendra was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 1st of January 2018.

Krishan Balendra is the Chairperson of John Keells Holdings PLC. He is the Deputy Vice Chairperson of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Hon. Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Sri Lanka. He is a former Chairperson of Nations Trust Bank and the Colombo Stock Exchange. Krishan started his career at UBS Warburg, Hong Kong, in investment banking, focusing primarily on equity capital markets. He joined JKH in 2002. Krishan holds a law degree (LLB) from the University of London and an MBA from INSEAD.

Gihan Cooray

Non-Independent - Non-Executive Director

Mr. Cooray was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 1st of January 2018.

Gihan Cooray is the Deputy Chairperson/Group Finance Director and has overall responsibility for the Group’s Finance and Accounting, Taxation, Corporate Finance and Strategy, Treasury, Information Technology function and Corporate Communication. He is the Chairperson of Nations Trust Bank PLC. Gihan holds an MBA from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University, Houston, Texas. He is a Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, a certified management accountant of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, Australia and has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. He serves as a committee member of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Daminda Gamlath

Non-Independent - Non-Executive Director

Mr. Gamlath was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 1st of November 2017.

Daminda Gamlath is the President of the Consumer Foods industry group and has been with the John Keells Group since 2002. He was the Sector Financial Controller for the Information Technology sector and then the Consumer Foods sector before he was appointed as the Head of Beverages in 2013 and the Sector Head in 2017. Prior to joining the John Keells Group, he worked at the Hayleys Group. Daminda holds a B.Sc. in Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, an MBA from the University of Colombo and is a passed finalist of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK.

Pravir Samarasinghe

Independent - Non-Executive Director

Mr. Samarasinghe was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from 10th of June 2016 and is the Chairperson of the Audit Committee.

He has over 30 years of professional and commercial experience and serves on the Board of Directors of several Public Listed and Unlisted Companies.

He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.

He was the Past Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, Industrial Association of Sri Lanka and Condominium Developers Association of Sri Lanka. He was the Past President of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Sri Lanka Division and former Council Member, CIMA (UK). He was a Board member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board

Shehara De Silva

Independent - Non-Executive Director

Ms. De Silva was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 10th of June 2016 and is a member of the Audit Committee.

She is an international branding and communication specialist with a track record of market development in East Asia and Sri Lanka. She has worked with Omnicom Group related companies as the Director Planning Naga DDB in Kuala Lumpur and later as the Managing Director of Interbrand Malaysia and Group Director Strategy of Foetus International. She was the Deputy Director General of the Board of Investment Sri Lanka and GM Marketing and Sales of Janashakthi Insurance PLC.

She currently Chairs the Advocacy Committee of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors. She is a trustee of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust, and on the boards of Sarvodaya Development Finance PLC, Optima Design, Informatics Institute of Technology, Quickshaws Travel (Pvt) Ltd, Ex-pack Corrugated Cartons PLC, and Amana Takaful Life PLC. She was previously on the Boards of The Environment Foundation, the Arthur C Clarke Institute of Modern Technologies and Eagle Fund Management

Indrajith Samarajiva

Independent - Non-Executive Director

Mr. Samarajiva was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 10th of June 2016 and is a member of the Audit Committee.

He is a writer at www.indi.ca. Mr. Samarajiva co-founded and sold YAMU one of Sri Lanka’s leading food content platforms to PickMe in 2019. At PickMe, Mr. Samarajiva launched their delivery product PickMe Food. He has experience moving organisations online, something he has helped to do at Dialog Axiata, The Sunday Leader, and Sarvodaya. He studied Cognitive Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Nelindra Fernando

Non-Independent - Non-Executive Director

Ms. Fernando was appointed to the Board of Keells Food Products PLC from the 01st of January 2021.

Nelindra Fernando is the Chief Financial Officer for the JKH Consumer Foods industry group. Nelindra joined the John Keells Group in 2013 as the Sector Financial Controller of the Consumer Foods Industry Group. Prior to joining the JKH Group, she worked at the MAS group and Ernst & Young, Chartered Accountants. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of UK and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.