Dr. Saman Kelegama succeeds Hemaka Amarasuriya as Singer Chairman

12 March 2015 04:03 am Views - 4960

Singer Sri Lanka recently announced the retirement of business giant, Hemaka Amarasuriya, from its board of directors. He was initially appointed to the board of Singer Sri Lanka in April 1979 and was subsequently named the Deputy Managing Director in August 1983, Managing Director in January 1985 and Chairman in November 1985. Amarasuriya has led Singer Group of Companies as its Chairman for nearly 30 years. He has also served as the Country Manager for Singer Singapore and as the Vice President of Retail Holdings, USA and Singer Asia Ltd. 
His experience and expertise span multiple industries. Amarasuriya is a former Chairman of NDB PLC, the former Chairman of the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon and the founder President of the Industrial Association of Sri Lanka. He has championed the importance of innovation and progressive policymaking, serving on the Presidential Task Force on Science and Technology, Securities and Exchange Commission and Advisory Committee on Company Law. 
Amarasuriya’s revolutionary approach to marketing has been recognized on numerous occasions, such as when he was appointed the founder President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (Sri Lanka Region) and named by CIM UK as a Visionary Business Leader.  He was also the proud recipient of the Retail Leadership Award, bestowed by the Asia Retail Congress, for 
his contribution to retail development in Asia. 
Under his stewardship, Singer redefined large-scale retail in Sri Lanka and became the nation’s leading consumer durables retailer. Amarasuriya was the architect of the group’s pioneering multi-brand and multi-channel retail strategy, vastly expanding its product and brand portfolio. He also established industry-best manufacturing facilities, both at Singer Sri Lanka and its subsidiary companies and set up Singer Finance, a subsidiary financial services company. 
Dr. Saman Kelegama, who has enjoyed a long and productive association with Singer, will be succeeding Amarasuriya as the group’s Non-Executive Chairman. Dr. Kelegama has been on the Board of Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC as a Director since 2006. He currently serves as the Chairman of Singer Finance and as a Director of Regnis, which are subsidiaries and associates of Singer Sri Lanka. He is also a Director at S C Securities, Industrial Development Board, National Enterprise Development Authority and the Postgraduate Institute of Management.
An accomplished academic and respected policy advisor, Dr. Kelegama, who earned his Doctorate in Economics from the University of Oxford, UK and postgraduate and graduate degrees from Oxford and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, is also the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in Sri Lanka. He was the President of the Sri Lanka Economic Association from 1999 to 2003.