Colombo Club elects first-ever lady chairperson

At the last Annual General Meeting of the Colombo Club held, history was made as the club elected Anushya Coomaraswamy as its first-ever lady Chairperson.

The Colombo Club was inaugurated more than 150 years ago by the British for English and Scottish gentlemen resident in Sri Lanka to meet, relax and recuperate. For close to 125 years, it remained the exclusive habitat for gentlemen, as ladies were precluded from becoming members. In 1995, the first lady member was admitted followed over the years by other ladies.
In proposing her name to take over the chair, Immediate Past Chairman Kumar Jayasuriya stated that the Colombo Club is now poised to create history. 

“In our 150 plus-year history, the members of the fairer sex were not admitted to membership in the first 125 years of our existence. This injustice was corrected in 1995. We have thereafter steadily progressed on the path of gender neutrality and within a matter of 25 years have reached the pinnacle of that endeavour, which is the election of our first chairperson. It is my great privilege to be associated with this historical event by proposing from the chair the name of Anushya Coomaraswamy as Chairperson of the Colombo Club for the ensuing year, having been nominated to this office unanimously by the General Committee of the club,” Jayasuriya said.

Coomaraswamy is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of the UK.  She has been Group Finance Director of John Keells Holdings PLC – at the time the first woman to be appointed to the board of a blue-chip company in Sri Lanka.  Thereafter, she joined the Finance Ministry as an Advisor, primarily on fiscal policy for a short period, during which time she also served as Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission and as a member of the Public Enterprise Reforms Commission.

She currently serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on the board of Printcare PLC.

Having served on the boards of Transparency International (Sri Lanka) and the Centre for Policy Alternatives, she is currently on the boards of the Law and Society Trust and Women and Media Collective.

In accepting the position, Coomaraswamy said that in a world where women are still to be fully recognised and given their rightful place, the Colombo Club has been progressive and that must be acknowledged, appreciated and commended. 

“And for me personally I thank you for your confidence,” she said.