Two new appointments to People’s Merchant Finance board

People’s Merchant Finance (PMF) recently announced the appointment of Krystle Reid Wijesuriya and Dr. Nirmal De Silva as Independent, Non-Executive Directors to the company’s board of directors.
Wijesuriya is currently Head of Strategic Planning at We Are Team Rocket, a specialised B2B growth-marketing agency. She has experience working with multiple cross-functional teams related to strategic planning, process improvement, risk management, business development and project management. 

Wijesuriya is also a diversity and inclusion specialist; she is one of the Co-Founders of Enable Lanka Foundation, which works to dignify and reframe the value of young persons with disabilities in society. The foundation is the Sri Lankan partner for the APAC Microsoft Enabler programme in Sri Lanka, which provides online training in data engineering and programming, cloud computing and application development to young persons with disabilities.
She is also Community Champion for India South and Sri Lanka, for the Global Shapers Community, an initiative by the World Economic Forum. In 2019, she was selected as one of the 50 Young Global Shapers to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. She is a Fellow of Changemaker Xchange, which is a global collaboration platform for young social innovators. Wijesuriya was also named as the Commonwealth Young Person of the Year in 2017.

Dr. De Silva is a multi-award-winning strategy consultant, SME evangelist, impact investor and Associate Professor in Business Management with two decades of C Level experience across the world, where he has provided leadership to several multinational and Fortune 500 companies.

He serves on the board of several companies in the state and private sector in diverse industries such as financial services, agriculture, food and beverage, technology, handicrafts, education, learning and development, facilities management, portfolio investment, professional services, digital entertainment, consumer goods and lifestyle services.

He is also a Board Member of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) in Sri Lanka and is an important influencer in shaping up the start-up and social enterprise ecosystem in the country. As an Academic, Dr. De Silva focuses on areas such as curriculum enhancement, soft skills development, entrepreneurship and holistic learning. Dr. De Silva serves as a mentor for Faster Capital in the UAE, Mentor Capital Network (MCN) in the USA, Hatch in Sri Lanka and a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) for Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.
With the latest two appointments, they join the board of directors of People’s Merchant Finance PLC comprising of Chairman Chandula Abeywickrema, Rangana Koralage and Travis Waas.