Board of Governance (BoG)
MR. ERANGA WEERAMANTHRI
Skillnet Campus is led by Mr. Eranga Weeramanthri and a skilled team of specialists. Mr. Eranga Weeramanthri is a visionary leader with 20 years’ maturity in private higher education sector holding various capacities including Deputy Director, CEO, General Manager, Academic Manager and Lecturer under local and transnational education ventures. During the corporate journey he has dealt with many British Universities for transnational arrangements, therefore well versed with international education systems. His interventions with universities are from institutional validation process to academic management and delivery.
His multidisciplinary background with first degree of ICT from London Metropolitan University, business know-how from MBA at University of Jayewardenepura sharpening with his PhD journey to be completed in mid-2022 and professional experience would make him to exercise wisdom in higher education sector. Domain expertise, professional excellence, personal integrity, extreme passion and motivation would perfectly suit him to serve the sector.
Mr. Weeramanthri is a performance oriented and innovative leader with track records of developing and re-engineering organizations in the private higher education sector. With his leadership & experience of 20 years in the education Industry, Skillnet Campus will be able to deliver comprehensive guidance & assistance to students to find the best career pathway for their future success.
SENIOR PROFESSOR KENNEDY GUNAWARDANA
Senior Professor Dr. Kennedy Gunawardana has completed his PhD in Accounting Information Systems from Assumption University, Thailand in 2003. He has completed his MBA from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka back in 1994. His first degree was completed as BSc (Business Administration from University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. He was a top Island ranker for A/L examination result. Prof. Kennedy is the first Sri Lankan who made link with Artificial Intelligence to the field of accounting and finance for corporate sector predictions, he has developed new course unit called, artificial neural network for accounting, it is very popular course among the university students today.
Senior Professor Dr. Kennedy Gunawardana is the Professor of Accounting Information Systems (AIS) at the department of Accounting, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. University of Sri Jayewardenepura houses 12,000 undergraduate students and over 1000 postgraduate students. In addition to the Professor of Accounting in his department, he is the Chairman of the Board of Studies of Management, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce in the university. Professor held many other positions in University of Sri Jayewardenepura in his long career, namely; Coordinator MSc programme and Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Management, Coordinator PhD programme, Postgraduate Institute of Management- University of Sri Jayewardenepura (PIM) – Member of Board and member of Audit Committee and Person in Charge of Activity IRQUE Project University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He held various positions in University of Colombo also, which has painted his career, namely; University of Colombo Institute of Human Resource Advancement – Member of the Syndicate and chairman of Audit committee, University of Colombo Postgraduate Institute of Medicine – Board member of Medical Administration and University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC), Colombo University – Member of the management Board.
Professor Kennedy lectures Cost and Management Accounting, Accounting Information Systems, Artificial Neural Networks for Accounting, Research Methodology, Accounting and Finance for the undergraduate and postgraduate students at University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Prof. Kennedy is working as a Visiting faculty member of the University of Moratuwa, University of Kalaniya and University of Colombo in their MBA and PhD programmes in the areas of Accounting, Management Information systems and Research Methodology. Extra to his contribution to state sector he has contributed a lot for the academic developments in private and semi-government sector, to name few of them as Sri Lanka Institute of Cooperative Management, Kothalawala Defense University, APIIT Lanka and Assumption University are very prominent.
He is a Professor with over 166 research articles published in refereed conferences proceedings, numerous other papers and monographs, 495 google citations, 6 text books in English and 3 books in Sinhala, 2 chapters of the International books under his credentials. Prof. Kennedy ranked in the number one in various occasions in teaching, training, and research in the field of Academia.
Extra to academic interventions Professor Kennedy has done his contribution to corporate sector with his academic wisdom. Few of the corporate organizations to name; People’s Leasing Company as Independent Director, Housing development and Finance Company (HDFC) as Independent Director, Chartered Institute of Accountants, Sri Lanka as principle investigator and Janatha Estate Development Board (JEDB) as the Chairman. With such immense exposure and academic astuteness, Professor Kennedy Gunawardana’s graceful presence in Board of Governance is an honor to Skillnet Campus, Sri Lanka.
MAJOR GENERAL U A B MEDAWELA RSP USP ndu psc MSC
General Medawala studied at Nalanda College Colombo and excelled in Cricket, Badminton, Athletics and cadetting. Having completed Advanced Level education in Bio Science, he joined the Army as an Officer Cadet in 1981 and was commissioned on 18th July 1982. He was placed first in Order of Merit and won the Sword of Honour and Tactics prize at the Sri Lanka Military Academy.
Having joined the Armoured Corps he held all important appointments of an Armoured Regiment. He commanded the 1st Reconnaissance Regiment in the year 1995. Thereafter he held the appointment of Military Assistant to the Commander of the Army General R de S Daluwatta and had been an Aide-de-camp to Late Maj Gen D L Kobbekaduwa.
During his career, he has held instructor appointments at the Sri Lanka Military Academy as a course commander and then as an instructor for Methods of Instructions. He was the mentor of Officer Par Excellence Course under the guidance of then Commander of the Army Late General L D C E Waidyaratne.
He has had the opportunity of following Special to Arm and other courses in India, Pakistan, Singapore and Czech Republic and in the USA during his career. He is graded as a class one Armour Officer Instructor by Armoured Corps Centre and School India. He was judged as the most distinguished student of the Military Operations and Peace Keeping in Accordance with Law Course at Defence Institute of International Legal Studies, Rhode Island, Newport USA. Over and above those courses he has attended seminars and undertaken special visits and assignments to Chile, Brazil, Indonesia, Switzerland, UAE and UK.
He is an alumnus of Defence Services Command and Staff College, Wellington, India with an Instructor Grading and holds a First Division Degree in Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras. He subsequently had an opportunity of becoming a member of the Directing Staff at the Army Command and Staff College.
He commanded 554 Infantry Brigade in Kilaly Jaffna and became the Centre Commandant of the Armoured Corps thereafter. He was the Director Armour and Commander Armoured Brigade, prior to taking over as the first Chief Instructor of the Defence Services Command and Staff College. Thereafter he was the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Kotelawala Defence University and then was the General Officer Commanding 53 Division. He is a visiting lecturer to Department of Industrial Management at University of Kelaniya and Naval Command and Staff College of Thailand.
He having completed the tenure as General Officer Commanding took over the appointment as the Military Spokesmen and held the appointment as the Director General General Staff at Army Headquarters concurrently. He held the appointment as the Director General Operations and Systems at the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff before taking over his present appointment as the Security Force Commander Central.
Major General Ubaya Medawela having graduated from the National Defence University of China, accolade as first of the top ten participants out of 75 students from 46 countries and his graduation thesis on ‘Perspective on China’s Policy towards Indian Ocean Region’ was graded as an outstanding thesis unanimously by the Chinese experts.
He was a member of the delegation the 17th Human Rights session in Geneva led by Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.
Major General Medawela is the Chairman Army Cricket and achieved best performance ever by an army team to secure unbeaten top position in first class premier league of Sri Lanka Cricket in 2013. Studying wild habitat, exploring beaches, trekking and gardening are his pastimes.
He is a recipient of Ranashura Padakkama for gallantry, Uttama Seva Padakkama for unblemished military career, Long Service Medal for distinguished service and other operational medals.
Major General Ubaya Medawela has been serving as the Military Advisor to the Office of Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka for United Nations prior to being appointed as the new Chief of Staff. He was also appointed as the Dean of the Asian Group of Military and Police Advisor during his stay in the US. Major General U.A.B Medawela RSP VSV USP ndu psc MSc has been appointed as the Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Army with effect from 1st November 2016 and served the position until his retirement.
Major General Ubaya Medawala’s presence in Skillnet Campus, bring elegance and wisdom of 35 years for good governance of the Campus. Active contribution and advices of a veteran like General Medawala adds quality and standard to Skillnet Campus. He actively advice and train staff and students for the development of discipline, leadership and attitude set to be enhance.
MR. SHANAKA DE SILVA
Mr. Shanaka De Silva is an experienced professional with a strong background in IT and well-developed business and management skills. Over 21 years of experience in IT industry with over 12 years in Senior Management positions with exposure to both managerial and technical spheres underpinned by more than 9 years of wide-ranging consulting experience at a top-tier global organization.
Oversee performance, management and development of the organization. Fully responsible and accountable for the overall performance and delivery. Responsible for the revenue, P&L, business development and service delivery. An enthusiastic people oriented leader with a proven ability to manage all functions in a business. Lead a team of highly skilled consultants to conceptualize, design, facilitate, negotiate and deliver IT/ business transformation services to medium to large local and international entities.
He has expertise experience in ICT/Digital Strategy, Digital Transformation, Big Data / Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Solutions/ Applications development & designing, Process Re-engineering, Agile Based Deployment, Dev-Ops, ERP enablement, IT Infrastructure, Business Continuity Management, Project/Programme Management in complex environments.
Mr. Shanaka enjoys training Project Managers on PMP and Agile Practitioner Certifications. Served as a Project Director for many large-scale project executions in Sri Lanka. Persevere on uplifting Project Management standards in Sri Lanka as the current President of PMI, Sri Lanka Chapter (Project Management Institute, USA). Privileged to be among the 35 candidates who were selected to PMI Leadership Institute Master Class (LIMC 2019) in the USA.
Mr. Shanaka is currently serving Ernst & Young as the Senior Director Advisory (2010 – present) and he works in the capacity of Senior Director for over 9 years in the ITRA (Information Technology Risk & Assurance) & PI (Performance Improvement) SBU’s of Ernst & Young. Many technological transformation engagements have been led under his supervision and guidance. Key member of the strategic leadership team and directly overlooking many mission-critical private and public sector ICT transformation projects in Sri Lanka as well as in other countries.
Mr. Shanaka has managed over 40 ERP Enablement assignments in many industries such as Automotive, Government departments/authorities, Hospitality, Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing, Financial Institutions, Apparel, Telecommunications, Retail /Distribution, Trading & many large diversified group of companies.
Skillnet Campus is graced by the presence of Mr. Shanaka as an active member in Board of Governance helping Skillnet to take the direction in serving students to for enterprising career. He shares contemporary trends in industry and commerce and actively taking part in various seminars and workshops in training faculty and students follow modern technology trends.
MRS. A.M. ASHOKA ABEYNAYAKA
Mrs. Abeynayaka is a veteran in the field of nursing with more than 3 decades of experience. She currently serves as the Director Nursing Education for the Ministry of Health. Her capacity and involvement is very broad in the domain of nursing, with practical exposure as a nurse, Sister to Matron and now serving the nursing education by leading 17 government nursing schools Island wide. Her area of specialty in nursing education is from teaching, assessment preparation, curriculum development to administrating thousands of academics. She possesses an in-depth knowledge of the medical field with immense experience in Ward Management and Administration, Emergency Nursing, Midwifery, Pediatric Nursing, Gynecology & Obstetric Nursing, Nephrology Nursing, Fundamentals of nursing, Surgical and Medical Nursing.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Open University of Sri Lanka, Masters in Nursing from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and is a certified Master Trainer in Medical Education from Singapore. Currently she is reading for her PhD.
Mrs. Abeynayaka has exposure related to nursing field in many other countries like; Switzerland, Malaysia, Philippines, Greece, Singapore, South Korea & Thailand.
With this local and foreign exposure Mrs. Abeynayaka will be a definite asset serving Board of Governance (BoG) of Skillnet Campus.