Top academic to lead ComBank Board
Deputy Chairman Prof. A. K. W. Jayawardane succeeds retiring Chairman Justice K. Sripavan; senior banker Mr Sharhan Muhseen appointed Deputy Chairman
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has announced the appointment of top academic Prof. A. K. W. Jayawardane as Chairman, and accomplished international investment banker Mr Sharhan Muhseen as Deputy Chairman effective Tuesday, 1st March 2022.
Prof. Jayawardane, previously Deputy Chairman of the Bank, succeeds former Chief Justice K. Sripavan as Chairman following the completion of the latter’s term, while Mr Muhseen fills the vacancy created by Prof. Jayawardane’s elevation to the position of Chairman, Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank said.
Prof. Jayawardane, who has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of Commercial Bank since April 2015 and Deputy Chairman since 29th December 2020, is one of Sri Lanka’s most-respected senior academics in the field of engineering and is an academic administrator. He is currently the Chairman of CBC Tech Solutions, a subsidiary of Commercial Bank and the Chairman of the Board Tech Committee.
A Commission Member of the University Grants Commission and a Senior Professor in Civil Engineering, Prof. Jayawardane served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa for six years, as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for six years as an Endowed Professor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Moratuwa for one year and as the Director General of National Science Foundation for two years.
He obtained a BSc Eng Degree in Civil Engineering with first class honours from the University of Moratuwa, a Master of Science Degree in Construction from the Loughborough University of Technology UK and a PhD in Construction Management from the same university.
Prof. Jayawardane has served as the President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka. He is also a Director of Sierra Cables PLC and a member of Board of Management of several other institutions. He is a Corporate Member, a Fellow and an International Professional Engineer of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) – CEng, FIE(SL), IntPE(SL) – a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, FNAS(SL), a Founder Member of the Society of Structural Engineers Sri Lanka, MSSE(SL), a Fellow of the Institute of Project Managers, Sri Lanka, FIPM (SL), a Life Member of Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science and a Graduate Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors – GSLID.
Amongst several other awards, Prof. Jayawardane is the recipient of the IESL ‘Eminence in Engineering’ Award, which is the most prestigious life time award presented by the Institute for eminence in the practice of Engineering.
Mr Sharhan Muhseen is a senior Investment Banker with extensive experience in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets. He has served in a senior capacity working with company boards and senior leadership teams of financial institutions across Asia to help drive their Strategic Corporate Agendas and Roadmaps. He previously worked in best-in-class global investment banks, Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan in leading regional coverage roles. He was also an Associate Director of Deloitte.
Mr Muhseen’s most immediate previous role was as Managing Director, Head of South East Asia Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and Head of Asia Insurance at Credit Suisse based in Singapore. In his Investment Banking career spanning over 20 years, Mr Muhseen has completed landmark mergers and capital raising transactions in excess of USD 100 billion. The Asia FIG sectors team at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse has won the “FIG Asia House of the Year” awards from the Asset magazine for several years under his leadership. Multiple transactions he led have been awarded as best country deals and best financial sector capital raise transactions.
He holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Colombo, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) from Western Michigan University and has completed the Corporate Finance training program with JP Morgan in New York.
Commercial Bank is Sri Lanka’s first 100% carbon neutral bank, the first Sri Lankan bank to be listed among the Top 1000 Banks of the World and the only Sri Lankan bank to be so listed for 11 years consecutively. It is the largest lender to Sri Lanka’s SME sector and is a leader in digital innovation in the country’s Banking sector. The Bank’s overseas operations encompass Bangladesh, where the Bank operates 19 outlets; the Maldives, where the Bank has a fully-fledged Tier I Bank with a majority stake, and Myanmar, where it has a microfinance company in Nay Pyi Taw.
