Leading shipping professional Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake will take over duties as Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Aitken Spence PLC mid next month.
“I would like to thank the Chairman of Aitken Spence PLC for the confidence reposed on me to steer the entity,” Dr. Dissanayake said. In a brief conversation over the phone with the Sunday Observer Dr. Dissanayake said he will help the company to scale greater heights.
Currently Dr. Dissanayake is the Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping and Southern Development and before that the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). Prior to this appointment at Aitken Spence PLC he was the Chairman and CEO of Aitken Spence Maritime and Logistics and a Director of its main Board.
Dr. Dissanayake succeeds Rajan Brito who will be retiring next month following a 17-year stint. However, Brito will continue to serve on the Aitken Spence Board as a Non-Executive Director.Brito joined the Board in April 2000 and was appointed Deputy Chairman and Managing Director in January 2002. Dissanayake will step down as Secretary, Ministry of Ports and Shipping and Southern Development on March 14.
Dr. Dissanayake previously served the SLPA as its Chairman and CEO from 2002 to 2004 and was also a former Chairman of the State owned Jaya Container Terminals Ltd. and Sri Lanka Port Management Consultancy Services Ltd.
SLPA handles an annual throughput of around seven million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) and during Dr. Dissanayake’s previous tenure it was ranked the most profitable public sector organisation in Sri Lanka by Dunn Bradstreet Corp UK.
Aitken Spence Maritime is the first Sri Lankan Company to venture in to port efficiency management in the African Continent and the first Sri Lankan company to pursue a public-private partnership in South Pacific Islands on ports.
Dr. Dissanayake was also a Board Director of Fiji Ports Corporation, Fiji Ports Terminal and the Urban Development Authority of Sri Lanka. He served on the UN/UNCTAD Panel as an expert on Ports and Shipping and is a Past Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (Sri Lanka Branch), Past Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (Sri Lanka Branch) and a Past Chairman of the Central Advisory Council of Sri Lanka Transport Board. He is also a Past Chairman of Ceylon Chamber of Commerce-Streering Committee on Ports, Shipping, Aviation and Logistics.
Dr. Dissanayake is the first non-British International President of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers UK. Since the appointment of the Institute’s first president Sir Thomas Lain Devin Devitt in 1913, all presidents have been British nationals.
Dr. Dissanayake who obtained his MBA/PhD is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK. He is the first Sri Lankan to have obtained the highest qualification in shipping - Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Shipbrokers,UK.