Mahendra J. C. Amarasuriya is a Sri Lankan banker and philanthropist. A former President of the

Lions Clubs International The International Association of Lions Clubs, more commonly known as Lions Clubs International, is an international non-political service organization established originally in 1916 in Chicago, Illinois, by Melvin Jones. It is now headquartere ...

, he was the former

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the

Commercial Bank of Ceylon Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (CBC) also known as ComBank is a licensed commercial bank in Sri Lanka and its ownership is private. It was incorporated as a public limited company and it is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is regarded ...

Early life

Mahendra Amarasuriya was born to

Thomas Amarasuriya Thomas Amarasuriya, OBE (17 June 1907 – 5 May 1979) was a Ceylonese planter and politician. He was a member of the State Council of Ceylon and President of the Senate of Ceylon. He was the first Ceylonese Chairman of the Planters Association a ...

, OBE the President of the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Counci ...

. He was educated at the

Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and graduated from the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

. He has undergone training at the

International Institute for Management Development International Institute for Management Development (IMD) is a private business school in Lausanne, Switzerland specializes in executive education offering open enrollment programs for senior executives, as well as longer-term educational engage ...

Career

Amarasuriya was first appointed to the Board of the

on May 15, 1986 and appointed Chairman on January 1, 1995 and is serving to date. He holds 447,097 Voting shares and 151,881 Non-Voting Shares. He is also the Chairman of Pelwatte Sugar Industries Ltd., Serendib Flour Mills (Pvt) Ltd., Equity Investments Lanka Ltd., Unawatuna Beach Resorts Ltd. and the Lions Clubs International Foundation. Immediate Past President of the International Association of Lions Clubs and Past Chairman of United Motors Lanka PLC, Joint Business Forum of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Employers’ Organisation and Trade Associations of Sri Lanka (JBIZ), the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, National Agribusiness Council International Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka, Commercial Fund Management (Pvt) Ltd. and Regional Industries Services Committee of the North Western Province. He was the Former Deputy Chairman of

Hayleys Hayleys PLC, founded in 1878, is a multinational and diversified conglomerate company in Sri Lanka with business spanning over 16 sectors, catering to 70 markets worldwide. Hayleys accounts for approximately 4.2% of Sri Lanka's export income, a ...

. Almost four decades after his father chaired the Association, Amarasuriya took the chairmanship and continued in his family's long association with Sri Lanka's thriving

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

business. A devout

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

and philanthropist, Amarasuriya is a committee member of the

Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi ( Sinhala: ජය ශ්‍රී මහා බොධිය) is a historical sacred bo tree (''Ficus religiosa'') in the Mahamewna Garden in historical city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. This is believed to be a tree grown f ...

Fund. In 2006 he was elected President of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amarasuriya, M. J. C. Sri Lankan bankers Sinhalese businesspeople Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Living people Year of birth missing (living people)