Sagala Gajendra Ratnayaka (born 27 February 1968) is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n politician who has been serving as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to the

president of Sri Lanka The President of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති ''Śrī Laṃkā Janādhipathi''; ta, இலங்கை சனாதிபதி ''Ilankai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of t ...

and

National Security Advisor A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

since 2022. He had served as the

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

of Law and Order and Southern Development (2015-2018); Youth Affairs and Southern Development (2019-2019);

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to the

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, wh ...

and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Matara District Matara ( si, මාතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''Mātara distrikkaya''; ta, மாத்தறை மாவட்டம் ''Māttaṛai māvaṭṭam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts ...

Early life and education

Ratnayaka was born to a political family from

Deniyaya Deniyaya is a small town located towards the south of Sri Lanka. It is located in Matara District of the Southern Province. It is surrounded by the Sinharaja rainforest, and the climate is relatively cool. The main source of income is tea cultiv ...

, where his uncle

Victor Ratnayake Rathnayake Arachchilage Victor ( Sinhala: වික්ටර් රත්නායක; born 18 February 1942), popularly known as Victor Rathnayake, is a Sri Lankan singer, composer, lyricist and a renowned musician. He was the first Sri Lankan ...

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

was a notable legislator. 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 ...

, where he became the

Head Prefect Head boy and head girl are student leadership roles in schools, representing the school's entire student body. They are normally the most senior prefects in the school. The terms are commonly used in the British education system as well as in Aus ...

. He proceeded to study in the United States and graduated from

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

with a bachelor's degree in business administration studies in 1993.New deputy minister has strong business background
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Early career

After graduating he worked as a financial analyst at

Central Finance Company Central Finance Company PLC is one of the oldest non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Sri Lanka having founded in 1957. The company is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 1969. Brand Finance ranked the company the 28th most valuable bra ...

and joined

HSBC Sri Lanka HSBC Sri Lanka is a banking and financial services company in Sri Lanka and is a licensed commercial bank supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It is the largest and one of the oldest bank in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්&zw ...

going on to become a credit operations manager.

Political career

He entered politics in 1999, having been elected as a member of the Southern Provincial Council. In 2000, he was elected to parliament from the

. He served as Deputy Minister of Power and Energy from 2002 to 2004. Having been re-elected in 2010 and 2015. From January 2015 to September 2015 he served as the

to the prime minister until he was elected to parliament in 2015 and appointed as a Cabinet minister of Law and Order in the Good Governance Government. He served as a Cabinet minister till 2019 when he resigned from his portfolio, serving as an opposition member of parliament till 2020. In July 2022, he was appointed by President

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe ( si, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, ta, ரணில் விக்கிரமசிங்க; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who is the current president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2 ...

as his chief of staff and senior adviser to the president on national security.

References

External links

Biographies of Member of Parliament
Government ministers of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians Sri Lankan Buddhists Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Lewis & Clark College alumni Members of the 11th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 12th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka 1968 births Living people {{SouthernLK-politician-stub

Early life and education

Early career

Political career

See also

References

External links