Thilanga Sumathipala

Thilanga Sumathipala The Chairman

Thilanga Sumathipala is the Chairman of Sumathi Universal Management and Investment (Pvt) Ltd, Sumathi Ventures (Pvt) Ltd and Asia Capital PLC. A business professional known for his strategic vision and unwavering passion, he began his career as an active member of the Sumathipala family business, being a Co-Founder of the Sumathi Group of Companies. Renowned for his entrepreneurial thinking, he currently leads a variety of companies ranging from Printing, Hospitality, Commerce, Energy, and Technology & Entertainment to Leisure. Mr. Sumathipala has also been instrumental in making "Sumathi Awards" a monumental landmark in the calendar of the country, by conceptualizing and spearheading the National Awards ceremony since its' inception in 1995.

Mr. Sumathipala is a professional printer qualified in Photolithography and Graphic Reproduction from the London College of Printing, UK. After completing his higher education, he attended the Yokohama University (The Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship of Japan) to improve his entrepreneurial skills in 1996. With this exposure, he drafted the blueprint for the partnership between the media, advertising agencies and advertisers in Sri Lanka by acting as the President of the International Advertising Association (IAA). He is also a Founder Director of the Ingrin Institute of Printing & Graphics-a centre of excellence in the printing and graphics industry of Sri Lanka that has helped innumerable students to obtain professional Diplomas to pursue a career in Printing.

Thilanga @ Cricket

His eye for the innovative has also led him to serve in the capacity of President/ Director / Member of many esteemed institutes and organizations such as the International Cricket Council (ICC), Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka. As the President of the Sri Lanka Cricket, his leadership skills led to the completion of the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium in 167 days. He later re-structured and headed the re-launch of the BCCSL's new logo and name change as "Sri Lanka Cricket" in 2004. He has also held honourable positions at the International Advertising Association (IAA), Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, INCA-FIEJ Research Association (IFRA) India, Asian Mass Communication Research & Information Centre (AMIC).

Thilanga @ SLT & Mobitel

Mr. Sumathipala was instrumental in driving progress across the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC and Mobitel from 2002-2004. He transformed SLT from a corporation to a Listed Company (through an IPO in 2002) in the Colombo Stock Exchange. The listing was the largest market capitalization in the stock exchange with a listing of nearly 1.9 billion shares. After SLT acquired a 100% stake in Mobitel, his visionary leadership enabled Mobitel transform from a TDMA system to a state-of-the-art GSM EDGE network in 2002. During his tenure at SLT Mr. Sumathipala spearheaded the successful endeavour to list a USD 100 Mn corporate bond on the Singapore stock exchange the first listed international instrument from Sri Lanka.