Sri Lanka’s minister of ports, shipping and aviation, Nimal Siripala de Silva has appointed finance and management professional Keith Bernard as the new chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).
Bernard, who is currently an independent director of Jaya Container Terminals Ltd, has had 30 years of experience at CEO and senior management level.
Recently, he has functioned as chief financial advisor to a group of companies with interests in the health, packaging and sports and entertainment sectors.
He has held Board positions of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited, Lanka Hospitals PLC and Lanka Hospitals Diagnostic Limited, Capital Alliance Investments Limited, Lanka Salt Limited, Road Development Authority, Fintrex Finance Limited, and chaired several board sub committees such as Audit, Related Party Transactions, Remuneration, and Nominations etc.
He has also served as joint managing director of the state-owned composite insurer, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Limited, during which time the company held the number one position in the general insurance sector.
For a brief period, he served as the working director of the Road Development Authority and a board member and chairman of its related entities.
Bernard additionally served as a member of the cabinet-appointed expert panel of the Ministry of Public Enterprise Development, with responsibility to advise and assist in providing oversight management of state-owned enterprises which included the state-owned banks, Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation and Sri Lankan Airlines.
He has also advised and consulted for the financial services and telecom sectors in strategy, business alignment and objective setting.
