EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

The RTP which is supported by the Ministry of Tourism comprises stakeholders from government, industry and NGO/academic backgrounds and is directed by a board of senior industry executives, experts and academia.

The board, which functions as the Executive Committee includes a very highly experienced and well-respected group, eminent in their respective fields.  The Committee in total has eight members which includes individuals and association representatives of hoteliers and inbound tour operators, an overseas tour operator, one of Sri Lanka’s leading conservationists and sustainable development experts. 

Hiran Cooray

Having completed his primary and secondary education at St Joseph’s college, Colombo Hiran Cooray graduated from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in year 1987 with a Degree in Marketing.  In the same year he joined Jetwing Hotels as its Managing Director. With over  20 years in the Tourism Industry, Hiran has been actively involved in re-positioning Sri Lanka’s Tourism Industry and in particular driving Jetwing Hotels to reach extremely high standards in customer care, service delivery, product differentiation, people development, environment and community development.
Hiran is the President Elect for the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).  During the past 10 years, he has served on the Board of PATA, been an Executive committee member since 2002/3, chaired the PATA Travel Mart Organizing committee, was the vice Chairman of the Sustainable Tourism committee,  and a Trustee of the PATA Foundation, as well as an active member of the PATA Industrial Council.
Hiran was also Chairman of the PATA Sri Lanka Chapter during the period 2002/2004.  For his outstanding services to PATA, he was bestowed with a Merit award at PATA Annual Conference in Jeju, Korea and Chairman’s Award 2005 in Macau SDR in 2005.
In 2005, he was elected as the President of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL). Hiran was also conferred with the Honorary Title, Sri Lanka Sikhamani  by her Excellency the President of the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, for the contribution he has made to the Tourism Industry of Sri Lanka.
He serves on the board of the International Hotels & Restaurants Association (IH&RA) based in Paris. Hiran is  the  Chairman of the RTP. His has a passion for reading, bird watching and cricket.

Vasantha Leelananada

Vasantha Leelananda has been involved in the tourism industry for over 28 years. After his secondary education, he joined Walkers Tours - Sri Lanka’s premium inbound tour operator and rose to the position of Managing Director in 1997. In 2005 he was promoted as Executive Vice President of the John Keells Group is the Head of all Inbound Travel Companies which includes specialised entities handling MICE, Nature and Adventure Travel and Transport. During his career he has been actively involved in marketing and positioning Sri Lanka as an attractive Inbound travel destination and has been regularly participating in travel fairs and forums worldwide.
He is currently the immediate Past President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and has held this coveted position for 2 terms lasting a total of 4 years. SLAITO is the apex body looking after the entire inbound tourism industry in Sri Lanka. He is also a Director of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and a member of the Tourism Cluster. He has been a Committee member of PATA for many years and was also a member of the Tourism Think Tank appointed by the previous Minister of Tourism. Vasantha holds an MBA from the University of Leicester UK and is the Vice Chairman of the Responsible Tourism Partnership.

Charmarie Maelge

Charmarie has been formally, Director of Sri Lanka Tourist Board’s office in the UK in charge of UK , Benelux and Ireland markets, Director Research and International Affairs and Director Marketing. Initially, Charmarie has started her career as an entrepreneur setting up and managing a handicrafts project in her village and has been an active member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka, functioning as its Secretary. She has then moved in to the development field spending a significant duration of her time in remote and rural areas of Sri Lanka.
With over 10 years of work experience with bilateral & multilateral development agencies (USAID/ IFAD/ UNDP) as marketing, business development consultant/advisor and a gender specialist, Charmarie has worked in private sector enterprise development, micro credit, international marketing, institutional development, capacity building & empowerment, technology transfers, advocacy group formation, policy & regulatory reform and gender & women in development.
Charmarie holds a MBA and a Bachelor of Commerce Special degree from University of Colombo and is a member of the Chartered Institute Marketing of United Kingdom. She has undergone World Bank Institute training on Corporate Social Responsibility. During her schooling, she has been an international/intercultural exchange student to Australia.
As RTP’s CEO / Director, responsible for programme management and administration, she works full time on the RTP enthusiastically towards the next big thing for Sri Lanka Tourism: Responsible Tourism.

Professor Sarath Kotagama

Professor Kotagama is presently a Professor of Environmental Science, University of Colombo, Department of Zoology and has served as Wetland Consultant from September 1992 to October 1992 and Biodiversity Consultant from October 1994 to September 1995.
Professor Kotagama is a member of the Environmental Council, Central Environmental Authority of Sri Lanka; Chairman, Biodiversity Experts Committee; and has received Presidential Award for contribution to environment activities in 2004 , he is recipient of distinguish service award for Conservation Education from Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) in 2003. The SCB, with a membership of over 6,000 science experts in 90 countries, is the premier professional society for those seeking to conserve biological diversity and represent the highest recognition that the Society bestows upon colleagues in the struggle to study, protect, sustain, and restore that diversity. Prof. Kotagama is the third Asian and the only Sri Lankan to receive the award. India's Anil Agrawal and a Malaysian environmentalist were the earlier two winners of this award.
Prof. Kotagama has many 'firsts' to his credit. He founded the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL), the 'March for Conservation', 'The Young Zoologists Association', 'The Sri Lanka Environmental Foundation', 'The Mihikatha Foundation', 'The Mihikatha Institute' and the semi-government 'Wild Life Trust'. Being actively involved in research on Birds and Wildlife, he has authoured several publications mostly on birds and has made outstanding national contributions. Significant among these are the National Wildlife Policy for Sri Lanka (1990) and the National Wetland Conservation Policy for Sri Lanka (1997), Strategy for the Preparation of the National Biodiversity Action Plan for Sri Lanka (1997).
He has also been the Director of Wildlife (1989-1992) and still provides expert advice to the Wildlife Sector. He is current President of the Eco-tourism Society of Sri Lanka and the President of Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka.
Prof. Kotagama began his study of birds as a student of St. Thomas' College, Gurutalawa under the guidance of the Rev. Foster.

George Michael

George Michael who is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and has been involved in aviation and the tourism industry for over two decades. He is from the Sri Lanka administrative Service (SLAS) and a Class I officer. He has been involved in Sri Lanka tourism industry since 1997 and has valuable experience in aviation and tourism industries. He has been formally attached to the National Housing Department, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Administration and the Sri Lanka Institute of Development.

BIMST-EC is an economic cooperation of the Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Sri Lanka for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 and George Michael played the lead role for the Tourism sector. Experts from all the member countries participated at these meetings and important decisions were taken for Tourism promotion in the region. He has been a management consultant at SLIDA on core subject areas of Productivity, Total Quality Management & Human Resources Management. He has successfully trained the staff of the Tourism Division of the Ministry of Tourism in the year 1999 to win the “Best Ministry Award” of the National Productivity Competition organized by the Ministry of Industries.

He has published many articles in sustainable tourism, productivity improvement and many others in general tourism related fields. Mr. Michael liaises with the various international and regional agencies such as WTO, UNESCAP, and SAARCC and is strong believer of sustainable tourism development in the country.

Howard Bicknell

Howard is the Area Manager based in Sri Lanka and responsible for First Choice and Hayes and Jarvis operations in Asia. He has started in March 1991 as a Representative meeting customers from flights and escorting them to hotels and has worked in Portugal, Spain and the Canaries, Cyprus and India
Howard arrived in Sri Lanka on the 11th October 1995, to set up and commence the operation for First Choice, which was only on a 3 month secondment and since then he has been here in Sri Lanka (very happily) for nearly 11 years.
Howard’s job is to ensure that all of their customers have a fantastic holiday within their chosen destination by utilising local partners that provide a quality product, adhere to safety regulations and practice responsible tourism.
First Choice’s vision is to enable people to explore and enjoy the world without harming it. The company has a sustainable tourism policy in place to support this vision and works in a number of ways to make this vision a reality: First Choice new online Environment and People Report explains all the ways that First Choice Holidays PLC is working to care for the environment and the people they work with and affect.
Operating responsibly: First Choice has also set up an environmental management system to help reduce use of natural resources and make operations more efficient. This includes First Choice Airways' concern for the environment.
In taking care of destinations: First Choice works with the Travel Foundation in the UK to help local families and protect the natural environment in holiday destinations.
The company supports the Blue Flag Campaign, which makes annual awards to beaches that meet its exacting environmental, cleanliness and safety standards.

Asoka Hettigoda

Educated at S.Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia,  Asoka received the B.Sc Honours in National Engineering Consortium's W.J. Everett Award for Academic Excellence and Leadership, Northwestern University, IL, USA in 1990.  He is a MBA in Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayawardenapura, in 2003 and has worked at Price Waterhouse, USA, as Management Consultant from 1990-1995.
Asoka is the Managing Director of Hettigoda Group of Companies since 1995. His company is involved in manufacturing, distribution & export of Ayurveda Products and  providing health care services in managing a complete Ayurveda Hospital for Locals, as well as overseas visitors. The company also carries on the business of a 4-Star Category tourist hotel with Ayurveda Spa facilities, which is mainly patronized by tourists from Europe.  Hettigoda Group is the first company in Asia to get ISO 9002 certification, and now it has ISO 9001, ISO 14000 and GMP.  The company under the brand name of   Siddhalepa exports  Ayurveda products to over 40 countries around the world.
Asoka currently works as ; the Co-Chairman of the NCED-Export Sector, Cluster Member - SME and Trade & Tariff Cluster, Hony. Secretary of the National Chamber of Commerce Sri Lanka and was a Board Member of Sri Jayawardenapura Council till 2005.

Nirmala de Mel, M. A., CANTAB

Managing Director, Quickshaws Ltd., a private company operating Tissawewa Resthouse and Nuwarawewa Resthouse in Anuradhapura, Quickshaws Tours and Quickshaws Travel Service.   Nirmala is  currently Vice President PATA Sri Lanka Chapter, and President of Ruk Rakaganno (the Tree Society of Sri Lanka), which runs the IFS - Popham Arboretum Dambulla, and initiated a tsunami re-vegetation programme in the south of the island.
She is a founder Board member of Agromart Outreach Foundation, pioneering entrepreneurship programmes for rural women and Past President, and founder member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a former committee member of the Sri Lanka Business Development Council, the Travel Agents Association and Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka.
Nirmala has worked in the Public Relations Division of J. Walter Thompson London, and  Newsome & Co., Boston, U. S. A., after university in the United Kingdom. She is co-owner of Quinquereme, a shop in London, purchasing and selling handicrafts from Japan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, India.

Daya Ratnayake

Daya is a graduate of the University of Ceylon, Colombo. Having completed 2 years service as an Assistant Lecturer in Physics in the same University he was employed at Lever Brothers (Ceylon) Limited (now Unilever Ltd) in several positions of senior management in manufacture and research & development. From 1983 he is involved in the fields of tea cultivation and manufacture and hotels.

In 1995 he started the first all-suite luxury boutique hotel, opening the door to a new area of tourism in Sri Lanka. Daya is an active social worker involved in several community service projects in Deniyaya and Akuressa in the Southern Province, Liyangaswagura in the Kandy District and a remote village in the Polonnaruwa District. In 2005 he was conferred the Honorary Title of Sri Lanka Sikhamani. Daya is the Chairman & Managing Director of Saman Villas Limited and Kalutara Holiday Resorts Limited.

S. Malin Hapugoda

Srilal Malin Hapugoda is the Managing Director of Aitken Spence Hotel Managements (Pvt) Limited and a Director of Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings Limited. He is a professional hotelier counting many years of managerial experience within several hotel companies and is a Past President of the Tourist Hotels’ Association of Sri Lanka and a Member of the Tourism Cluster of the National Council for Economic Development (NCED). He is a graduate of the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism & Hotel Management (SLITHM) and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, U.K.

Libby Southwell

Australian born Libby Southwell is the founding director of adlibconsulting, an organization that offers consulting services to the tourism industry within Sri Lanka & Asia focusing on corporate & brand strategy, strategic marketing services and responsible tourism practices. Libby has been involved in marketing, advertising, business development and strategic planning for more than 15 years. For the past seven years she has been developing businesses in up market tourism in Sri Lanka focusing on preserving the heritage of Sri Lanka as well as positioning Sri Lanka as a key destination for up market travellers globally.
Post the devastating 2004 Tsunami Libby assisted setting up the charity AdoptSriLanka www.adoptsrilanka.com raising more than US$5 million and focusing on re building livelihoods along the south coast of Sri Lanka. In 2007 she was the founding Festival Director of the one of the world’s leading Literary Festivals www.galleliteraryfestival.com. She is the author of the best selling travel autobiography ‘Monsoon Rains & Icicle Drops”. Libby is a passionate traveller and a strong advocate for responsible & sustainable tourism involving all stakeholders in the industry. She is currently studying her Masters in Responsible Tourism with the International Centre of Responsible Tourism at Leeds Met, UK. After seven years of living in Sri Lanka Libby is on a mission to ensure that Sri Lanka becomes one of the Asia’s leading Responsible Tourism destinations.

Nishad Wijetunga