Krishan Balendra and Gihan Cooray appointed JKH Executive Directors

The senior management of the John Keells Group, Krishan Balendra and Gihan Cooray were appointed Directors of the John Keells Holdings PLC Group (JKH) as of November 5, 2016.


This is in line with succession plans for current directors retiring in 2017 and 2018.


Balendra, which owns 9.65 million shares of JKH, is currently Chairman of the Leisure Industry Group and president of the Trust Bank of the PLC Nations. He joined the Group in 2002 as Director of Corporate Finance and has also served as President of the Distribution Sector in the Consumer Food Industry Group. He was President of the Colombo Stock Exchange and has worked for UBS Warburg in Hong Kong in investment banking and Aitken Spence Corporate Finance in Sri Lanka. He holds a law degree from the University of London and an MBA from INSEAD.

Cooray, which has 139,033 shares of JKH, currently the chairman of the retail sector and is also responsible for the finance functions / Strategy and Treasury Group at John Keells Capital and John Keells Research. He is also a trusted bank director of the PLC Nations.
He has an MBA from Jesse H. Jones Graduate School, Rice University Administration in Houston, Texas and associate member of the Institute of Chartered Institute of Management UK Accountants and a Certified Accountant Management Institute of Certified Management Accountants , Australia.


He earned a degree in marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.
Balendra and Cooray respectively serve in the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce as members of the Main Committee and the Subcommittee.