Statement by SEC
Vajira Wijegunawardane has been appointed as the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) with immediate effect. He holds a BA (Hons) degree in Business Management and Administration from the University of Reading, UK and a Masters Degree in Financial Economics from the University of Colombo. He also holds the International Capital Markets qualification from the Securities and Investment Institute London.
He was an Investment Analyst and Fund Manager for 10 years before joining the SEC to spearhead its capital market development mandate and has provided leadership for many key initiatives in the development and reform of the capital market in the last 8 years.
Vajira Wijegunawardane is a past pupil of St.Thomas’ College, Mt.Lavinia where he was the Head Prefect and the vice captain of the 1st XI cricket team. He won the Victoria Gold Medal for Best All Round Student in school.
He has also played 1st Class cricket for 3 leading clubs (SSC, Tamil Union & Moors CC) in Sri Lanka and 1st Div. league cricket in England. He is also a keen photographer and a dedicated naturalist. He is the author and photographer of the best selling Coffee Table book – Sri Lankan Elephant – A Celebration of Majesty. He is currently a Director of Environmental Foundation Ltd (EFL).
Nice profile of a good candidate who seems untainted. However there is talk that there was corruption in the selection process. Thilak K is aware and possibly behind it.