Acuity Partners

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MANAGEMENT TEAM

Ray Abeywardena
Managing Director
Group CEO

Ray Abeywardena

Ray Abeywardena is the Managing Director of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd. He has been associated with the Sri Lanka’s capital markets for over 36 years, primarily as a Stockbroker and since 2009 as an Investment Banker Prior to being appointed as Managing Director/CEO of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd, he served as the Managing Director/CEO of Acuity Stockbrokers ( Ltd from 2001 to end 2008. Mr Abeywardena is the Chairman of Acuity Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd and Acuity Securities Ltd, and holds Directorships in Lanka Ventures PLC, Lanka Energy Fund PLC. Mr Abeywardena is a past Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange, the Central Depository System and a past President of the Colombo Stockbrokers Association Mr Abeywardena is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Wales.

Prashan Fernando
CEO - Acuity Stockbrokers

Prashan Fernando

Prashan is the CEO / Executive Director at Acuity Stockbrokers. He counts over 32 years experience in the Stock Broking Industry in Sri Lanka. Prashan started his career with the Forbes & Walker Group in 1990. He joined Forbes & Walker Stockbrokers, and in 1998 was the Manager – Retail in the joint venture with ABN Amro Securities. Prashan joined DFCC Stockbrokers as Senior Vice President in 2001 and in 2003 was appointed to the Board of Directors. He initiated the first ever share buy back by one of Sri Lanka’s largest conglomerates following the provisions of the new Company’s Act. He was instrumental in numerous takeovers and sales of strategic stakes. Prashan provides investment advice to many of the high net worth individuals and leading local corporate entities and global funds active in Sri Lanka. Prashan has an MBA from Edith Cowan University, Australia. Prashan is also the Immediate Past President of the Colombo Stockbrokers Association.

Shehan Stembo
CEO - Acuity Securities

Shehan Stembo

Shehan is the CEO of Acuity Securities the Primary Dealer division of the Acuity Group. He brings with him over 18 years’ experience in the financial markets. He started his career as a money broker in 2004 with Capital Alliance (Pvt) Ltd. Subsequently, he joined MCB Bank Ltd in 2009 as a Treasury Dealer, and was responsible for all treasury activities of the bank. Apart from the treasury activities he was managing the correspondent banking operations of the bank. Shehan joined Acuity Securities Ltd, a Primary Dealer for G-sec, as the Chief Dealer in 2019. He contributed significantly to improve the bottom line of the company by taking the advantage of the movement in interest rates. In 2023 he was appointed as CEO of Acuity Securities Ltd. He is responsible for the overall growth of the company in areas of market expansion and proprietary trading, whilst ensuring the operational and financial functions collaborate seamlessly. Shehan holds a MBA in Finance from Edinburgh Napier University – UK and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business management from University of Colombo.

Yaveen Jayasekara, PhD
Chief Strategy Officer

Yaveen Jayasekara, PhD

Yaveen's career spans 16+ years in Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Investor Reporting, and Real Estate, having worked with transactional teams across global hubs namely London, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Kuwait, and Mauritius, executing and advising in $350M+ in transactions and project values. He holds a BSc. (Hons) in Computing and Information Systems from London Metropolitan University and a Post Grad Diploma in Business Management from the University of Colombo. Yaveen's credentials include completing CIMA (UK) examinations, SEC (SL) Investment Advisor Certification, and passing Level 1 of the CFA program. He earned a PhD in Finance, specializing in capital structures and behavioral finance at the University of Colombo. Notably, he won a Gold Medal for his research paper at the International Conference on Accounting and Finance, becoming the first Sri Lankan to do so. For the past decade, he has been a visiting lecturer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, on the course curriculum for Economics, Econometrics, and Mathematical Modeling for Research.

Sanjeewa Ekanayake
Group Head of Finance

Sanjeewa Ekanayake

Sanjeewa is currently the Group Head of Finance at Acuity Group. His career in Finance Field extends over 21 years. Sanjeewa holds a Special Degree in Commerce from University of Kelaniya. He has completed Final-I level examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. He is also reading for a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in Finance at Cardiff Metropolitan University - UK.

Mayanthi Jayasuriya
Vice President
Legal & Compliance

Mayanthi Jayasuriya

Mayanthi is currently the Vice President Legal and Compliance at Acuity Partners. She is a senior banking management professional with over 20 years of experience at HSBC Sri Lanka, where she headed the Retail Risk function from 2017 to 2020. Mayanthi is specialized on Retail Credit risk functions including Retail banking products development, Credit Policies, Risk Analysis and Collection. Mayanthi holds a Degree in Law (Bachelor Of Law) from the Open University of Sri Lanka and the LLM (Master of Law) from the University of Colombo. She is also an Attorney-at-Law. She further holds the Diploma in Banking and Finance from the Institute of Bankers in Sri Lanka. Currently she is reading for the PhD in Law specialized in Debt recovery Laws in Sri Lanka from the University of Colombo.

Sanjeewa Wickremanayake
Vice President
Information Technology

Sanjeewa Wickremanayake

Sanjeewa is the Vice President of Information Technology (Head of IT) division of the Acuity Group. He brings with him over 20 years’ experience in the IT sector holding various roles and responsibilities. He has served many companies in various roles. He was the Manager IT Implementation at Analytical Instruments (Pvt) Ltd, Manager ICT/Project Manager, Assistant Manager, ICT/Project Coordinator, Senior Systems Administrator at McShaw Automotive Ltd (McLarens Group of Companies), Systems Administrator/Document Controller at Egis BCEOM International (French Engineering Consultants), Computer Operator/IT Supervisor at CardnoMBK in association with SMEC International, Engineering Consultants Ltd and MG Consultants, amongst many other roles. Sanjeewa holds BSc (Hons) in Computing and Information Systems - London Metropolitan University UK, Executive MSc in Project Management - Asia e University, Malaysia. He is also member of British Computer Society (the Chartered Institute for IT), Computer Society Sri Lanka and Member of Project Management Institute - USA.

Andrea Johnpulle
Vice President
Human Resources

Andrea Johnpulle

An experienced Human Resource professional with over two decades of industry experience and a reputation for excellence in high-performance management. Throughout her career, she has held a vast array of Human Resource and Administration-based positions, including overseeing Sri Lankan-based manufacturing units in both Maldives and Sri Lanka before joining her current role at Acuity. Her educational qualifications include an MBA in Human Resource Management and Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Advancement. Additionally, she is a graduate member of the Institute of Chartered Governance U.K.

Nayana Jayasinghe
Vice President Administration

Nayana Jayasinghe

Nayana is currently the Vice President – Administration at Acuity Partners. He counts over 22 years experience in the Broker Back office System in the Stock Broking industry in Sri Lanka. He started his career as a Computer Analyst Programmer at Open Arc System (Pvt) Ltd in 1993, and developed the multiuser back office system integrated with the general ledger for the stock broker Industry. Then he joined HDF Securities (Pvt) Ltd in 1996 as a Senior Analyst Programmer, and moved to HNB Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd as the Assistant Manager - IT in 2001 and to Acuity Partners as Manager - IT in 2009. Nayana is Member of the British Computer Society (the Chartered Institute for IT), Australian Computer Society and holds the higher diploma for Computer System Analysis & Design from NIBM.

Shehan Cooray
Director / Head of Research

Shehan Cooray

Shehan Cooray is Director/ Head of Research at Acuity Stockbrokers (Pvt) Ltd, a joint venture of HNB and DFCC Bank. Prior to joining Acuity, Shehan worked in the investment banking department of HNB and as an analyst at Fitch Ratings. He has over 20 years of experience in research and investment banking covering both equity and debt capital markets. Shehan has worked on numerous Initial Public Offerings, Private Placements and Mergers & Acquisitions transactions for leading corporates in Sri Lanka spanning a range of sectors from conglomerates to tech companies. Shehan holds a BSc (Hons) in Development Economics from SOAS, University of London and an MSc in Corporate & International Finance from the University of Durham.

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