Ronnie Peiris
Ronnie was, till end December 2017, an Executive Director on the Board of John Keells Holdings PLC and was its Group Finance Director. He was also a Director in several Listed and Non-Listed Companies.
Ronnie has, over 51 years of Finance and General Management experience with, more than 44 of them at Senior Management level, in Sri Lanka, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Immediately prior to joining John Keells, Ronnie was the Managing Director of Anglo American Corporation (Central Africa) Ltd, Lusaka, Zambia, the Zambia based subsidiary of Anglo American Plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange. In this position, he served on the Boards of many Companies which were involved in a variety of activities ranging from Manufacturing, Brewing, Milling, Hoteliering to Real Estate Development and Financial Services.
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”
Chinese Proverb.
Ronnie was an active member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) during the period 2004 to 2017 and was the Chairman of its Taxation Sub Committee for several years. He was also a Member of the Main Committee of the CCC and served on its Economic, Fiscal and Policy Planning Sub Committee. He is also a Past President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors.
In addition to holding a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa with specialisation in Marketing and Human Resource Management, Ronnie is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, (FCMA), UK, a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), Scotland, a Fellow Member of the Society of Certified Management Accountants (FSCMA), Sri Lanka and a Fellow of the Zambia Institute of Certified Accountants, (FZICA), Zambia.
He was recognised by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Sri Lanka as Sri Lanka’s Business Icon of 2014.
Ronnie has successfully concluded a course on “Transformative Coaching; A Revolutionary Approach to Enable Change” at Classroom Learning conducted by the Coach Masters Academy, Singapore.
He has been a direct mentor/coach to many in the past several years and has been a natural coach/mentor in his several roles. Since retiring from JKH, he has coached/mentored in excess of 45 C-Suite level persons in very high profile organisations in Sri Lanka on a “one on one” basis and has advised, and is advising, Private Sector organisations in a variety of Strategic, Governance and Human Resource Management related Projects.
He has been, and is, a presenter of Papers on various topics at Workshops, Seminars and other fora and authored “Tough Journey Great Destination” – a behavioural guide for Professionals and Leaders. A recent 2-day workshop on “Nurturing Leaders” was, based on feedback and reviews, a success.
Having risen through the ranks after starting as an Accounts Clerk at Lever Brothers (Ceylon) Limited in December 1972, Ronnie has experienced it all from every angle in an organization. The Empathy developed as a part of this progress can be singled out as his key Leadership trait.