Ian Dennis FACS, FAIM, FAICD, specialises in understanding and improving large and complex ICT and related infrastructure and information management projects, and is familiar with public sector processes and sensitive information.

He has been an ICT practitioner for over forty-five years in his roles as a software developer, project manager, software company and consulting company director, and has contributed to the development of ICT governance and professionalism through his various board positions for the AIIA, the ACS, and the Pearcey Foundation Inc.

He is “Gateway” accredited as a Review Team Leader by the Victorian, West Australian, Australian, and New Zealand Governments, and has led and participated in a number of Gateway reviews of major Government projects.

Australian Government Department projects include assignments for Prime Minister and Cabinet; Defence; Communications IT and the Arts; Trade; and Industry and Innovation. State Government projects include assignments for Victorian Departments of Transport; Industry; Justice; Finance; Treasury; Premier and Cabinet; Building Commission; NSW Department of Industry; Tasmanian Dept of Industry and Innovation; WA Police; NT Department of Industry, and he has been engaged in numerous assignments for Local Government, Hospitals, and various Agencies.

He has been recognized in this context by his professional peers, having drafted the Australian Computer Society ICT Outsourcing guidelines and appeared as an expert witness before the Senate Select Committee on Government outsourcing. He is also on the UN Roster of Experts in Technical Consultancy Services; a United Nations approved International Trade consultant (UNCTAD/GATT) International Trade Centre; and a Registered Expert in Information Technology, European Commission.

• He was awarded an Australian Design Award for software in 1987 and was made a Life Member of the Software and Services Industry Federation in 1989 for his services to industry.
• He served continuously on Federal or State boards of Information Technology trade bodies from 1981 to 1996, including serving as President of both the Australian Software Houses Associations and the Software and Services Industry Federation, and as a Director of the AIIA
• In 1993 he was awarded the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia - Microsoft Excel Award.
• In 1997 he was elected an honorary Fellow of the Australian Computer Society for significant contributions to the Australian information technology industry.
• In 1998 he founded, and is now emeritus chairman of, the Pearcey Foundation.
• He was Chairman of the Australian Computer Society, Victoria for five years, National Director of the ACS Economic Policy Board for 6 years, served on the ACS National Board for four years, and has been a member of the ACS Victorian Board for 12 years.
• As Executive Director of the Centre for Innovative Industry Economic Research, he researched and published the Whitehorse “Top 250” ICT industry analysis and other reports on the Australian ICT industry.

David has over 35 years’ experience in ICT and 25 years in Project and Program management. He is a Certified Practising Project Director with the Australian Institute of Project Management.

He has held a variety of positions with private sector professional services companies providing services to the public sector. These include Partner, General Manager, Program Manager, Project Manager, Branch Manager and Delivery Manager.

David has an MBA and Bachelor of Science.  He currently teaches Program/Project Management and is a member of four Audit boards in Federal Government.  In late 2012, he began a PhD investigating the suitability of key ICT project team members.

Industry’s poor record in ICT Project success
David will present the results of his research. He will seek to answer questions such as: What are the behavioural roles of key members of successful ICT project teams?  Are these behavioural roles a cause of improved team effectiveness?  Is team effectiveness a cause of project success?  David will draw on academic research, cases studies of PM Achievement Award finalists and personal experience to highlight opportunities for improvement in project team selection and development.

Michael Gerard Hinchey is an Irish computer scientist and Director at the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre (Lero), a multi-university research centre headquarteed at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

Mike Hinchey studied at the University of Limerick as an undergraduate (was the leading student in his graduating year), Oxford University (at Wolfson College) for his MSc and Cambridge University (at St John's College) for his PhD.

Hinchey has been a promulgator of formal methods throughout his career, especially CSP and the Z notation. He was Director of the NASA Software Engineering Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and is the founding editor-in-chief of the NASA journal Innovations in Systems and Software Engineering, launched in 2005.

He has held many academic positions, both visiting and permanent, at a number of universities including the University of Nebraska, Queen's University Belfast, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Hiroshima University[citation needed] the University of Skövde in Sweden and was at Loyola College in Maryland (now Loyola University Maryland), USA, before his current post.

Hinchey is a Member of Academia Europaea, a Fellow of the IET, a Fellow of the IMA, and a Senior Member of the IEEE. He is a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Professional Engineer, Chartered Mathematician and Chartered IT Professional.

As of 2015, Hinchey has been serving as Vice President of IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) and Chair of its Technical Assembly.

Prof. Bipin V Mehta is elected as President of Computer Society of India (CSI) having 73 chapters, more that 500 student branches, and 1,00,000 plus members including India's most famous IT industry leaders, brilliant scientists and dedicated academicians and students. CSI was established in 1965 is now celebrating golden jubilee.

Prof. Bipin V. Mehta obtained Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1981 and degree in Civil Engineering in 1975 from the Gujarat University. He has 37 years of career in the IT field including 15 years in Higher Education in Information Technology.

Prof. Mehta is currently working as Director, School of Computer Studies, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad, India since 1999. Before joining Ahmedabad University, he has served MNCs and leading textile industry holding senior positions. He owned a leading software & consultancy firm in Ahmedabad during 1987 to 1999 providing services to various domains.

Prof. Mehta was conferred Fellow Award of CSI in 2007 for his contribution to CSI, IT industry and IT education. He is a Fellow of The Institution of Engineers (India), a member of IEEE- Computer Society and a member of Association of Computer Machinery (ACM)

He has served CSI in many capacities including Vice President, Hon Secretary, Hon Treasurer, National Student Coordinator and Member of Nominations Committee during last decade.

He is invited as an Advisor to Managing Committee of Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association.

Prof. Mehta is nominated as an Assessor by National Assessment and Accreditation Council, Bangalore. He has visited many colleges as a member of Peer Team for Assessment and Accreditation process.

Prof. Mehta has organized many seminars and training programmes for various professional societies including CSI and Institution of Engineers (India). He has delivered many lectures in conferences, seminars, workshops, conventions hosted by various professional societies, universities and institutes. He has presented various technical papers in various conferences including Indian Science Congress.

Prof. Mehta is also actively involved in academic activities of various universities of Gujarat and DOEACC Society.

He is actively associated with The Institution of Engineers (India). He was Hon. Secretary of Gujarat State Centre during 2002 to 2004. He was a Managing Committee Member from 1996 to 2008 representing Computer Engineering Division.

Prof. Mehta was a member of the Information Technology Advisory Committee, Government of Gujarat during 1999-2002. The committee was responsible in preparing the development plan for IT industries in Gujarat.

He is associated with many academic institutes as advisor for IT education. He is a Secretary of Association of MBA-MCA Self-Finance Institutes of Gujarat and Vice Chairman, HL College Alumni Association.

Dr. K. Rama Subramaniam, Ph.D, MBA(UK), CFIP, FCA, FISC, CISA, CISM, CISSP, CEH, CHFI, CSQP,Security+

Executive Director of Baker Tilly MKM, Abu Dhabi Director & CEO - Valiant Technologies - UAE, India & Sri Lanka Adjunct Professor in the area of information security and cyber criminology at the University of Madras.

IBM GIO Alumni. India's country representative at International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP); serving on their Technical Committee TC-11 dealing with information security & privacy. Chairman of ISCCRF, a not-for-profit trust carrying out research in information security and cyber crime prevention.

Awarded the ISC-Prof S S Srivatsava Prize for Excellence in Social Science Research and Teaching.

Information security and GRC consultant, audit and assurance professional, trainer and educator for over two decades. Certified and experienced professional in the areas of creating and implementing secure information security architecture; internal controls systems and processes; business continuity and disaster recovery plans; security audits and certification of network infrastructure, GRC systems, ERP application, bespoke application development processes; multifactor authentication (including PKI and X.509 compliant certification infrastructure); and assurance processes for SOX, COSO, COBIT, ITIL, PCI-DSS, ISM3, ISSAF, ISO-27001, ISO-17799, ISO-31000 and ISO-15408 compliant information security management systems.

Trained experts in many information security domains across Gulf nations, India, Far East and Africa and is a consultant to a number of organizations in the commercial, government, armed forces, judiciary and law enforcement segments in these countries.

Current research and development interests are in the areas of creating and implementing techno-legal processes for data security and privacy; assessment and establishment of GRC systems. Invited by ENISA, the European Union agency for Information Security to address the EU Security Experts who had gathered in Athens, on the need for and process to guarantee data privacy in ITES businesses. Invited to chair a session on security aspects of cyber crimes a Conference organized by the Stockholm University and the Swedish Police.

Served earlier as Global Chair of the Education and Awareness Principles Expert Group of Globally Accepted Information Security Principles (GAISP), based in the United States and is former Global Chair of the Accreditation Process committee of Open Information Systems Security Group (OISSG), based in the UK where he established their certification and accreditation processes. Charter President of the first chapter of ISSA (Information Systems Security Association) in Asia and also Charter President of ISC2's first Chapter in India.

Served on the boards of Dubai, Chennai and Bangalore chapters of ISACA.

Former Managing Director of Thewo Corporate Services based in Lusaka, Zambia; Group Operations Director of Benetone Group of Companies based in Bangkok, Thailand and Commercial Director of Dynaspede Integrated Systems Ltd, based in Mumbai.

He is currently a Founder Member of the IICFIP and Voluntary Country Director for UAE and Continental Director for Asia. He is responsible for initiating and developing academic affiliations with colleges and universities as per the IICFIP's policy in consultation with the Founding President.

Fiona is a young woman of extraordinary drive and dedication who has demonstrated an impressive record both in her professional achievements and in her commitment to growing the ICT profession.

A Project Manager with IBM Australia, Fiona is a critical resource for one of the utility clients, responsible for driving IT infrastructure projects. Included to date has been the successful migration of a corporate firewall, establishment of a new call centre within 8 weeks and an exchange migration from Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010.

Fiona plays an inspirational role in supporting and mentoring other students and young professionals, through the ACS, the AIESEC (a global youth leadership organisation), the Oaktree Foundation and RMIT University.

Fiona is the Director of the Young IT Professionals board, of the Australian Computer society. The Young IT board gives likeminded people the chance to meet and share experiences with other newcomers to the industry at seminars and social events. The board represents all members of the society under 35. In this role Fiona works to develop and further enhance the role young professional’s play within the society.

Dr. Harsha Subasinghe obtained his BEng (Hons) in Electronic and Computing from Middlesex University in UK. He then completed this master’s degree in Information technology and the PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Software agents from City University, London.

He founded GodeGen in year 200, which has now grown to over two hundred staff members based in Sri Lanka, UK, and Montreal and Canada. Being a software products development company since the inception. CodeGen now caters to the top most travel brands around the world. Harsha’s research interests are in Artificial Intelligence, Software Development, User Interfaces and Medical Applications. These multi dimensional research interest led CodeGen to work very closely with the universities over the years and CodeGen has now become one of the major sponsors for research activities in many local universities. He is also the co-funder of Design Café (Pvt) Ltd and CeyCo Ltd.

Jehan Perinpanayagam serves as CEO of InfoMate Private Ltd, a subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s leading conglomerate John Keells Holdings PLC. Jehan is a Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), and the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka (CMA). He counts 18 years’ experience in the John Keells Group and has wide ranging experience in different industries including Freight Forwarding, Shipping, Hotels and Business Process Outsourcing. He was a Core-team member in John Keells’, “Project Excalibur”, which was tasked with the implementation of $3M SAP project across 70 business units in the John Keells Group.

Jehan has been a part of InfoMate Private Limited, which provides outsourced accounting services, since its inception and has championed several initiatives including harmonizing of accounting processes across the John Keells Group and the introduction of SAP best practices. He is passionate about the development of the BPO industry in Sri Lanka. He held the position of Director / treasurer of the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM). Pioneering the first rural BPO in Sri Lanka, facilitating the introduction of NASSCOM certification programmes for team leaders and quality analysts from Sri Lankan BPO companies, and championing the FAO industry overview report are some of his significant contributions towards the outsourcing industry of Sri Lanka. Jehan also serves as a committee member of ACCA - Sri Lanka.

One of the most outstanding business personalities in Sri Lanka with key achievementsin the private and public sector in Sri Lanka. In his fifteen year career with top global multinationals Unilever, Reckittbenckiser and Johnsons he twice won the "Best Marketer" award for Sri Lanka and then went on to win a Global award for brand building. He was head hunted by the United Nations where, twice he was awarded the 'merit' performance award and then secured the 'Best Global Award" for a lead project in Sri Lanka.

In the public sector he was the 7th Chairman of the Sri Lanka Export Development Board and serve the EDB board for a six year tenure where Sri Lanka export revenue grew from $5 to 11billion and has also been  on the Sri Lanka tea board - marketing team for the last 6 years and was on part of the 7 billion Global marketing campaign.

The new government appointed Rohantha to build the global Sri Lanka Tourism brand and is today the chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau and also shoulders the responsibility as the Commission General for Sri Lanka at World Expo 2015 in Milan.

Academically he is an alumnai of Harvard University, MBA and has a double degree in marketing from the university of Sri Jayewardenepura and 'gold medallion' of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK).

Chanuka sits on the Board of Directors at the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka. He works as a Consultant to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that undertakes the additional responsibility for ICT related developments. His task is to provide high level strategic and policy advice to the ministry and staff in all its development work aimed at bringing the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies for the Sri Lankan public. This includes the areas of telecommunication, ICT Policy and Leadership, Institutional Development, Information Infrastructure, Computer Literacy, Re-engineering Government, ICT Human Resource Development, ICT Investment and Private Sector Development, and e-Society.

Chanuka is also a visiting lecturer at University of Colombo and Open University. He teaches Information Policy at the former and Disaster Communications, the latter.

Chanuka obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Colombo.

In the past he worked as a Senior Research Manager at LIRNEasia, an Asian think tank on policy and regulation and as a Program Specialist ICT4D at the United Nations Development Program and was posted in Colombo Regional Centre’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) initiative. His focus was to use Information and Communication Technology for poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs.

As a researcher, he co-authored the Sri Lankan chapters for the books Cyber Communities of Asia (AMIC, Singapore), Media in Asia (Sage Publications, New Delhi), Internet in Asia (AMIC, Singapore) and Digital Review of Asia Pacific (APDIP, Orbicom and IDRC). He was the lead researcher for Sri Lanka in a nine-country study on ICT for Human Development in Asia, by UNDP and is also a regular writer and commentator on ICT issues in the Sri Lankan media. He founded Pariganaka, the largest selling ICT magazine in Sri Lanka with a circulation of more than 40,000 copies where he worked as a consultant editor. He is a two-time recipient of the Science Writer of the Year Award, presented annually by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.

Rohan Muttiah is Chief Information Officer of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC where he was instrumental in the Bank becoming ISO27001 certified in 2009. He is also a member of the Bank CSIRT Steering Committee, and was a contributor to the Baseline Security Standard that governs Information Security across the Banking Sector

During his chairmanship, the Banks' CIO Forum developed guidelines for using Cloud infrastructure and services, and also contributed towards guidelines for Mobile PoS devices.

Rohan was previously CIO at John Keells Holdings and spearheaded ISO9001 certification of the Strategic Group Information Technology, establishment of a Project Management competency, and setting up of a Programme Management Office.

Prior to 2003, Rohan worked for 18 years in Australia at organisations such as IBM, Ansett Airlines, Lend Lease Corporation, and the Mayne Group.

Rohan is a graduate of Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Chandika Mendis is the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Engineering for Virtusa. He leads Engineering Excellence and Innovation for the company and is responsible for global engineering standards, metrics and tools as well as driving a technology innovation culture. Chandika is a veteran in the IT field with over 20 years of experience  provides leadership to the teams that have created key productivity accelerators and differentiators for Virtusa. Prior to Virtusa, he was the Chief Software Architect for a global IT consulting organization, playing an instrumental role in setting up and leading their San Francisco office.

He has a first class honors degree from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and an MSc in Parallel Computers and Computation from the University of Warwick, UK. In 2013, he was the recipient of two Achiever Awards from the Department of Computer Science, University of Moratuwa, for Outstanding Contribution to the ICT industry, and for the Business Innovation of the year.

Kushil Gunasekera, a results-driven visionary, effects sustainable development in rural Sri Lanka through pioneering initiatives. He is the Founding Trustee of the Foundation of Goodness (established in 1999) which is based in his ancestral village of Seenigama in southern Sri Lanka and its work also extends to the north and east of the island via 30 empowerment activity sectors and in the past 15 years, has reached over 250,000 beneficiaries from 100+ villages, free of cost.

Through the Foundation, Kushil has rebuilt devastated villages in the post-tsunami south and post-war north of Sri Lanka, elevating them far above their original level, and empowering rural children, youth and women to go beyond all expectations through offering targeted opportunities and resources. In the process, he has created a one of a kind holistic community development model that is internationally recognized today, with many parties from around the world approaching him for consultation on value addition based development.

Passionate about cricket, Kushil maintains close ties with the game, and currently serves as Vice-President on the Sri Lanka Cricket Board Interim Committee.

As a successful entrepreneur, compassionate relief worker and ambassador for peace and reconciliation, Kushil is dedicated to the humanitarian cause, always leading by his own example.

Greater social impact on the BPO concept in villages
Rural youth, given the right opportunities, possess the talent and skill to achieve great things. To illustrate this, the Foundation of Goodness not only provides free of charge IT and English language courses to these youth, it has also established the Seenigama BPO and ArtBanc BPO which provide back office operations for international conglomerated like John Keels Holdings and international art auctions. The youth employed with the BPOs have been empowered to achieve their dream and succeed at their livelihoods without having to leave their own village or community in order to find work in urban centers such as Colombo. Rather than taking the youth out of the village, bringing these opportunities to them within their community has helped develop not just the individual, but also the entire village.

Indrajit (Indi) Samarajiva is a Director of YAMU (Pvt) Limited, a guide to Colombo and Sri Lanka. YAMU is currently available as a website, app and print magazine. It's gotten somewhat popular.

Prior to working at YAMU Indi worked at The Sunday Leader and Dialog. He blogs at www.indi.ca and founded Kottu, a blog aggregator with over a thousand members. He has done disaster and relief work for Sarvodaya and ACT Lanka and has volunteered for both UNP and SLFP political campaigns (depending on the candidate).

He is a dual citizen, born in Canada, raised in America and settled in Sri Lanka for over 10 years. He studied Cognitive Science at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He lives in Colombo 5 with his wife Shruthi Mathews and their dog Mercutio.

Currently, Shanaka works as the Director Advisory at Ernst & Young. He has over 17 years’ experience in IT industry, and is specialized in areas such as IT strategy, ERP implementation strategy, solutions and applications design, software engineering, business process re-engineering, business analysis, cyber security and project/programme management in complex environments.

He holds a BSc degree from the National University of Ireland, a MBA from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, Msc from the University of Moratuwa. He also holds PMP (Project Management Professional) qualification from PMI, USA and CSM (Certified Scrum Master) from Scrum Alliance, USA.

Shanaka is a leading visiting lecturer for MBA/Msc/Project Management at many reputed state & private universities for the last 12 years. Furthermore he is the Vice President of Professional Development, PMI Colombo Chapter.

Mr Nishan Sembacuttiaratchy serves as the CEO of ESOFT Metro Campus and as a Director of ESOFT International Education. In line with his vision to make internationally recognized qualifications affordable and achievable for the many, ESOFT has branched out throughout the Nation with over 45 branches.

He has over 19 years of experience in diverse fields in ICT and in Management including development of ICT solutions and offers his services as a Consultant for local and multinational organisations in the fields of Social Media Management, Software Validation, Regulatory Affairs, and Network Solutions.

He is also a Senior Lecturer in a wide range of topics and subjects for undergraduate programmes, and is a sought after Project Supervisor.

He holds a Masters Degree in IT from Charles Sturt University Australia, a BSc Honours Degree in Information Systems from London Metropolitan University, and is a Fellow of the BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT, and a Member of the IEEE, and is presently reading for his PhD. He is a past pupil of Isipathana College.

Achala has over 08 years of industry experience in the IT field as a web developer, software engineer and project manager. He is now a Director and the CEO of ESOFT Technologies (Private) Ltd (ET), the IT services & solutions arm of the ESOFT group, as well as a Director of ayubo.lk, a unique travel and tourism platform for Sri Lanka which he has founded and led from 2014. He currently works in collaboration with Dr. Dayan Rajapakse as Managing Director and Shageevan Sachithanandan (also CEO of mystore.lk) as CTO.

Achala has previously worked for the University of Peradeniya where he successfully coordinated a world bank funded implementation of a MIS and related knowledge dissemination tools for one of its post graduate institutes. Having also worked as a free lancer for foreign and local clients, he has gained experience in a wide range of technologies and tools from OOP design, database design (MySQL and SQLServer) and programming in PHP and .Net technologies.

At ET he leads a small yet dedicated team in a few different streams of related IT technologies, spanning the horizons bleeding edge from web, mobile and embedded solutions. He has also been able to enrich the services on offer by directing customers to see and enjoy the benefits of web based business intelligence (BI) tools which ET now develops in-house whilst implementing them with existing premium grade solutions.

He was also able to begin the development of one of Sri Lanka's first smart devices: the Emperor 360 time attendance and access control unit. After searching the markets for a similar product to cater for a client requirement, the team conceptualized and researched over many months on circuit design and PCB technology as well as smart protocols to deliver the requirement.

Achala is an avid user of social media and cautions a middle path when utilizing it for personal use but advocates its use highly for social activities, mass communication and social revolution. He is also the chairperson of Reforest Sri Lanka, a CSR activity he started with colleagues on the MBA in IT, University of Moratuwa. He has an intense desire to see technology used for good governance and optimized business processing, realising time is precious and it waits for no man.

Vajira De Silva is the Manager - Business Solutions at Mobitel. He plays a key role in managing and driving new vertical products, business solutions, business models and strategies for Mobitel enterprise customers. He has over 11 years of extensive experience in telecommunication industry across multiple functional areas, which includes network planning & implementation, enterprise solutions, strategic partner management and supply chain & contract management.

Vajira has a B.Sc. (Hons) (Electronic & Telecommunication) from University of Moratuwa, M.Sc. (Hons) (Telecommunication) from University of Melbourne, Australia and a MBA from University of Leicester, UK.

Muhunthan Canagey, is the Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer of the Information Communication & Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).

He has been in the ICT industry for over two decades and is one of the country’s youngest entrepreneurs. He stepped into the field of IT at a very young age of 16. Canagey holds a Master’s Degree in Information Technology from the University of Keelle (UK) and has extensive knowledge of the industry.

He was the founder and CEO of multiple technology enterprises and was the founder and CEO of a highly successful enterprise in the area of satellite communication and media: a first of this nature to be formed in Sri Lanka. He has been very successful in productising software applications developed in Sri Lanka and in formulating strategies and policies for taking local products to the international market.

Brian is a senior leader with over 17-years in diverse technology experience. Brian’s innate curiosity and his passion for building sustainable, high performance organisations has seen his career span a diverse set of assignments in both the public and private sectors. Brian is currently the General-Manager of Microsoft’s Sri Lanka and Maldives subsidiary with responsibility for all Microsoft’s operations and engagements across the region.

Originally from Australia but with an international pedigree including business operations across Australia, the USA, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and South East Asia, Brian's various roles have included work with globally recognised organisations across internal operations, strategy, consulting and commercial management. He is a sought after mentor and advisor to senior officers in some of Australia's largest and well known organisations and a number promising start-up businesses; he has held numerous board and chair responsibilities for universities and industry associations. He holds undergraduate qualifications in Engineering and Technology and postgraduate studies in Risk and Information Assurance.

Mobility in Education

With close to 8 years’ experience in the education sector Yashinka is responsible for developing the education landscape in Sri Lanka and Maldives from an ICT perspective so that teachers/faculty are able to utilize ICT tools more effectively in the classroom to create students who possess the skills set required for the 21st century workplace.

She has been instrumental in several key Public Private Partnerships between Microsoft and the Ministries of Education and Higher Education in Sri Lanka and Maldives where some of the flagship projects are: ‘Innovative Teachers and Students Competition’, ‘Multipoint MouseMischief’, ‘Unlimited Potential Industry Specific Curricula’, ‘Innovative Schools Competition’, ‘IT Academy for Higher Education’, ‘Creating Industry Connections’, supported by teacher training which has contributed towards the enhanced usage of ICT in the education system.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Yashinka held senior positions in the Market Research industry working for companies such as the Nielsen Company, Lanka Market Research Bureau, NFO-TNS. She specialised in Qualitative Research and worked with the leading Multinational and Blue Chip companies in Sri Lanka in understanding consumer behaviour and brand affinity which provided recommendations for strategic direction of product and services lines.

With a passion for teaching and learning Yashinka aspires to be a thought leader in the Education space and inspire teachers, students and decision makers to adopt technology in a meaningful manner which ultimately adds value to the country. The drive for customer obsession has led to her winning several prestigious awards from the Microsoft Corporation for superior performance in delivering customer value.

Yashinka holds a MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayawardenapura and has roots in Marketing, Psychology and ICT.

Engineer by Profession with a B.SC (Hons) degree in Engineering from UK MBA degree from Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of the University of Sri Jayawardenepura. Received “The Achievers Award “from the Post Graduate Institute of Management, Professionals Association for Outstanding contribution to the Profession, Business and Society.
Old boy of Trinity College Kandy

34 Years Experience in Information Communication Technology (ICT) field. Served as Director / CEO Metropolitan Computers and Head Of Human Resources and ICT of the Metropolitan Group.

Past President of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) the Information Technology ( IT ) Professional body and Past President of The Sri Lanka Computer Vendors Association, the IT Commercial body.

Competent Toastmaster, Competent Leader and Past President Colombo Toastmasters Club. Was an Area Governor of Toastmasters District 82P. A member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors.

Professional qualifications include Fellow Computer Society of Sri Lanka , Senior Member Australian Computer Society and Member Institution of Engineering Technology UK

Has served in many Information Technology forums in the country and has been an Executive Council member of CINTEC (The initial policy making body for IT in Sri Lanka ), Governing Council member of the Asian ICT Confederation and an Executive Council member of South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation.

Was selected to attended the Association of Overseas Technical Scholarship program on Corporate Management in Japan.

Has conducted many Communication and Leadership development programs for business Executives and Youth. Was a visiting lecturer, Business Communication at the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) and a regular guest speaker at career development seminars of the University of Moratuwa , University of Colombo, University of Kalaniya, Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology and many other forums. A mentor for upcoming Professionals.

Has addressed large group of professionals in Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi on Effective Corporate Presentations and Self Developments Skills.

Guest speaker at many forums including the Queens Birthday Banquet in Sri Lanka.

Married with two kids and Interests include reading, music, good food and staying fit.

Gihan Wikramanayake is a Science graduate from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and obtained his MSc and PhD in Computer Science from University of Wales Cardiff, UK.

He is a Professor, Director and Chairman of the Board of Management of the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC). Gihan is a Chartered Fellow and Chairman of BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, Sri Lanka Section. He held positions in professional associations such as, first Treasurer IEEE Sri Lanka Section and Student Councillor of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL). Gihan is also a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineering (IEEE). Professor Gihan is also a board of director of the SLSTB and Chairman of Theekshana a UCSC Company. He also serves on the Boards of IBMBB, NILIS and Staff Development Centre of the University of Colombo & LEARN.

Prof. Dias graduated from the University of Moratuwa in 1985 and was awarded a doctorate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the UC Davis in 1992.

In addition to being a Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka he serves as the Domain Registrar of the LK Domain Registry and the President of the Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka – Software Chapter.

His a member of the Asia-Pacific Top-Level Domain Association (APTLD) board, a Trustee of the Internet Society and President of its Sri Lanka Chapter.

He has been active in several areas of computing, including computer networking, language technologies, security, distributed event processing, Internet identity and personal cloud.

He has assisted many public and private organisations to build, secure, and make best use of their computer systems. He was inducted to the Internet Hall of Fame in 2013.

Mr. Luxaman Perera holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree, a M.Sc. in Computer Science and a MBA from University of Colombo. He is also a Member of the British Computer Society.

Mr. Perera counts over 28 years of extensive experience in IT in different capacities including Project Management, Handling disaster situations, Maintaining multiple data bases, Working with multiple Operating Systems, Configuring BOC network, Managing branch migrations, Branch Automation projects, Managing multiple Banking Applications.

Mr. Luxaman Perera is presently The Head of Information Technology - Bank of Ceylon. Prior to which, he had served Standard Bank South Africa.

Mr. Perera has been a Member of the CSSL from 1993 and has served its Executive Council from 2009 to 2014.

Mr. Chandana Weerasinghe has nearly 30 years of rich hands-on experience in the IT industry

He commenced his career at Data Management Systems Ltd., soon after graduating from the University of Moratuwa in Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering with a first class honours degree. As a field engineer, he was involved in one of the pioneering projects that brought National Language capability in both Sinhala and Tamil on Wang Minicomputer Systems. He moved to DMS Electronics (DMSE) in 1990 as the Engineering Manager and presided over the growth of DMSE’s engineering services as the company transformed from a Microcomputer and Personal Computer Company to a fully fledged corporate solutions provider. Today as a Director / General Manager, he oversees a division that focus on System Infrastructure Software, Managed Services and Networking & Unified Communications.

In his professional life, Mr. Weerasinghe has served as the President of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL), Sri Lanka’s professional body for IT, in 2003. Prior to being elected President, he served on CSSL’s Executive Council for many years holding numerous responsibilities, including the posts of Student Counsellor, Secretary and Vice President. He was closely associated with the National IT Conference and served as a Member and the Chair of the Proceedings Committee for a number of years.

Mr. Weerasinghe also counts wide teaching experience in Engineering, Information Technology and Professional Practice with a number of educational institutions and serves as a visiting lecturer at the University of Moratuwa. He is an elected external member of the Faculty Boards of the Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Information Technology at the same University. He also serves on the Faculty / Industry Advisory Board of the Faculty of Engineering at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT).

Saman Perera assigned duties as General Manager Information Systems on 10th January 2000.

He is responsible for overall management of information systems division and to ensure efficient, effective IT infrastructure and architecture to support demanding business requirements. Major achievements during this period include aligning the organizations information systems architecture to support technology changes from AMPS/DAMPA to GSM and 3G, architecting and deploying electronic reload system integrating with banks and distribution channels. Prior to Joining Mobitel, he was with Lanka Bell(a fixed wireless telecommunication service provider) as their Senior Manager Information Technology and was responsible for overall management of Information Technology Division. Played the role of Chief Architect and the Project Manager for their Customer Care and Billing Operation system development and deployment and managed the upgrade of Oracle Financials ERP system as part of the Y2K compliance requirements.

Prior to that Saman was the Systems Development Manager at Mobitel for 3 years. During that period he was responsible for Design, development and implementation of Customer Care and Billing operation system for Mobitel. Saman brings in over 17 years of experience in all areas of Information Technology ranging from technical to management. Early part of his carrier he spent time as a designer and software developer and has experience in participating in large project for local and overseas organizations. Later moved into technology management and has experience in managing highly qualified technical staff and managing large scale projects involving international vendors. Currently he is focusing deploying Information technology governance framework and making the IT organization an agile business unit with stable, scalable architectures to meet the growth demands. He holds MBA in Management of Technology from University of Moratuwa, Master of Science in Computer Science from University of Colombo and Bachelor of Science from University of Colombo.

Shantha Fernando is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa, and the Director, Center for IT Services, University of Moratuwa.

He also served as the Director, Engineering Research Unit, University of Moratuwa. He is one of the founders and the Chief Advisor of TechCERT, a division of LK-Domain Registry. He obtained BSc Engineering Honours from the University of Moratuwa in 1993. He obtained his Master of Philosophy from the same university in 2000. His PhD was obtained from the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 2010. He became the first Chartered Engineer in Sri Lanka in the field of IT in the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL). He also served in the Council of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL). His expertise are in Computer and Information Security, Information Systems, and e-Learning. He has provided advisory services for many government and commercial organisations in the areas of his expertise since 1994.

Dr. Lokuge holds over twenty four years of ICT experience in high growth public and private sector organizations, both in Sri Lanka and Overseas. He obtained his PhD from Monash University, Australia in the area of Artificial Intelligent Agents & Business Intelligence Systems.

Dr. Lokuge’s experience in a few key positions includes: Chairman/Managing Director – EmpiricalMinds Pvt Ltd, CEO/Director – ESOFT International, Consultant/CIO - Terminal Link, Malaysia & France, Director of the MIS Department (Sri Lanka Ports Authority), Director (IDM Software International) and MIS Consultant for World Bank & Asian Development Bank funded projects. As an IT consultant, he has involved in many large IT projects in France, Malaysia, Australia, Korea, China, Syria, Vietnam and Middle East countries.

He has also worked as a Lecturer at Monash University and Central Queensland University, Australia. He has also worked as a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of IT, University of Moratuwa.

He is a chartered member of the British Computer Society (BCS) and holds the membership of the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL). He is also a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) USA and a professional Project Manager (PMP). He is a certified ITIL V3 foundation expert and Certified ISTQB tester for systems and software. He was the President of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka in 2008.

Vishaka graduated from University of Moratuwa, with a first class in Computer Science and Engineering in 1994 and joined the same Department as a lecturer.

She obtained her Technical Licentiate from Chalmers University of Technology. She was the Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering for six years and is currently a senior lecturer there. During her sabbatical leave she worked as the Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Information Technology at Northshore College of Business Technology and as the deputy project director of the Higher Education for the twenty first century (HETC) Project of the Ministry of Higher education of Sri Lanka. She is very passionate about expanding and improving the skilled IT work force in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Prasad Wimalaratne is the Director Career Guidance Unit, University of Colombo, from 2005 to date.

He is also the Vice Chair, IEEE Sri Lanka Section, 2006 Economy Coordinator for Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) Competition 2005, Chiangmai Thaniland. Economy Coordinator/member of Judging Panel for Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) Competition 2006, Macau, China. He also served The Computer Society of Sri Lanka Executive Council and Executive Council Member representing UCSC at Sri Lanka Association for the Software Industry (SLASI) from 2003 to date.

Chinthaka Indikadahena graduated from University of Peradeniya has more than 30 years of IT experience, living and working in Sri Lanka, New Zealand and U.S.A.

His experience during the period from 2000 to 2014 was with Virtusa, a leading solutions provider for local and international clients, as a Quality Assurance and Testing professional. He ended up becoming the Head of QA at Virtusa. He is a Director in Sri Lanka Software Testing Board (SLSTB) that conducts ISTQB exams in Sri lanka and actively runs the Software QA Special Interest Group (SQA SIG) at Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL). Chinthaka currently works an independent consultant in Software QA & Testing.

All Foreign Registered Delegates are invited to the Inauguration at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo Sri Lanka on 7th of September 2015 and the Full conference on 8th & 9th of September 2015.

Full Conference - $250/=

Sri Lanka , Wonder of Asia

Few places in the world can offer the traveller such a remarkable combination of stunning landscapes, pristine beaches, captivating cultural heritage and unique experiences within such a compact location. Within a mere area of 65,610 kilometres lie 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 1,330 kilometers of coastline - much of it pristine beach - 15 national parks showcasing an abundance of wildlife, 250 acres of botanical gardens, 350 waterfalls,...

What Sri Lankan Airlines Offer..

Participants should aim to arrive in Colombo by the 7th Morning of September 2015. Sri Lanka would like to offer discounted price rates in airline tickets & transfers from Bandaranaike International Airport to desired hotels to all our NITC 2015 participants around the world...

Airport Transfers

Go to the official taxi counter and hire a prepaid taxi from there. Approximate taxi fare to Colombo is given below and selected taxi fee to be borne by you.
The airport taxi service (Tel +94112 252 861 Ex 3097) supervise by Airport and Aviation Services (S/L) LTD operates a counter in the arrival Lobby with a fleet
Over 600 vehicles.

Official Hotel Partner - Galadari Hotel

Special Room Rates & facilities for the National IT Conference participants residing at Hotel Galadari , Colombo , Sri Lanka.
Please contact Mr. Mohamed Naizer on +94 777393803

SRILANKAN AIRLINES DISCOUNTED TICKET RATES

Sri Lankan Airlines would offer all participants and accompanying persons a 15 % discount on economy class airfare and a 10% discount on business class airfare (on the prevailing market fare at the time of ticketing) for purchase of tickets for registered delegates travelling to Sri Lanka from our online stations which presently are as follows:

Indian Sub Continent: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Bangalore, Trichy, Trivandrum, Pakistan, Maldives

Far East: Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Shanghai, Canton, Tokyo

Middle East: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Doha, Muscat, Kuwait

Europe/ Eurasia: London, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt

Please note that to avail of these discounts, ticketing will have to be done directly at our UL offices and not through agents and proof of registration will be needed (a letter confirming participation by the local event-organizing body will suffice).

(All related taxes must be paid for separately and are not discountable)

You may find all contact details of our offices on our corporate website