Honorary Former Board of Directors

Deshamanya Dr. Gamani Corea (4th November, 1925 – 3rd November, 2013) had a career of extraordinary achievements. At various times, he was the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Chairman of the South Centre in Geneva, a founding member of the Third World Forum, Ceylon’s Ambassador to the European Economic Community (EEC), Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs of Ceylon, and the Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon.

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Godfrey Gunatilleke graduated in English (1st Class Hons) from the University of Ceylon in 1948. He entered the Ceylon Civil Service and served in senior positions in the Ministries of Lands Industry and Planning, prior to retiring in 1972 to establish the Marga Institute. He was consultant to the ILO UNCTAD, UNU, WHO and member of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute. He is the recipient of several International and national awards including the Eisenhower Fellowship USA; the Health for All medal awarded by the WHO; the “Deshamanya” award for distinguished public service and D.Litt conferred by the University of Colombo in 1996.
He has authored several books articles and publications on development issues. His involvement in the literary field includes the publication of the literary critical journal Harvest (1945), short stories (“The Garden”, “Thief in the Night”) and literary critical articles (“Language without Metaphor”). Dr. Godfrey Gunatilleke is at present Chairman Emeritus and Senior Advisor of the Marga Institute.

Dr. Nimal Sanderatne holds a B.Sc.(Econ) Degree from the University of London, M.Sc. Degree from the University of Saskatchewan, M.A. and Ph.D. Degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He was conferred the Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) degree by the University of Peradeniya in 2004. Among the positions he has held are those of Director of Statistics, Director of Economic Research and Adviser Research and Training at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Among the positions he has held are those of Chairman Bank of Ceylon; Chairman of the National Development Bank and; Chairman of the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, He has also been the Chairman and Director of Property Development Ltd (PDL), Chairman and Director of the Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL), Chairman and Director of NDBS Securities (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman and Director of Lanka Securities (Pvt) Ltd, Chairman and Director of Citi National Investment Bank, Director of Union Assurance Ltd. (UAL), Director of Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC).

He was the founder Chairman of the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA); Senior Fellow of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and Visiting Senior Fellow of the Post Graduate Institute of Agriculture (PGIA) of the University of Peradeniya where he continues to teach. He was the President of the Sri Lanka Association of Economists (SLAE), President of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science Section F (Social Sciences), a founder member of Ceylon Agricultural Economics Society and is Patron of the Sri Lankan Agricultural Economists Association. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Sri Lanka Economists Association. He has been a Consultant to the World Bank, UNDP, UNICEF, Harvard Institute of International Development (HID) SIDA, ODI and ILO. He is the author of several books on economics and social sciences and contributed over 75 articles to Journals and books.