Hon.
Eran Wickramaratne
ඉරාන් වික්රමරත්න
இரான் விக்கிரமரத்ன
MP
State Minister of Finance
In office
31 May 2017 – 21 November 2019
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Deputy Minister of State Enterprise Development
In office
4 September 2015 – 31 May 2017
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Deputy Minister of Investment Promotions and Highways
In office
12 January 2015 – 17 August 2015
PresidentMaithripala Sirisena
Prime MinisterRanil Wickremesinghe
Member of Parliament
for National List
Assumed office
2020
In office
2010–2015
Member of Parliament
for Colombo District
In office
2015–2020
Personal details
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partySamagi Jana Balawegaya United National Party
SpouseKushlani Wickramaratne
ChildrenDhishan Wickramaratne Jr Sohanya Wickrmaratne
ParentColton Wickramaratne Susanne Wickramaratne
Alma materRoyal College, Colombo
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionBanker

Eran Wickramaratne, (Sinhala: ඉරාන් වික්‍රමරත්න) (Tamil: இரான் விக்கிரமரத்ன) MP is a Sri Lankan banker and politician. He is the former State Minister of Finance and member of Parliament of Sri Lanka.[1] He was the Deputy Minister of Investment Promotions and Highways under 100 days program. He was the former CEO of NDB Bank since 2001 to 2010 and former Chairman of the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).[2]

Education

Educated at Royal College Colombo, where he served as Head Prefect and played at the Royal–Thomian.[3][4] He gained a BSc in Economics and Politics and an MSc in Economics from the University of London. He is also an Eisenhower Fellow.[5]

Banking career

Having joined Citibank in 1982, he went on to become a Vice President in 1996. In 2000, he was involved in founding NDB Bank, where he became CEO in 2001. In 2005, he served as a Director and advisor for Board of Investment (BoI) and later became an adviser to the Ministry of Science & Economic Reform. During this time he was instrumental in the formation of the first Information Communication Act and became the founder chairman of the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). He resigned from his post of CEO of NDB to take up his seat in Parliament in 2010.[2]

Political career

He joined the right of centre United National Party, serving as its treasurer and entered parliament from the National List at the 2010 General Elections. After the election of Maithripala Sirisena, Wickramaratne was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Investment Promotions and Highways in the "good governance" government under the premiership of Ranil Wickremasinghe.[6] He was appointed as the United National Party chief organiser of the Colombo-East electorate before being shifted to the Moratuwa electorate in 2015. In the general election that followed he was elected to parliament from the Colombo district gaining 82,737 votes.[7] In 2015, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Investment Promotions and Highways and in 2017 he was appointed State Minister of Finance, holding office until the appointment in 2019 of a new caretaker cabinet headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Family

He is the son of prominent evangelical pastor Rev. Dr. Colton Wickramaratne and of brother Dishan Wickramaratne. He is married to Kushlani Wickramaratne and is a father to two children, Sohanya and Dhishan.[8]

References

  1. ^ "New State and Deputy Ministers sworn in". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b "The Island-News". www.island.lk. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  3. ^ Fairclough, Gordon (16 March 2015). "For Sri Lanka's Elite, High-School Cricket Match Is More Than a Game". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 April 2018 – via www.wsj.com.
  4. ^ "Eran Wickremaratne was a fine opening batsman for Royal | Daily News Online : Sri Lanka's National News". Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  5. ^ Religion to kill or die forThe Sunday Leader Archived 2015-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ "CeylonToday". ceylontoday.lk. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  7. ^ "Preferential votes- General Election 2015". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  8. ^ Weerasooriya, Nayomini. "What Born-Again Politicians Means for South Asia". charismanews.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
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