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Graduated from Swinburne University Australia in Information Systems with a First Class and completing Master of Information Technology from Charles Sturt University Australia, Dr. Thiran has completed his PhD at Central Queen’s Land University Australia when he was 26 years old. He has completed his second PhD in Geoinformatics at the University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka. Brigadier (Dr.) Thiran De Silva currently serving as the Chairman and Director General of National Youth Service Council and as the Founder / CEO of Celata Tech (Pvt) Ltd. and Celata Tech Inc. Being the youngest Brigadier and the Youngest Director General in the history of Sri Lankan armed forces, Brigadier Dr. Silva has made a highly recognizable contribution towards digitizing the Sri Lanka Army and Ministry of Defence. He was instrumental in introducing new technologies to the armed forces and Introducing MBA in E-Governance and ICT Faculty at Kothalawala Defence University.
Dr. De Silva also Found and headed the National Cyber Security Operation Centre and held prestigious appointment such as Director IT in the Sri Lanka Army (Youngest ever). While Dr. De Silva was serving as the CIO at National Savings Bank and became the youngest CIO / DGM in the Country’s Banking and Finance sector. Dr. De Silva has gained corporate experience by being a Director Board Member at NSB and its affiliated institutions, Senior Director MBSL Savings Bank (State Bank), Director Board Member Merchant Credit of Sri Lanka, IT Advisor Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, IT Advisor State Mortgage and Investment Bank, Director Trillium Residencies Co. Ltd, Director City Housing and Real Estate Co. Ltd. With more than 22 years of industry experience in Executive Management in ICT, Banking and Finance, Defence and Education, Dr. Thiran has excelled in each industry with the highest recognitions.
Prof Alex Siow is currently Professor (Practice) in the department of Information Systems and Analytics of the School of Computing, National University of Singapore. Prof Alex was the Managing Director, Health & Public Service at Accenture. Alex started his career as a Structural Engineer in the HDB in 1981 and appointed the Chief Information Officer in 1989. In 2003, Alex joined the private sector and became the Senior Vice-President in StarHub Ltd. He held various portfolios including Head, Business Market, CIO and Head, Enterprise Risk Management. Prof Alex was very active in the IT Community. He was the President of the Singapore Computer Society from 1997 to 2001. He was the President of IT Management Association from 1995 to 1999. He was the first President of the Singapore Chapter of the Project Management Institute and served from 2001 to 2012. He is also currently the Chairman of the Cloud Security Alliance Singapore Chapter
Prof Alex is currently Chairman of Toffs Technologies Pte Ltd, an independent director of Tee International Ltd, a Director of Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities and a Director of the Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital. He is also Executive Chairman of DART Consulting and Training Pte Ltd and Director of Red Alpha Pte Ltd, Findjobs Pte Ltd, KSC Consulting Pte Ltd, Chairman of Beyond Technology Pte Ltd and a director of 4P Consulting Pte Ltd. He is a strategic Advisor to Nityo Infotech, ChiefDX, Alibaba Cloud, U3 Infotech, Chainsys, DhataTech and Kitesense. He currently co-chairs the National High Performance Computing Roadmapping Committee. Prof Alex holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from University of Applied Science, Stuttgart, a Master of Science in Construction Management from the University of Birmingham and attended the Senior Management Programme at INSEAD. Prof Alex’s book “Leading with IT: Lessons from Singapore’s first CIO”, was published in Feb 2021 and available world-wide.
Jeff is a Singapore-based professional with more than 28 years’ experience at leading multinational corporations including Visa, Microsoft, Reuters and the Royal Bank of Canada. He has been based in Singapore for more than 25 years and has held regional roles covering Asia for more than 15 years. In 2014, he established PS-engage, his own government relations consulting firm. PS-engage works with leading IT, e-commerce, finance and payments companies to provide guidance on constructive engagement with governments and to assist with regulatory and policy work. He is also currently the Managing Director of the Asia Internet Coalition, a leading industry body that promotes smart regulatory reforms for the digital economy. Jeff was a Co-Chair of the Financial Services Committee for six years and is currently a Co-Chair of the Small and Medium Enterprises Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore. Jeff is also a member of the Tax Feedback Panel at the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).
Jeff has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and an MBA in Finance from Rutgers University in the U.S.A. He also attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he has completed a diploma program on Innovations in Governance.
Thareendra Kalpage (born June 26, 1981) is a Sri Lankan-Asian entrepreneur and business executive who co-founded Digital Zyndicate Co., a venture capital firm based in Denver, Colorado, and Meetanu, a software firm involved in the hospitality industry. He also invested in several notable ventures, including the Duthaya Digital Services who owns and operates the Duthaya mobile app, which is currently revolutionizing the consumer market as an online and mobile marketplace that connects freelance labor (messengers) with local demand (end users). Thareendra also co-owns a premium leather bag range with a leading US retailer. He began his entrepreneurial journey after nearly 20 years of experience working in senior leadership roles, including 7 years where we started 2015 as the Chief Operating Officer and then, beginning in 2018, promoted as the Chief Executive Officer of Epic Lanka Technologies, which under Mr. Kalpage grew to become one of the country's leading and most innovative software firms, with an absolute market share on eGovernment initiatives in Sri Lanka. At the same time, Under Mr. Kalpage’s leadership Epic Lanka expanded their business into many new sectors with massive projects that can be considered their own startups, such as a collaboration with the Development Lotteries Board of Sri Lanka to launch South East Asia's First Ever Mobile Lottery App, a joint venture with Sri Lanka Telecom to launch HelaViru Digital Market Place facilitated to Digitalize Agriculture Value Chain, CIPE and Life Hardware product line, which was the company's entry into Hardware Manufacturing
Before joining Epic Lanka, he worked for Microsoft Sri Lanka for over 5 years as a key player in strategizing and shaping Microsoft's commercial engagement with the Sri Lankan government. Mr. Kalpage led Microsoft Sri Lanka's Public Sector Account Team to some ground-breaking achievements from a Microsoft standpoint, including the signing of the first ever Microsoft enterprise agreement with a Government Owned Entity, and having Microsoft technology selected as a preferred technology stack for Treasury Automation and Inland Revenue Automations, which is still one of the largest government procurements related to Information Technology. Mr. Kalpage led the adoption of Microsoft's products into government-owned/managed institutes, and during his tenure, he increased Microsoft adoption in government by multiples, which was unprecedented at the time. Mr. Kalpage also worked for Sierra Information Technologies and the DSI Samson Group, where he began his career and made some notable and significant contributions as a young professional, including one of his proposals to management to start their own Information Technology Company. He wrote the first business proposal on the subject, which sparked the formation of Samson Information Technologies, which later became DTech. Mr. Kalpage is also a well-known writer on economics, technology, and global politics, and his articles have received widespread attention. He is also a prominent figure in assisting young founders, where he continues to assist them in realizing their vision and creating economic opportunities. He also advises on key strategic initiatives and mentors and coaches the leadership teams of companies in which he is an investor. Thareendra is interested in investing, coaching, and sharing his knowledge with entrepreneurs in addition to his ongoing work. Mr. Kalpage prefers to identify as a business leader who understands value creation in the context of the ecosystem, which includes the tech, economy, science, social, and geopolitical landscape. Mr. Kalpage holds LLB (Hons) Law from Buckinghamshire New University, and attended the Senior Management Programme at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as well holds certification on Big Data and Cloud Computing Technologies from Yonsei University.
As an experienced, disciplined and motivated individual with over 20 years of experience mainly in administration with added experience in human resource, finance and customer care. Asha is one of the very few staff members who joined Celata when it was founded. Joined Celata Tech (Pvt)Ltd as Head of Administration in 2018 and currently overseeing all the administrative and HR related work as the Chief Administrative Officer of Celata and she also served as a Director Board Member at Celata Tech. Asha is a well experienced professional with handling administrative operations and functions in local and international companies. Sri Lanka Telecom, Navantis Sri Lanka and Navantis Inc. Canada and Datavail USA are some of the companies, Asha has gained her well recognized skills as team leader and senior administrator before joining Celata.
Asha has completed her Master of Business Administration from Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom and Completed her Advance Diploma and Diploma in Management at American College with higher grades Distinctions.
