Invited to take over as group managing director of Lanka Hospitals last year, Chaaminda Kumarasiri’s latest board role marks his return to the multispeciality tertiary care hospital in Colombo – he was its CFO a decade ago.
In many ways, his return is no surprise for someone with such an evident passion for the healthcare industry. ‘It’s something to do with people,’ he explains. ‘We are healing people.’
‘We want to be a place the international community looks forward to’
Armed with experience
At Lanka Hospitals, governance is complex. Although it is one of the country’s largest private healthcare organisations, a majority share is held by the Sri Lankan state through state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. Steering a leading healthcare group is no easy task, but Kumarasiri is armed with ample experience.
Under Kumarasiri’s leadership, Lanka Hospitals recorded its strongest performance in history in 2025, both financially and operationally, reflecting his ability to drive results while balancing the many complexities of managing a large and multifaceted healthcare organisation.
During his tenure, his role involved empowering people, building a conducive culture, managing finances and improving customer care while ensuring clinical governance was not compromised. He also played a part in managing stakeholders, directors, regulators and government, and building a positive public image for the organisation.
Healthcare delivery
The organisation puts particular emphasis on expanding the hospital’s physical footprint beyond Colombo. While it has a laboratory network of more than 90 branches operating across the country, Kumarasiri says there are plans to open more branches in areas where it has no presence. He played a key role in shaping the organisation’s vision to scale its presence beyond Sri Lanka, particularly in medical tourism. ‘We want to expand it further and make it a place that the international community looks forward to.’
A major focus during his tenure was strengthening technology adoption to enhance patient experience and clinical care, including introducing advanced medical equipment, robotic technologies and AI integration. The idea is to build an ‘environment where people don’t feel they are in a hospital, so that when you come here, you feel relaxed and welcome’.
Instrumental leadership
Kumarasiri’s transition to broader executive leadership has been shaped by his journey in finance – he has worked at EY and in the financial sector, and been chairman of a consultancy for the past decade. Working with board members earlier in his career, he says, gave him ‘the ability and opportunity to see the big picture’.
As a board member, ‘you are responsible for everything that happens in an organisation’, he points out, and you have to ‘ensure that management decisions are based on realities, facts and logic’.
‘Any organisation can progress when they know how to manage numbers’
In addition to his executive leadership and consultancy roles, Kumarasiri has been a corporate trainer for many years. His expertise in identifying problems and designing and delivering training programmes has also helped him guide his team.
Reflecting on the transformation journey, Kumarasiri notes that meaningful progress was achieved in organisational culture and customer orientation despite the challenges that naturally accompany large-scale change.
Staying on top
‘I’m where I am today because of accounting,’ Kumarasiri says. In 2022, he won the ACCA Advocate of the Year award for his work in advancing the profession.
‘Any organisation or economy can progress when they know how to manage numbers,’ he says. As a lecturer, he has taught various accountancy-related subjects and shared accounting knowledge with others so ‘they can make rational financial decisions’. It’s his way of paying tribute, he adds.
CV
2025
Group managing director, The Lanka Hospitals Corporation
2016
Chairman and principal consultant, HCP Consulting, Sri Lanka
2015
Financial controller, Bank of Ceylon
2013
CFO, The Lanka Hospitals Corporation
2007
Assistant vice president, HSBC, Sri Lanka
2001
Senior manager, EY, Sri Lanka
ACCA’s knowledge repository and global network are increasingly valuable for the healthcare sector. Kumarasiri speaks warmly about specific forums focusing on healthcare and sustainability certifications, which help finance professionals in the sector move ‘ahead of the game’.
Authenticity
A people focus, integrity and mindfulness have all helped Kumarasiri develop his career. He explains that he never burdens himself with problems but assesses them through facts. More importantly, he says, ‘I always believe life is much bigger than my job.’
‘What matters is not what you communicate but how’
Leadership, he adds, is about tackling different situations, contexts and stakeholders. It’s about ‘how good you are in managing different people above you, on par with you and below you. What matters is not what you communicate but how you communicate. You must always be able to step into the other person’s shoes and look at things from their perspective.’
His advice for aspiring finance leaders is that the ‘biggest influential power you have’ is ‘being an authentic person, so people feel it. Don’t teach people. You need to inspire people and let them find what is right or wrong in their own ways. It’s important to understand that what matters is not what you do, it’s how you let others feel and perceive you.’
