Kalupage Austin Fernando is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n civil servant and the current Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India. He had previously served as Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka,

Defence Secretary A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

, and Governor of the Eastern Province.

Early life and education

Fernando was educated at

Richmond College, Galle Richmond College () is a primary and secondary school in Galle, Sri Lanka which was established as the Galle High School in 1876. The founder of the school was the Wesleyan Missionary George Bough. The first principal of the school was Rev Samu ...

. After school, he joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya where he graduated with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

degree. He later received an

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

degree from the

University of Sri Jayewardenepura The University of Sri Jayewardenepura (also known as Jayawardhanapura University or USJ; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. It is in Gangodawila, Nugegoda, near Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, the country's administrative capital. It was form ...

Career

Fernando taught at Nagoda Royal National College for a period of time before joining the

Sri Lanka Administrative Service The Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවය; śrī laṁkā paripālana sēvaya, Tamil:ஸ்ரீ இலங்கை நிருவாக சேவை; Sri lanka niruvá ...

(SLAS). He was Government Agent for

Polonnaruwa District Polonnaruwa District (; ) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is also one of the two districts of North Central Province and has an area of 3,293 km2. The district is adminis ...

and

Nuwara Eliya District Nuwara Eliya District (; ) is a district in Central Province, Sri Lanka, centered on the tourist city of Nuwara Eliya. Demographics According to the 2001 census of Sri Lanka, population of Nuwara Eliya district is 703,610, of which 50.5 ...

. He was later Commissioner of Cooperative Development and

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...

. He was then

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

at the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, and Provincial Councils. He was a consultant to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

before being appointed Defence Secretary in December 2001. Newly elected

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

appointed Fernando as a presidential adviser on 15 January 2015. He was thereafter appointed Governor of the Eastern Province on 27 January 2015. He resigned in order to become Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka on 1 July 2017 which he held till 5 July 2018.

Writings

Fernando is the author of ''My Belly is White: Reminiscences of a Peacetime Secretary of Defence''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Austin Alumni of Richmond College, Galle Alumni of the University of Ceylon (Peradeniya) Alumni of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura Government Agents (Sri Lanka) Governors of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka High commissioners of Sri Lanka to India Living people Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Place of birth missing (living people) Sinhalese people Sri Lankan teachers Year of birth missing (living people)

Early life and education

Career

Writings

See also

References