Sagala Gajendra Ratnayaka (born 27 February 1968) 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 politician who is the National Organiser for United National Party in Sri Lanka he had been serving as the

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to the

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

and National Security Advisor from 2022 to 2024. He had served as the

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

of Law and Order and Southern Development (2015-2018); Youth Affairs and Southern Development (2019-2019);

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to the

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The prime minister of Sri Lanka, officially the prime minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's exec ...

and Member of Parliament for

Matara District Matara ( ''Mātara distrikkaya''; ''Māttaṛai māvaṭṭam'') is a district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a Di ...

Early life and education

Ratnayaka was born to a political family from

Deniyaya Deniyaya is a small town located towards the south of Sri Lanka. It is located in Matara District of the Southern Province. It is surrounded by the Sinharaja rainforest, and the climate is relatively cool. The main source of income is tea cultiv ...

, where his uncle Victor Ratnayake, MBE was a notable legislator. He was educated at the

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Si ...

, where he became the

Head Prefect The two Senior Prefects, individually called Head Boy (for the male), and Head Girl (for the female) are students who carry leadership roles and are responsible for representing the school's entire student body. Although mostly out of use, in some ...

. He proceeded to study in the United States and graduated from

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1867 and is situated on the historic M. Lloyd Frank Estate in South Portland's Collins View neighborhood. It is composed of three distinct but adjac ...

with a bachelor's degree in business administration studies in 1993.New deputy minister has strong business background
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Early career

After graduating he worked as a financial analyst at Central Finance Company and joined

HSBC Sri Lanka HSBC Sri Lanka is a banking and financial services company in Sri Lanka and is a licensed commercial bank supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. It is the largest and one of the oldest banks in Sri Lanka. HSBC opened its doors in Sri Lanka ...

going on to become a credit operations manager.

Political career

He entered politics in 1999, having been elected as a member of the Southern Provincial Council. In 2000, he was elected to parliament from the

. He served as Deputy Minister of Power and Energy from 2002 to 2004. Having been re-elected in 2010 and 2015. From January 2015 to September 2015 he served as the

to the prime minister until he was elected to parliament in 2015 and appointed as a Cabinet minister of Law and Order in the Good Governance Government. He served as a Cabinet minister till 2019 when he resigned from his portfolio, serving as an opposition member of parliament till 2020. In July 2022, he was appointed by President

Ranil Wickremesinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

as his chief of staff and senior adviser to the president on national security.

National Security Advisor

Sri Lanka officially does not have a role for a national security advisor. However, President

Ranil Wickremasinghe Ranil Wickremesinghe (; ; born 24 March 1949) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the ninth president of Sri Lanka from 2022 to 2024. He has also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019 a ...

in 2022 appointed Ratnayaka as a Presidential Advisor on National Security. The President's Media Unit of the Presidential Secretariat and several other government departments stylised as NSA, as did the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. The NSA does not hold an ''ex-officio'' seat in the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

as it is not a codified position.

References

External links