Renowned tea exporter Rohan Fernando has been appointed as the new chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT).

Fernando replaces P. G. Kumarasinghe Sirisena, who served as Chairman of SLT from 2015 to the beginning of this month.

Rohan Fernando has over 40 years of experience in the tea industry and has been involved in developing, promoting and marketing the traditional beverage of tea in many innovative variants over the last several years.

Prior to founding his own Company, Heladiv, he began his career as a trainee Tea Taster at Carson, Cumberbatch & Co., Ltd. He was promoted to a Tea Executive in 1979. He joined Brooke Bond Ceylon Limited as a tea buyer where he was promoted to Tea Manager in 1985.

In 1982 he spent one year with Brooke Bond Commodities Ltd. in the United Kingdom, learning International tea blending and trading. He served on the Colombo Tea Traders Association as a member.

He functioned as the President of the National Chamber of Exporters in 2008 and 2009. He is the former Chairman of the Tea Exporters Association of Sri Lanka, one of the directors at Sri Lanka Tea Board, a council member and a management Committee member representing the board of the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka.