George Steuart Insurance Brokers (Private) Limited (GSIB) is pleased to announce that Ms. Dharini Fernando has joined its Board of Directors with effect from 1st April 2024. Possessing over 25 years of extensive experience in the insurance industry, Ms. Fernando began her career in reinsurance and subsequently moved on to other underwriting classes. Prior to joining GSIB, she functioned in several key senior positions at a leading insurer in Sri Lanka, where she successfully set up the company’s general and life divisions. These key positions included Chief Operating Officer, and the regulator-defined roles of Principal Officer and Specified Officer. Her previous professional experience also includes a diverse range of management positions across several leading multinational insurance companies including AIG, Allianz, and Zurich Financial Services.
Joachim Caspersz, Managing Director of GSIB, welcomed the appointment of Ms. Fernando to the Board saying, “Dharini has been working with us for a few years and her formal appointment will strengthen the expertise we have whilst adding depth to our role as insurance brokers and insurance consultants. Her wide-ranging executive experience in the industry, especially in reinsurance, will allow us to broaden our service offering. Our clients, including insurers and overseas partners, will no doubt benefit from her addition to our team.”
Ms. Fernando also commented saying, “I’m pleased to be joining the senior management of Sri Lanka’s leading corporate insurance broker. I look forward to contributing towards guiding the company towards even greater successes in the future.”
In the recent past, Cyber Insurance has been a significant focus area for Ms. Fernando. Accordingly, she is a Certified Cyber Insurance Specialist (CCIS) from the Cyber Insurance Academy in Tel Aviv, an accredited course by the Chartered Insurance Institute of London. She also holds the Certificate in Cybersecurity from ISC2, the world’s leading organization for cybersecurity professionals. Ms. Fernando continues to further specialize in the evolving tech-related insurance space which is a fast-growing underwriting class in the global insurance industry.
A qualified Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute (ACII) of London by Examination, Ms. Fernando’s academic qualifications include an MA from the University of Westminster, London. Meanwhile, she is presently reading for a second master’s programme, an LLM at the (Queen Mary) University of London specializing in Insurance Law with a minor in FinTech: Law & Regulation. She is also a lecturer at the Sri Lanka Insurance Institute.
Subsequent to her appointment to the Board of Directors of GSIB, Ms. Dharini Fernando joins Mr. T. S. Arulanandan, Mr. Kumar Muthiah and Mr. Rohana Weerasinghe, as Operational Directors of the company. GSIB is the leading corporate insurance broker in Sri Lanka, and a subsidiary of George Steuart & Co. Limited, which has a storied history of serving as an insurance intermediary since the 1850s. GSIB is also ISO 9001:2015 certified and, in addition to representing all registered Sri Lankan insurers, also maintains a network of global partners, and operates regionally.