SAMANTHA ANDERSON

Samantha Anderson is a Policy Officer (Climate Change Team) with the United Nations Development Programme (China Office), focused primarily on low-carbon development and urbanization, capacity building and knowledge exchange. She is also part of UNDP China’s Innovation Committee. Previously, Samantha was a senior project manager with Sustainable Cities International (SCI) working with a network of cities from around the world engaged in long-term planning for urban sustainability. Samantha holds two Masters Degrees, one in East Asian Studies from McGill University and one in Urban Planning from the School for Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia.  She sees approaching issues with a holistic and integrated mind-set as key to sustainability.

Contact:
Phone: +86 150-1155-7301
email: samjanderson@gmail.com

SUMANALATHA INDRASIRI

Sumanalatha Indrasiri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Development and a Master’s degree in Town and Country Planning from the University of Moratuwa. She also holds a PG Dip in GIS for urban application from ITC Enscade, Netherland. She started her professional carrier as the Statistician of the UNDP Colombo Master Plan Project and joined the Urban Development Authority as a planning Assistant. She developed her competency in interpreting development planning guidelines and zoning regulations to a diverse range of developers in the city of Colombo along with its regional towns. She was promoted to the Director of Development Regulations of the Urban Development Authority, Sri Lanka and served there for over 23 years. Her current passion is to advise and guide people in order for them to achieve their financial goals.

Contact:
Phone: +1 (604) 753-9533
Email: Sumana.indrasiri@gmail.com

JANAKI SAMARASEKERA

Janaki holds BSc. Degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura  and a Post Graduate Diploma in public Administration from The Post Graduate Institute of management of Sri Lanka. She also holds another Post Graduate diploma in Gender and Development and a Master Degree in Women’s Studies from Flinders University in South Australia. She joined the Sri Lanka Adminstrative Service in 1985 and started her career as a Assistant Government Agent at District Secretariat in  Anuradhapu District and served various positions in the Central Government Departments and the Ministries. She was promoted to the director of Consumer Goods Division of the Ministry of Industrial development mainly focusing on Food and Food Processing.  Finally she was working as a Land Commissioner in the Land Commissioner General's Department where she was mainly involved in land settlement and land development projects and the provisions of infrastructure facilities in major irrigation settlement schemes in Sri Lanka. Janaki is now involved with transportation and logistics activities of one the world’s leading integrated logistics services providers in Canada. 

Contacts:
Phone: +1 (604) 498-0788
Email: jsamarasekere@yahoo.co.uk

DAYANI PEIRIS

Dayani Peiris holds a BA degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kelaniya, a Post Graduate Diploma in Education and a Master’s Degree in Education on Educational Management from the University of Colombo.  She started her career as a Teacher and trained as a Teachers' Counsellor and developed her career as an In Service Advisor.  After completing her Master’s degree, she was appointed as a visiting Lecturer of the Career Development Training Program conducted by the University of Colombo. Dayani became an Assistant Director of Education in the Zonal Education office of Colombo, after completing the Sri Lanka Educational Administrative Service exam.  She then joined the Royal Institute International School in Colombo 05, and served as the Assistant Academic Director. She is currently working as an Early Childhood Educator and her passion is to use her vast knowledge and experience to benefit the field of early childhood education. 

Contacts:
Phone: +1 (604) 355-9100
Email: dayanidissanayake@hotmail.com

SUMANAWATEE WIJERATNA

Sumana is the founder of the VanLanka Community Foundation and holds a BA honours in Geography, PGDip in Rural Area Planning from the University of Colombo and PGDip in urban planning from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.  She was trained in Housing in Development in the University of Leuven, Belgium and Heritage Revitalization and Community Action planning in HIS, Netherlands.  She also holds an Urban Design Certificate from Simon Fraser University in 2006. She began her career as a planning Assistant of the Urban Development authority and was promoted to the position of Deputy Director of planning in the Central Province and served there for 17 years until she left for Canada.  She joined Sustainable Cities International in Canada and served as the project manager of Urban Greening Partnership Program and as the Project Specialist for the Centering Women in Reconstruction and Governance Project until 2009. Her passion is sustainable planning and farming where she focuses on assisting small scale farmers to produce their own seeds, promote traditional varieties of crops free from agrochemicals, traditional farming and irrigation systems, to rejuvenate ancient wisdom to achieve food security at global scale.

Contacts:
Phone: +1 (604) 349-1847
Email: suwije@vanlanka.com

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