In line with the Company’s leadership transition plan announced in January 2005, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi, the Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Insurance has been appointed to the Board of Directors and will assume his new function as Director/Chief Executive Officer on 1 July 2005. Chandra Jayaratne will relinquish his executive duties on 30 June 2005 but will remain in office as a Director until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition of leadership before he retires, having been the driving force behind Eagle Insurance since the inception of the company.

Chandra Jayaratne has been responsible for several epoch-making contributions to both the Company and the insurance industry. He was a Director from the inception of the company and became the Managing Director in 1994. Eagle considers Chandra Jayaratne’s tenure as one that transformed the organization and its capabilities to world class. The future envisioned by him has given directional view to nurture Eagle into a fundamentally strong entity with exemplary ethics, professionalism and corporate governance practices.

With the appointment to the Chief Operating Officer position in October 2003, Deepal has been working closely with Chandra, together to formulate strategies to ensure that the company is well positioned to continue to add value to all its stakeholders.

Deepal, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and a Chartered Marketer also holds a MBA from the Post Graduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayawardenepura. He counts over twenty years of marketing experience and has been a vital force in building the Eagle brand for the past 15 years. He joined the company as its Marketing Communications Manager and rapidly progressed to provide leadership to the Human Resources Management and the Group Planning function of the Company. Subsequently appointed as the General Manager of the Strategic Business Unit-Personal Lines, he was promoted to the position of Chief Operating Officer in October 2003 and then became the CEO in January this year.