Vinya Ariyaratne, MD is the President of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka. He is an expert in community medicine and has taught at medical schools in Sri Lanka. Vinya was one of the only three civil society representatives in the high-level Donor/Civil Society Steering Committee formed by the key multilateral donors to the tsunami recovery program. He has published in national and international public health and development journals.
Senani Wijeyewardena Babson graduated from Ladies’ College, Colombo, and attended American College of Higher Education in Sri Lanka. She is qualified as a Montessori teacher and is a member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Sri Lanka. Since 2013, she serves as a Trustee of The Paul and Edith Babson Foundation.
In 2015, Senani created the “Senani Wijeyewardena Babson Fund” to strengthen the Sarvodaya Development Finance Company’s micro credit activities.
John Coonrod (Board Chair) is the founder and US Chair of the Movement for Community-led Development. He retired in 2024 as Executive Vice President of The Hunger Project, where he had been the first volunteer and served on staff for 39 years. Its methodology of gender-focused, community-led development has been greatly influenced by Sarvodaya. John first met Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne in 1982, and was involved in the founding of Sarvodaya USA. John and his wife Carol live in Washington, DC.
Krishna Desar,
Treasurer, joined Sarvodaya USA when he came to the USA in 1998, and was first introduced with Sarvodaya in Nepal during in 1995.
Krishna raveled with Dr. Ari during his stay in DC and in Nepal and worked with Shisir in projects for Nepal and Sri Lanka. Krishna joined the board in June 2016. He is based in Washington, DC.
Erangi Dias is Director of Business Development for NYCEEC. Erangi sources and executes financing transactions for new projects that save energy or reduce greenhouse gases, working with customers to understand their financing needs, and provide custom solutions. Previously, Erangi was a Vice President at Citigroup, where she held roles in Corporate and Investment Banking, and Credit Risk Management. She holds a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rajini Yamuna Jayasuriya, is a Washington, DC based economics and health policy consultant. She serves as Associate Principal at Charles River Associates. Yamuna is passionate about leveraging her experience to develop policy solutions that support health system strengthening to drive equitable healthcare access and economic prosperity. She serves as a volunteer in Sarvodaya Sri Lanka.
Andrew Mason, PhD is a Visiting Scholar/Lecturer, School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California — San Diego. He recently completed 28 years of service as an economist at the World Bank. His doctorate in Applied Economics is from Stanford and he holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. Andy spent a year as a volunteer for Sarvodaya in Sri Lanka in 1981.
Dinesh Pethiyagoda is Director of U.S. Oncology Marketing at Merck & Co., Inc.
He developed a marketing strategy focused on securing new donor funding for Project HOPE in sub-Saharan Africa as part of the Merck Fellowship for Global Health. Dinesh holds a B.S. in Chemistry with a minor in Physics from Slippery Rock University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business. He lives with his wife and two children in Skippack, PA.
Hemamalie Russell has been living in USA since 1992 and is a Director for First Book, a non-profit involved in distribution of books and educational material in USA, Canada and several other countries. She lives in Washington D.C with her husband.