Board Of Directors
Vina Devadas
President
Mr. Devadas is a Lawyer cum Accountant attached to Devadas Law Professional Corporation in Toronto. He focuses in the accounting related areas of law such as Tax Law, Business Law, Employment Law and Civil Litigation. In addition, his law firm deals in real estate law, family law, wills and estates law. Prior to that, he was the Senior Financial Analyst/ Financial Analyst at CGI in Toronto for 6 years. CGI is the fifth largest independent information technology (“IT”) and business process services (“BPS”) firm in the world. He was also the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) for 8 years where he counts 12 years of experience. Mr. Devadas is a Barrister & Solicitor licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. He is also a Chartered Professional Accountant of Ontario and an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), United Kingdom (UK). He obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) Degree with Merit from the University of Colombo.Lecturing Background He possesses over 15 years of lecturing experience as a visiting lecturer for various Professional Courses including the CIMA Examinations UK. His students have obtained CIMA World Prizes & CIMA Sri Lankan Prizes. He had conducted intensive revision courses for the CIMA students in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and in India.Community Involvement Mr. Devadas is actively involved in the community. He was a Past President of the Sri Lankan Accountants Association of Canada (SAAC) and a Past President of the Araly Cultural Organization, Canada. He is involved with the Old Boys Associations of Royal College and Hindu College Bambalapitiya where he was the Secretary in 2016. He was awarded the Mentee-To-Mentor award by Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) in 2011. He volunteered in the fund raising activities for the setting up of the Harvard Tamil Chair and the Toronto Tamil Chair. He has supported many community organizations through his Law Firm Devadas Law Professional Corporation byway of sponsorships. Building Committee He is one of the five founding members of the Building Committee that was created in 2017 which successfully completed the purchase of CTCC’s own building in August 2020 that was ceremonially opened in August 2021. He raised approximately $100,000 in contributions donations towards the purchase of the building. Board, He served the CTCC Board as the VP Finance for two consecutive terms in 2017-2019 and as VP Membership in 2019-2020.
Murali Sivaguru
Executive Vice President
Murali Sivaguru brings with him almost 30 years of experience working in various roles with Hertz Canada Limited, including the role of Senior Operations Manager. With his adept organizational management, Murali now owns and operates two successful businesses. Through his aptitude for leadership and communication skills, he efficiently manages his own Hertz
franchise in Mississauga and an Esso gas station in Hanover, Ontario.
His capacity to multi-task and his honed interpersonal skills allow him to recruit and train several employees. Despite his busy schedule, Murali also takes the time to give back to his community and volunteers with many non-profit organizations, including the Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce (CTCC). As a former VP of Internal Affairs for the CTCC and a member of the Building Committee, Murali has contributed in many ways to the successful operation of the CTCC.
Ari.A.Ariaran
Vice President Internal Affairs
Ari Ariaran is a Chartered Professional Accountant who served in many private sector organizations as a leader in Accounting, Finance and participating in the organization’s decision-making process. He presently owns a public practice firm in Scarborough that serves a very large business community within the GTA, providing accounting services and taxation needs. His clientele ranges from personal tax requests to large corporations. Ariaran is involved in many initiatives within the community. In 2003, along with four of his friends he founded the Sri Lankan Accountants Association of Canada (SAAC) which serves the community and has been its President, Vice President and Secretary-the position which he currently holds now. He has volunteered with various charities such as Thamil Isai Kalamanram of Ontario where he was an active board member and currently serves as the internal auditor. For the past 15 years he has served as the Treasurer for the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Middlefield. He was also the first President when Vadaliyaddippu Ontrium and has been actively involved in its social activities.
Leonard Selvaratnam
Vice President Finance
Leonard Selvaratnam is a Real Estate Agent. He has been in this business for over 14 years. He has met many great people during his career as a Real Estate Agent and has a lot of experience dealing with different clients’ requests and making sure they qualify for the financial requirement to own their dream home. He loves to serve the community and has been involved with various organizations such as churches and shelters to serve the needy. He organized many events to serve the seniors at Markhaven Home for Seniors. He also volunteers with his team to serve food at St. Francis Table at least three times a year. He has also taken part in many meetings with different organizations and provided innovative ideas and leadership roles to better the lives of others. He is always up to learning new technology and a great user of social media to network with others so he can serve the community at large. He enjoys traveling, eating authentic food, and mingling with people, all of these make it easy for him to work with many people.
Poorany Sornabala
Vice President Membership
Poorany Sornabala is a member of the Canadian Tamils Chamber of Commerce and part of a Building Committee. Poorany works as a Business Development Specialist for Pace Law Firm, where she has over 10 years of experience in Business Management and working with clients in Personal Injury law. Poorany brings a high level of customer service to all existing and new clients, as well as works collaboratively and proactively with health care and rehabilitation providers to ensure long lasting relationships. Poorany uses her experience and knowledge to develop Pace Law’s referral sources by seeking out new business opportunities in the market and improving business development strategies. Poorany graduated in 1998 in Dance and is an experienced Indian Classical Dancer and Teacher. She has various experiences in client services, business development and marketing where she values fostering good and lifelong relationships within the community.
Thipan Raj
Vice President Community Relations
Thipan Raj (Parthipan Rajandran) is a leading Entrepreneur, Event organizer and Realtor who as a community activist focuses on his strengths to support individuals in order that they may achieve their goals and dreams. Thipan has a passion towards volunteerism and a deep interest in helping those in need. He has dedicated himself towards community involvement and realizes the need for contributing towards social services in the community. He always believes that community service is the backbone to one’s happiness in a person’s personal life while offering his professional services to the public. He is also a firm believer that educational programs help to enhance the learning levels of children, especially in the war affected areas in Sri Lanka and has offered his time and energy to a project related to this programme.
Gowthami Thanancheyan
Director
Gowthami Thanancheyan is a creative and motivated Tamil-Canadian entrepreneur.She is the creative director of GT Art Media and managing partner of GT Crafts. She earned her degree from University of Hertfordshire London, UK in Computer Science, specializing in Entertainment Systems. Gowthami is an experienced Graphic Designer, and also a Diploma holder in classical dance (Barathanatyam) and Veena. Gowthami began her career as a Graphic Designer and then entered into Digital Signage Systems. She has worked with Best Buy, Samsung, Leonidas,and many more corporations. Moving to Toronto, She started her relationship with CTCC in 2017. Since then, she has done a few projects for CTCC including but not limited to, the GALA brochure design in 2018 and 2019 and also created the 30 years celebration giveaway gift branding. Gowthami is extremely grateful to be part of this amazing organization.
Kanchana Thuraisingham
Director
Ms.Kanchana Thuraisingham is an amazing, versatile socially conscious woman. Gifted and accomplished when it comes to community work. Kanchana studied at Holy Family Convent, Bambalapitiya, Sri Lanka. She is a Government Scholar who went to the University of Pune from Sri Lanka and completed her Bachelor of Commerce Hons. Degree in ’90s. After coming to Canada in 1992, her perspective changed and she switched her career toward Community work.
She has been the Past President of HFC PPA Canada and continues to be on the advisory committee. Founding Director of Sri Lankan Canadian Community Services. Community Champion of Diversity & Inclusion Charter of Peel. Part of Poverty Strategy Group Member of United Way of Peel South Asian Council Country Chair Carassauga Festivals of Culture. Kanchana also worked as a Frontline counsellor at Victim Services of Peel. As a certified Crisis Counsellor, she has established, Healthy Minds Counselling and Consulting Services in Markham, Ontario.
Kanchana Thuraisingham gives her experience and expertise to the upcoming non-profits as a consultant. Being a long-standing member of CTCC, she has volunteered and participated in numerous activities. Kanchana is a professional who believes in walking the talk to make a difference.
Darshan Sritharan
Director
While attending York University for HR studies, Darshan discovered the banking industry and saw an opportunity to build on his passion for helping others. His career began at TD where he worked his way up to the position of Mobile Mortgage Specialist. He then held a similar role with CIBC. Darshan’s work ethic earned him various accolades for client service and top performance.
Today, Darshan is a mortgage agent with Dominion Lending Centres and has often been recognized with awards for his dedication and performance. He understands the importance of consistency and hard work to deliver the best results, both in his personal and professional life. His dedication to making a difference in the lives of clients and contributing within his community has been consistent throughout his life and career.
