Senior Management

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Hariharan Selvanathan

Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Hariharan Selvanathan was appointed to the Board on 28th May 2012, as the Deputy Chairman of our Company and was appointed as its Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1st November 2017. He is responsible for the strategic direction and overall management of our business operations, including oversight of the Company’s sustainability strategy. He has over 20 years of experience in commodity trading in the international markets.

Presently, Mr. Selvanathan is the Chairman of Bukit Darah PLC (BDPLC), Deputy Chairman of Carson Cumberbatch PLC (CCPLC) (the ultimate parent companies of GAHL) and some of their subsidiary companies. He also holds concurrent appointments as the Vice Chairman of Ceylon Beverage Holdings PLC and Vice Chairman of Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC.

Mr. Selvanathan graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Madras, India.

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Aneesh Dudeja

President & Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Aneesh Dudeja is the President of Goodhope Group. He joined the Group in 2016 and leads the Corporate Strategy, Group Finance and Business Development activities together with responsibility for Accounting, Treasury and Commercial.

Prior to joining Goodhope, he was the Managing Director and Head of Commodity Traders & Agribusiness for Standard Chartered Bank. In his 20-year banking career he has worked in Corporate & Investment Banking in India, Middle East and South East Asia. He started his career with General Electric before he moved into the Banking sector in 1996. He is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

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Sanjaya Upasena

Director / Chief Operating Officer Oil Palm Plantation Segment

Mr Sanjaya Upasena is the Chief Operating Officer of the Oil Palm Plantations Business Segment in Indonesia. He is responsible for managing the oil palm plantations and its associated operating units in Indonesia.

He joined Carson Cumberbatch PLC in 1999 as a Sector Accountant. Prior to his current role, he functioned as the Deputy Head of Operations, Director of Sustainability, General Manager Plantation Operations and the Regional Financial Controller for the Plantations Sector . He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, a Fellow Member of the Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), United Kingdom, and a Member of the Chartered Global Management Accountants (CGMA).

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Samir Desai

Chief Operating Officer – Edible Oils & Fats Segment, Director – Marketing & CEO – Arani India

Samir Desai is the Chief Operating Officer – Downstream, Director – Marketing & Trading & CEO – Arani, India.

Samir has over 26 years of experience in the trading of vegetable oils and other Agri commodities. Before joining Goodhope, he was the Managing Director at COFCO Agri, where his responsibilities included origination, refining, sales and trading of vegetable oils and grains. Prior to COFCO’s takeover of Noble Group’s agribusiness, he spent 6 years at Noble as the Head of Vegetable Oils (India) and traded c.800k MT of vegetable oils per annum.

He is a double Degree holder in Chemistry and Oil Technology and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Management.

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Satish Selvanathan

Executive Director

Mr. Satish Selvanathan is an Executive Director of Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd, where he is responsible for the turnaround of the business.

Prior to this, he was an ultra-athlete and competed in the Spartan World Championships, a 24-hour Obstacle Course Race in Iceland.

Before this, he was a Director at Creador, a USD 800MM Private Equity fund, where he led the business turnaround of the Asiamet Education Group Bhd, a higher education business in Malaysia as well as the business diligence of Creador’s buyout of the D’Apotic pharmacy chain. Prior to this, he was a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in New York, where he worked with financial services, consumer and healthcare clients.

He is a CrossFit Level 1 trainer, has an MBA from Columbia Business School and an undergraduate degree in Engineering, Economics & Management from Oxford University.

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Ms. Sharada Selvanathan

Director

Ms. Sharada Selvanathan joined the Goodhope Group in 2011 and is involved in the Group’s Finance and Strategic Planning activities.

She started her career in London as an Economist in the Capital Markets division of BNP Paribas and was with the bank for nearly seven years in its offices in London, Singapore and Hong Kong. She also has a personal interest in the field of education and is a Trustee of the Friends of the University of Warwick in Singapore Trust.

She obtained her Master of Science and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Rushdi Azeez

Head of Finance - Group Finance

Mr. Rushdi Azeez acts as Head of Finance - Group Finance and joined the Goodhope Group in 2009. He is responsible for Finance functions of the Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd Company, the Sri Lankan subsidiaries of the Group, Group-level Treasury and Banking operations as well as Financial Reporting at the Group level.

He started his career as a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young, Sri Lanka and then moved to the position of Chief Accountant/Group Budget Controller for the Hayleys Group. He subsequently held the position of the General Manager - International Marketing at Dipped Products PLC (a Hayleys subsidiary), and prior to joining the Goodhope Group was the CEO of Macson Mesh Industries (Pvt) Ltd.

Mr. Azeez is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), United Kingdom and holds an MBA from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

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Carl Dagenhart

Head of Group Sustainability

Carl Dagenhart joined the Goodhope Group in 2021 as Group Head of Sustainability.

Before joining Goodhope Carl managed sustainability, stakeholder relations, and corporate communications at Sime Darby Plantation and IOI Group. Over the 10-year working experience in the palm oil industry Carl acquired significant on-the-ground exposure to a variety of sustainability challenges in Indonesia, Malaysia, Africa, and Europe, including valuable expertise in managing high-profile, land- and community-related disputes.

Carl started his career as a diplomat, after which he joined the World Bank Group where he spent 15 years managing various private sector development projects in Belarus, Russia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia (7 years), and Solomon Islands. He holds a Master Degree in International Relations from MGIMO (Moscow State Institute of International Relations) and an MBA from San Francisco State University.

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Gnanasegaran Kesiya

Regional Controller

K Gnanasegaran is the Director of Plantations with over 33 years’ experience in Oil Palm Plantation. He joined GHAL in 2012 as General Manager and later as Regional Controller. Prior to joining Goodhope, he was with PPBOP/Wilmar for a period of 15 years.

He has been working in Indonesia for nearly 2 decades and has built sound understanding of people, culture and the communities. He is a hands-on planter, who drives the plantation business with clear vision and mission, by ensuring superior quality, productivity and cost management.

He has been instrumental in professional development of many plantation managers and general managers.

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Muthukumaran Murugiah

Head of Engineering

Muthukumaran Murugiah joined the Group in 2019 and is currently the Director – Engineering

Prior to joining Goodhope, he was the Head of Engineering for New Britain Palm Oil (Sime Darby Plantations) in Papua New Guinea. In his 18-year plantation career he has worked in Sime Darby Plantations, New Britain Palm Oil LTD and Cargill Temasik Plantations. He has also worked in the plastic industry, food processing and the solvent extraction industry.

Muthukumaran graduated with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Science, Malaysia

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T Hendro

Director – Tax and Statutory Compliances

Hendro joined Goodhope Group in 2013 as Deputy Head of Tax and Statutory Compliance and later promoted to Head of Tax and Statutory Assurance in 2017. Hendro is currently the Director and Head of Tax and Statutory Compliance.

He started his career as an accountant with KPMG Hanadi & Sudjendro and later joined Ernst & Young Hanadi, Sarwoko & Sandjaja. During his time as an accountant with KPMG and E&Y, he worked closely with many large and midscale plantation companies and organizations in Oil & Gas and Telecom.

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Saliya Rodrigo

Head of Finance Upstream

Saliya Rodrigo is the Head of Finance of the Plantation Segment and a Director of the Plantation Operating Companies of the GAHL Group and accounts for over 14 years with the Group. He started his career with SJMS Associates affiliated with Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in year 2000 and in 2003 he joined Brandix Intimate Apparel the largest apparel exporter in Sri Lanka. His role as Head of Finance includes managing the operational finance, treasury operations, budgeting, performance monitoring & reporting, ERP system and internal control environment.

He holds a Special Degree in Accountancy and Financial Management from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and he is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants of Sri Lanka.

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Amjad Ibrahim

Head of Business Services and Process Re-engineering

Amjad Ibrahim as the Head of Procurement / Business Services of Goodhope Group leads the Upstream Procurement function, Group Information Technology & Business Process Management verticals. Amjad is a Member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) UK and past member of the SLASSCOM FAO forum.

Having started his career with KPMG Sri Lanka in year 2000 and then joined Carson’s group as an Assistant Accountant – Plantation Sector in 2003 and moved to Indonesia operations as a Management Accountant in 2006. He then became Financial Controller in 2008 prior to move to set up the Shared Services Centre in 2009 as Head of Finance & Accounting. He brings along 20+ years of experience in IT / Finance & accounting domains.

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Ahmad Latif

Group Chief Risk officer & Chief Financial Officer – Downstream

Ahmad Latif joined the Group in May 2020 to lead the Finance function in the Group’s downstream business and at the Group level to spearhead the Risk Management function.

Prior to joining Ahmad worked at international banks including with Standard Chartered Bank in various business and risk roles across multiple geographies and more recently as CRO HSBC Amanah in Malaysia.

His experience covers banking a variety of businesses during periods of economic growth as well as being on the ground at times of major local turbulence including Nairobi during the 2007/2008 Kenya Crisis, and in Bangkok during the 2010 political protests.

Ahmad has an MBA (Finance) from City University, London and is a keen marathon runner.

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