Brown & Company’s Sanakan named Transformation Leader
As a leader renowned for his innovative and path-breaking ideation, Director/Chief Executive Officer of Brown& Company PLC, Thamotharampillai Sanakan was recognized under the category of ‘Transformation Leader of the Year 2022’ at the prestigious CEO Awards held in February 2023, at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo.
The ceremony celebrated notable individuals who have not only achieved outstanding success in their respective industries, but have made significant strides and impactedthe communities they live and work in.
Sanakan joined Brown & Company PLC as Chief Financial Officer in 2013 and was later tasked with the additional role of leading its operations as Chief Operating Officer in 2020. He presently serves as Director/Chief Executive Officer and has played an integral role in transforming the Company. Sanakan comes armed with over 25 years of expertise and having held many senior management roles in a cross-section of industries such as; Financial Services, Trading, Export, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Commodities and Consumer. Sanakan took over the leadership of the Company during a challenging era and despite this, achieved the highest profitability in its history. With that, Browns additionally went on to be ranked fourth in the LMD Top 100 by Profit.
Excelling in the area of digital transformation, change management, new business start-ups, business process re-engineering and project and strategic business management, Sanakan has infused Browns’ 148-year old legacy with state-of-the-art technology and transformed it into a digitally-savvy entity further fortified by its long-standing heritage.
Under his guidance, Browns has successfully implemented South East Asia’s first cloud-based ERP system with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central.
Sanakan’s unwavering purpose for Browns is to see it explore new avenues of profit, optimize business operations, manage resources effectively and maintain the right balance across all processes.
Sanakan said, “My vision is not just for the business, but for its people too. By inspiring them to see opportunity in everything, learn from failure and challenging themselves beyond their limits, we transform people who ultimately transform the company. This in turn, creates a new generation of transformation leaders.”
In his journey of growing the Company to greater heights, Sanakan continues to foster and steward the 148 legacy of trust that Browns has between its key stakeholders, suppliers, dealers and own employees.
During both the Covid-19 pandemic and the current challenging economic conditions, the Company worked diligently to ensure an undisrupted supply of products and services that extended not just to busy, urban cities but to far-flung villagesisland-wide.
Sanakan currently functions as a Director for Associated Battery Manufacturers (Ceylon) Ltd., BI Holdings and several other group companies.
He has additionally served on the boards of Commercial Leasing & Finance PLC, LOLC Development Finance PLC and was the Audit Committee Chairman for LOLC Development Finance PLC.