He graduated from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura with a BSc in Management (Public Administration) Second Class Upper Division Degree. He also holds a Master’s Degree in International Development from Flinders University, Australia, and has completed two postgraduate diplomas: Economic Development from the University of Colombo and Development Economy from the Institute of Development Economies, Japan. His research topic for his Master’s Degree in International Development awarded by Flinders University in 2004 was “Rationalisation for Industrial Development in Sri Lanka”. In addition, holds a Licentiate Certificate from the ICASL, Sri Lanka.
Before assuming the current position he worked as a Senior Additional Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka and was assigned the duties of economic reforms in the section of Stabilisation Recovery and Growth of the economy. As the Director General, (Planning) of the Ministry of Education he was in charge of preparing the Capital Budget of the Ministry and monitoring the development projects of the Ministry. Further, as a Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, he was in charge of donor funding projects, implementation of trade and tariff policies of the Government, and monitoring of the national budget. Also, he has initiated the ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka Subsidiary Loan & Development Programme’ as a national budget proposal of the Government.
Mr. Atapattu has also functioned as Director General of the Department of Development. In that capacity, he has initiated warehouse receipts financing system for grain farmers and fertiliser cash subsidy scheme for farmers. Further, he has implemented Refinance Loan Schemes called “Small and Medium Enterprise Regional Development Project” (SMERDP) funded by the Asian Development Bank, “Small and Medium Enterprise Development Facility Project” (SMEDeF) funded by the World Bank, and “Small and Medium Enterprises Line of Credit (SMELoC) funded by the Asian Development Bank. In addition, he has executed the SME Development Programme funded by the German International Cooperation (GIZ) as well as the “Rooftop Solar Power Generation Line of Credit Project” (RSPGLoC) funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Mr Atapattu has also performed his duties as the Treasury Representative on the Board of Investments, People’s Bank, Sri Lankan Airline Limited, Sri Lanka Tea Board, National Lotteries Board, Sri Lanka Savings Bank, Lankaputhra Development Bank, Cooperative Wholesale Establishments, University of Vocational Technology and the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.
He was the Chairman of People’s Leasing & Finance PLC. He has served in the directorates of National Development Bank PLC, NDB Capital Holdings Ltd. – Bangladesh, The Finance Company PLC (appointed by the CBSL under the restructuring programme) Unidil Packaging Ltd. & Unidil Packaging and Solutions Ltd., and Deputy Chairman of Softlogic Life Insurance PLC.
His expertise includes all accounting and auditing standards and practices, Government regulations related to financial disciplines and ethics, human resource management and overall management practices and principles in both private and public sectors.
