MONETABRIEF - Thilina Panduwawala has been appointed as Executive Director of Frontier Research, a consultancy that provides macro-economic research for institutional investors, treasury teams and banks.
The appointment is effective from January 01, 2027.
"He will lead the firm’s strategy and research agenda," Frontier Research said in a statement.
"His mandate is to deepen the conviction of its macroeconomic research on Sri Lanka, strengthen relationships with institutional investors, boards, treasury teams and trading desks, and develop Frontier Research’s next generation of research talent."
Panduwawala was recruited and trained by Frontier Research founder Amal Sanderatne in 2016.
Since October 2025, Panduwawela has served as Senior Consultant to Parliament’s Committee on Public Finance.
He has supported the Committee’s oversight of fiscal and monetary policy across Budget 2026, the ongoing Budget 2027, and the fiscal packages that followed Cyclone Ditwah and the Middle East conflict.
The role has also given him a view from inside the fiscal machinery of the State, the economy’s single largest participant, the firm said.
Before that he had been with the Asian Development Bank's Resident Mission for 18 months and returned to Frontier during Sri Lanka's economic crisis.
"Thilina has seen Sri Lanka’s economy from every vantage point that matters: a multilateral lender at the ADB, investors and treasury teams at Frontier Research, and now the State’s finances from within Parliament," Frontier Research Director Chanakya Dissanayake said in the statement.
"That breadth, together with the rigour Amal instilled in him, makes him the right person to lead Frontier Research into what will be its strongest chapter yet."
Sanderatne had set up frontier’s macroeconomic research service on the conviction that getting the macro call right is essential to superior investment returns in Sri Lanka, the company said. (Colombo/Nov12/2026)