Mr. Gemunu Goonewardene, the chairman of Win-Stone Group is also a non-executive Director of the Board of Aitken Spence Hotel Holding PLC and currently appointed chairman of the Tourist Hotels Classification Committee since 2019 and has been a member since 1998. His contribution to the committee includes being part of the team which drafted the new Tourist Hotel Classification Criteria / Guideline Standards for hotels. Mr. Goonewardene was a member of the evaluation committee for Sri Lankan tourism awards - 2018 on Travel & Tourism Sector for Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. He serves as an External board member of the faculty of Management Studies (Sabaragamuwa University) and is a Graduate of the Ceylon Hotel school and has done his Post Graduate studies at the Culinary Institute of America. Formerly during his career with Aitken Spence he was Vice President responsible for Resource Planning & Development, Food & Beverage Services and Facilities, as well as a Director of Aitken Spence Resources (Pvt) Ltd responsible for overseas Recruitment and was responsible for planning, designing, equipping and staffing the food & beverage facilities of Kandalama Hotel, The Tea Factory Hotel, Ranahli Island Resort, Meedhupparu Island Resort, Heritance Aarah Maldives Luxury Resort in the Republic of Maldives and many other hotels under the purview of Aitken Spence Group. He was also totally involved in the Heritance Aarah Project, which is a luxury resort situated in Maldives, and was responsible for budgeting, planning, designing, equipping, staffing and training & development of all food & beverage/heart of the house facilities across 11 food & beverage outlets within the budget in timely manner. Heritance Aarah successfully opened in 2019 and it went on to be the winner of the Luxury Lifestyle Award 2021 in the category of the best luxury all-inclusive resorts in Asia. With extensive exposure, having worked in U.S.A., Europe and Australia and counting more than 40 years of valuable experience Mr Goonewardena has been an exemplary leader and mentor at Aitken Spence and to the Industry as a whole.

Holds a Bachelor of Catering Degree obtained from the University College of Hotel Management and Catering in Budapest, Hungary. Having obtained his Degree, he then worked in some of the leading Hotels in Hungary before returning to Sri Lanka in 1976.

He then joined the Lanka Oberoi (Now Cinnamon Grand) in the Food and Beverage Department and became the first Sri Lankan Food and Beverages Manager.

He has travelled widely with the Lanka Oberoi Team to promote the Hotel, Sri Lankan cuisine and culture in Hungary, Russia, Poland, Austria, China, Taiwan Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and India.

Eraj was promoted as Executive Assistant Manager at the Lanka Oberoi and continued in that capacity untill he retired from service in July 2004. During this tenure, he gained exposure in the Oberoi Group of Hotels, namely Oberoi Sheraton in Bombay, the Oberoi Inter-Continental in New Delhi and the Oberoi Imperial in Singapore.

In January 2007 he joined George Stewart and Company Limited as Consultant and continued up to March 2011. Subsequently he joined Imperial Institute of Hospitality as the director studies. Further he was a member of the Hotel Classification Committee, responsible for classifying Hotels, since 1996 and subsequently functioned as the Chairman of the HCC. He was also a Member of the committee which formulated the revised criteria for classification of Tourist Hotels, and the member of the committee which formulated guideline standards for boutique Hotels and Villa, and Spas.

Wijitha is a Chartered Engineer with an honours Degree in Engineering from the University of Perdeniya and a Certificate in Management Techniques from the University of Amherst Massachusetts.

He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineering UK and a Fellow of ASHRAE of USA. He is a winner of the Professor Mohan Munasinghe Award for Energy Conservation and winner of RICS 2000 – Building Award as a service designer for the ‘Tea Factory Hotel’. With over 35 years in the hotel industry both locally and overseas he was the Director of Engineering at Aitken Spence Hotel Management (Pvt) Ltd. Prior to his retirement. He is currently practicing as a Senior Consultant in Building Services.

In view of his active services in, and contribution to, the tourism and hotel sector in Sri Lanka, and being well recognized as a leading specialist in the sector, Wijitha, was appointed as a member of the Hotel Classification Committee, responsible for classifying hotels and ensuring quality standards, in 2002 and subsequently served as the Chairman of the Hotels Classification Committee for Four years. He was also a member of the committee which formulated the revised criteria for classification of tourist hotels, and Member of the Committee which formulated guideline standards for Boutique Hotels, Villas and Spas. Wijitha was the local coordinator for obtaining the LEEDS Green Building Certificate for ‘Kandalama Hotel’, the first to do so outside the US, from the US Green Building Council. As a building services consultant he has designed the building services in full or part for a number of star class hotels. Including Chaya wild, Galadari, Ramada, Chaaya Blue, Cinnamon Bey, Citrus, Club Palm Bay. He was the Building Services Consultant handling the total building services package for the Anantara Peace Haven Resort at Tangalle where he worked with the foreign international Architects, Interior designers and the Hotel operators. He has a few LEED certified buildings designed by him to his credit. Wijitha has been a member of the committee which prepared the Energy Efficient Building Code for Buildings with the Ceylon Electricity Board and a member of the committee revising the national Fire Regulations for CIDA where his expertise was utilized. He is a visiting lecturer for the M Sc program in Building Services Engineering at the University of Moratuwa and a visiting lecturer in Engineering at the SLIIT.

Iyanthi has the distinction of being the first lady Executive Chef in Sri Lanka. She is the Assessor/Trainer for ‘Technical and Further Education’ (TAFE) of South Australia, Assessor/Trainer for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ), Sri Lanka, and an Assessor for City & Guilds.

She was a member of the committee appointed by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board to monitor standards of the restaurants and supplementary accommodation.

Iyanthi introduced Sri Lanka’s first online Cookery and Food & Beverage program, and produced Sri Lanka’s first culinary tabloid – RASASARANEE

Iyanthi established and has for more than 12 years successfully managed, Sri Lanka’s best private culinary school, Win-Stone School of Culinary Art (Pvt) Ltd., which has produced some of the best resources for the hospitality sector, and continues to produce the required trained personnel that is vital for the sustenance and growth of the sector.