Director General
The Data Protection Authority of Sri Lanka (DPA)Mr Waruna Sri Dhanapala
Mr. Waruna Sri Dhanapala is a Special Grade Officer of Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) with over 24 years of public service and currently serving in the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils & Local Government as the Additional Secretary (Regional Administration Reforms) since September 2020. He was also appointed as Acting Director General of the Data Protection Authority in November 2023 while serving in his full-time SLAS position. Prior to the present positions, Mr. Dhanapala served in the Ministry of Telecommunication & Digital Infrastructure and the Ministry of Defence as the Additional Secretary / Senior Assistant Secretary in charge of Development for over four (04) years coordinating several policy initiatives and national projects on ICT/digitalization, data protection, skills on digitalization, ICT for development and cybersecurity. His previous SLAS positions include Assistant Secretary/Senior Assistant Secretary to the President at the Presidential Secretariat (10 years) and Director - Natural Resources at the Ministry of Environment (01 year). Mr. Dhanapala held a diplomatic position as the Minister Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York during 2012-2014. He was an active Member of the UN Open Working Group on formulating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and was unanimously elected as Vice Chair of the Economic & Finance Committee (Second Committee) of the United Nations General Assembly at its 68th Session by 53 Member States of the Asia-Pacific Group. He was responsible for the drafting and adopting several key UN Resolutions covering global economic, social, environmental and financial issues of the post-2015 global development agenda, including ‘ICT for Development’, ‘Science and Technology for Development’, ‘Globalization and Interdependence’ and ‘South-South Co-operation’. He often invited to be the moderator, panelist and speaker in several international and national conferences including of the UN agencies and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) of India. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Development Studies from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) of Japan, Masters in Public Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura and a BSc (Special Degree) in Geology and Computer Science from University of Peradeniya. He is a Professional Member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka and a Member of the Institute of Management of Sri Lanka.