26 Facts About Shemara Wikramanayake

Shemara Wikramanayake was born on 1962 and is an Australian businesswoman.

Shemara Wikramanayake embarked on a career as a lawyer and then as a banker.

Shemara Wikramanayake is well known for her efforts in implementing creative strategies and methodologies to finance low carbon emissions and has made collaborations with powerful forces to achieve the goal of low carbon emissions.

Shemara Wikramanayake has often advocated to increase renewable energy production and has called on the governments to quadruple renewable energy production by 2030 with the intention to minimize the global effects of climate change.

Shemara Wikramanayake worked as a corporate lawyer at Blake Dawson Waldron before joining Macquarie Group Ltd in 1987.

Shemara Wikramanayake headed Macquarie's corporate advisory office in New Zealand and she was instrumental in setting up corporate advisory offices in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

Shemara Wikramanayake worked with Macquarie Capital for nearly 20 years and was appointed as the head of the Macquarie Asset Management in 2008 and headed the asset management arm of the company for more than a decade.

Shemara Wikramanayake went onto become the first female CEO of Macquarie Group and turned out to be the sixth CEO of Macquarie Group.

Shemara Wikramanayake is the only female CEO among Australia's 20 biggest companies by market value and the first Asian-Australian woman to head an ASX 200 listed company.

Shemara Wikramanayake was ranked 29th in the list of Most Powerful Women in the World for the Year 2020 by Forbes.

Shemara Wikramanayake was ranked 24th in the list of Most Powerful Women in the World for the Year 2021 by Forbes.

Shemara Wikramanayake was named as one of Fortune's Most Powerful and Influential Women in a roundup of global female business leaders segment.

Shemara Wikramanayake was one of the speakers who attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference which was held in Glasgow and she spoke about the mobilizing private climate finance for emerging markets.

Shemara Wikramanayake was initially implied as the de facto leader of Australian delegation during the COP26 summit as rumours started circulating that Morrison would not be probably attending the COP26 conference.

Shemara Wikramanayake was named as of The Australian Financial Review Business People of the Year for 2021 in recognition of her leadership prowess amid the COVID-19 pandemic related uncertainties.

Shemara Wikramanayake is regarded as the longest serving senior employee of Macquarie with roughly over 35 years of experience.

Shemara Wikramanayake formulated strategies to position Macquarie Group to take the centre-stage at the COP26 initiative to find $137 million in financing from governments, private sector institutions and multi-later development banks to pay for the decarbonisation of emerging countries over the next ten years.

Shemara Wikramanayake provides advice and consultancy on green technology investment to the Government of Australia.

Shemara Wikramanayake was appointed as the co-chair of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative in India.

Shemara Wikramanayake was born in England, where her Sri Lankan father was a doctor.

Shemara Wikramanayake's family reported to have faced racism in England which likely prompted their decision to leave England with a prospect of moving to Australia in order to rebuild and revive their careers and fortunes.

Shemara Wikramanayake attended a state school in London before the family moved to Australia, where she went to Ascham School.

Shemara Wikramanayake moved to Australia at the age of 14 along with her family in the 1970s and the family carried only just around $200 with them when they reached Australia.

In 2018, in an interview with Australian Financial Review her father Ranji Shemara Wikramanayake recalled the fond memories of their life in Sri Lanka and revealed that they enjoyed luxurious and privileged life while growing up in Sri Lanka but they thought of migrating to Australia after going through some tough times.

The Shemara Wikramanayake family settled in Australian city Sydney in 1975 and Ranji was offered a part-time job at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Shemara Wikramanayake pursued Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Law from the University of New South Wales in 1985.