Professor Lakshman Ratnayake is the Chancellor and Chairman of SLIIT, bringing over 45 years of experience in higher education and engineering. Prior to this role, he served as Chairman and Senior Professor of Civil Engineering from April 2014. Before joining SLIIT, he held several key positions at the University of Moratuwa, including Senior Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Engineering (1989-1994), and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering (1995-2001). Throughout his academic career, Prof. Ratnayake also held professorial positions at the University of Calgary, Canada, and Utah State University, USA, during his sabbaticals. He was honored as an Emeritus Professor by the University of Moratuwa in 2014.

He served as Vice Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) from 2001 to 2006 and held the presidency of both the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) in 2002 and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) in 2004. He also led two World Bank-funded higher education projects from 2004 to 2014.