School Board

Ms Amena Arif (Board Chair)

Amena moved to Sri Lanka with her two children in 2016 and joined the OSC Board the next year. She is an experienced banker working in the area of development finance as the Country Manager, Sri Lanka and Maldives for the International Finance Corporation. Amena is a Pakistan national and has prior Board experience with financial sector entities.

Mr Raj K Omprasadham

Raj K Omprasadham is a Sri Lankan national and joined the OSC Board in September 2015. He also serves on the Finance Committee. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM) and has over 30 years of experience in businesses varying from genetics to computer software. He serves on the Boards of commercial companies as well as non-profit organisations. He has two children at OSC.

Ms Nancy VanHorn

Nancy VanHorn has two children at OSC. She joined the Board in September 2018 and works at the US Embassy. Prior to joining the US Foreign Service, Nancy consulted on message development for political campaigns, coordinated internal communications for a Caspian Sea oil project, conducted civic advocacy programmes in Russia and worked on a Presidential Inaugural Committee. She has served extensively in Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Ms Aruni Goonetilleke

Aruni Goonetilleke has over 25 years’ experience in Banking and Finance in international and local banks and worked in Singapore for 15 years. She is currently a Board Director of Tea Smallholder Factories PLC, Sunshine Holdings PLC and Softlogic Finance PLC. She has a Master’s in Law from Harvard University, USA and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She has also been a visiting lecturer in Law at the University of Colombo. She is currently the Chair of the Governance Committee and has previously been the Chair of the Finance Committee.

Mr Rahul Bhan

Rahul Bhan and his wife Nidhi are parents of two children, both are students at OSC. He moved to Sri Lanka in 2016 and joined the OSC Board in 2019. Rahul is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAI-India), holds an MBA (Nyenrode Business University – Netherlands), and is a Certified Internal Auditor (IIA-USA). Rahul serves as Director – Internal Audit for seven international diplomatic agricultural research organisations (donor driven, non-profit, scientific research organisations) i.e. WorldFish – Malaysia, IRRI - Philippines, IWMI – Sri Lanka, WorldVeg – Taiwan, AfricaRice – Ivory Coast, World Agroforestry (ICRAF) – Kenya and CIFOR – Indonesia. These organisations contribute strongly to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are funded by World Bank, USAID, European Union, DFID, ADB, AfDB, Governments of various countries and other International donors e.g. Gates Foundation. Rahul has lived in and travelled to over 50 countries including The Netherlands, South Africa, Kuwait, UAE, and India.

Mr Sudath Perera

Sudath Perera is a Sri Lankan citizen and the founder of Sudath Perera Associates and the Managing Partner. Sudath has crafted a unique brand of legal services which ensured the success of the firm since its inception. He was called to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1991. He gained invaluable experience working with several senior lawyers, including a leading President’s Counsel of the Colombo Bar. He has also served as a Director on the Export Development Board under the purview of the Board of Investment Sri Lanka. Further, he currently serves on the Board of the investment firm Investrust Capital (Private) Limited. Sudath has three daughters attending OSC.

Mr Jonas Bridgwater

Jonas Bridgwater is a Swedish citizen. He joined the Board in 2016 and has one child at OSC. Jonas has worked in the software industry for 25 years and has co-founded and serves on the Boards of several software companies. He has lived in Sri Lanka since 1998.

Mr Ari Nathan

Ari and his wife Monique are the parents of two children at OSC. Ari is the Indo-Pacific regional coordinator for South Asia at the American Embassy. Ari has previously served with the Department of State in Washington DC, Nepal, Spain, Iraq, Colombia, and Mexico. Prior to joining the Department, he worked for the United Nations in a regional seas programme, and as legal counsel for the pacific island nation of Palau. Ari has a law degree and a PhD in international relations.

Ms Tiia Juhkam

Tiia Juhkam is an Estonian citizen. She joined the Board in September 2020. Tiia is married with three kids, the youngest is attending OSC. Tiia is a certified IB PYP Early Years teacher and she has worked at international schools in Bangkok and Dhaka. Also, Tiia has broad experience working with not-for-profit and non-governmental educational organisations in Estonia as a project leader and manager. She has served as a Board member of the Adult Education Association of Estonia (EVHL). Before moving to Colombo in October 2019, Tiia worked as an Executive Assistant to the Consul General of the Republic of Estonia in New York.

Mr Jelmer Kuyvenhoven

Jelmer is a Dutch citizen and moved to Colombo in 2019 with his wife and two children who are at OSC. Jelmer has been active in the telecommunication industry since the start of his working career. He has worked for various telecommunication companies in Europe and West Africa for 20 years. He serves on the Board of the Lideke Wery Educational Institute and has been active as a consultant on telecommunication after arriving in Colombo. He has a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Twente University in the Netherlands. He is also an active field hockey and squash player.

Dr Michelle Kleiss (Head of School)

A Dutch/Canadian national, Dr Michelle Kleiss has built an international school career for the past 27 years. She started her Headship at OSC in July 2019, after 10 years as Head of School in Cyprus - another CIS/MSA and IB authorised school. Prior to Cyprus, she was a Head of School in Saudi Arabia, and an Early Childhood Principal as well as Middle School Principal in Cairo – Egypt. She has worked as a classroom teacher in Munich – Germany, in São Paulo – Brazil, and in the Dominican Republic. She has an undergraduate degree in Education from The American University in Washington DC – USA, a Master’s degree in Education in School Administration and Instructional Supervision from Bowie State University, Maryland – USA, and a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership from Lehigh University, Pennsylvania – USA.