Our Team

Mr. Karunaratne is the founder, Chairman and Managing Director of the Imperial Teas Group. His 40+ years of experience in the tea trade began in 1977 when he served as a Tea Taster at a leading tea export company in Sri Lanka. Extensive travel has given him an in depth knowledge of overseas markets and trading concepts and methodologies. He is the immediate Past Chairman of the Colombo Tea Traders Association and it is during his tenure as Chairman of CTTA that Mr. Karunaratne headed and facilitated the transition from an out cry auction system to an e-auction due to the severe implications caused on the tea industry from the Covid-19 pandemic. He is also a Past President of the Tea Exporters’ Association. Mr. Karunaratne was appointed as the President of the National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka on the 14th of March 2023.

He was a Board Member of the Sri Lanka Tea Board and a member of the promotion and marketing committee of the SLTB, former President of the Sri Lanka-Russia Business Council (SLRBC). He is also a member of the American Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka. Mr. Karunaratne also serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee for Tea, Value Added Tea, Beverages and related industries Sector of the Ministry of Industries.

In September 2007, he led a delegation of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce of the Trade & Investment Promotion Mission to Russia and the Ukraine. He was also a member of the Sri Lanka Team that conducted negotiations with Russia regarding the latter’s proposed accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).