Roy Ratnavel

Roy Ratnavel is a Sri Lankan Tamil Canadian business executive and the author of the book Prisoner #1056.

He was a Vice Chairman and served as the Head of Distribution and Executive Vice-President at the CI Financial.

Early life
Ratnavel was born in 1969 in Colombo, Sri Lanka and brought up in Point Pedro, a small town in the northern part of Jaffna Peninsula during the Sri Lankan Civil War.

He was arrested during Operation Liberation just for being a Tamil on suspicion and became a political prisoner at the age of 17 and underwent severe hardships at the prison in brutal and oppressive ways. After his miraculous release from prison, he reached Canada at the age of 18 with just $50 in his pocket.

Two days after arriving, his father was shot and killed. He had to start life in the new country in a highly traumatised condition, alone.

Education
Ratnavel's secondary education was at Hartley College. Ratnavel completed his high school while working. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto.

Career
Ratnavel started his career with an entry-level job in CI Financial’s mailroom and subsequently rose to senior leadership positions as an executive vice president and later as a vice chairman and then retired after serving more than 30 years at CI Financial.

Awards and recognition
Best Executive Awards by The Globe and Mail


 * Ratnavel is one of the award recipients among 50 Canadian Best Executives in 2020; they led their companies through COVID-19 and built a better country in the process. The recipients were vetted by The Globe and Mail editors.