Vinoda Basnayake is President of the MENA headquarters and Senior Advisor on Global Partnerships of Aspiration, a multi-billion dollar leading financial and sustainability services Public Benefit Corporation, which enables individuals, corporations, and governments around the world to reduce their carbon footprints through its global reforestation program and portfolio of high-quality, nature based carbon credits. Aspiration has been named one of the “World’s 50 Most innovative Companies” and “100 Most Brilliant Companies.”
Prior to joining Aspiration, Basnayake was a partner at the international law firm Nelson Mullins LLP where he was the Chairman of the Sovereign Practice and the DC Government Relations Practice. Basnayake advised foreign governments on U.S. policy and on how best to enhance their relationships with the U.S. government and advocate their policy objectives.
He has organized and participated in congressional delegations, trade missions, and regional economic conferences for sovereign clients and advised sovereign funds and international corporations on strategic foreign policy and market entry. He has previously represented the governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, India and Sri Lanka, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and numerous other sovereigns, funds, and international corporations.
Mr. Basnayake is ranked in the Legal 500, has been recognized as The Hill's Top Lobbyists for the past several years, was ranked as Top 40 under 40 by the Washington Business Journal and was honored as Top Lobbyist of 2020 by the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics. He has also been named Most Influential Under 40 for the past seven years by Washington Life Magazine.
Mr. Basnayake was previously Counsel at the international law firm Patton Boggs where he represented sovereign governments and funds. Prior to that he worked on the Finance Team of the Development Economics Group at the World Bank. He also worked in the U.S House of Representatives for Congressman Ronald Dellums (D-CA).
Mr. Basnayake has been nominated and confirmed for numerous political appointments. In 2020, Mr. Basnayake was appointed to be the first Chairman of Culture and Nightlife of Washington DC by Mayor Muriel Bowser. He was previously appointed Commissioner of the Small and Local Business Opportunity Commission for DC by former Mayor Adrian Fenty. He also served on Mayor Muriel Bowser's Transition Team for Economic Development and was named to the ReOpen DC Advisory Committee for safe reopening during the pandemic.
He also sits on numerous nonprofit and political boards. Mr. Basnayake was formerly the Chairman of the Board of DC Vote and sits on the boards of the Washington Institute, the Asian American Pacific Islander Victory Fund, Planet Reimagined, and the National Children's Museum. He was also the executive producer of the movie Sprinter with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
Mr. Basnayake is an honors graduate from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business where he was a double major and double minor. He received the Dean's Citation for Outstanding Contribution to the Campus, received the Outstanding Student Leader Award and was selected student graduation speaker by his class. He received a joint degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School of Business. Basnayake was a Global Justice Fellow at UPenn and Senior Editor of the Journal of International Law.
