R. Lakshmanan is the Chief Executive Officer of Sakana Holistic Housing Solutions BSC (c), Kingdom of Bahrain since early 2006.

Lakshmanan’s overall responsibilities include overseeing the development and implementation of a full range of real estate solutions and associated multi-level services. Lakshmanan is also the Board Secretary.

In addition, Lakshmanan is a member of the Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Chairman of the Strategic Initiatives Committee of the Waqf Fund for Research, Education and Training in Islamic Finance, Board Member of Bahrain Property Development Association (BaPDA) and Member of the Research Advisory Committee of Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF).

Previously, Lakshmanan held several senior positions with financial institutions and corporates across the GCC and India, giving him over 20 years of wide ranging experience.  Over the last 12 years, he has specialized in retail financial services - conventional and Islamic, resulting in a diverse knowledge base in all areas of the business.Coming to the Gulf in 1996, he joined KPMG, Bahrain in the Audit division and primarily handled financial sector clients.  He then moved to Alliance Housing Bank (AHB), Oman in 1998, a public company and the first private mortgage finance institution in the GCC. At AHB, he held various positions heading Internal Audit, Sales & Distribution, Credit, Operations, Financial Control, Treasury, Investments and was also the Acting General Manager and Board Secretary for a brief period. Lakshmanan moved to Amlak Finance in 2003, the first mortgage finance institution in the UAE and was involved in its conversion from private to public company through an IPO and also from a conventional to Islamic provider. At the time of leaving Amlak, he held the position of Chief Retail & Risk Officer responsible for Sales & Distribution, Corporate Communication, Product Development, Credit and Risk management.

Lakshmanan holds a Masters Degree in Commerce from the University of Chennai, India. He is an Associate member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has lectured at professional finance programs, and at seminars and conferences in the GCC and Europe on real estate, mortgages and Islamic finance. Lakshmanan also writes occasionally articles on mortgages and Islamic finance.