Roy Ratnavel, author of Prisoner #1056, shares his harrowing journey from a political prisoner to a leader in Canada's financial sector. His story is one of remarkable resilience, overcoming PTSD and immense personal trials to achieve professional success. Listen to this podcast on YouTube or Spotify.

February 2024

Who is prisoner #1056? If you haven't read the best selling book and heard Roy Ratnavel's story-tune in now!

This episode takes you from the mail room to the board room where Roy shares his epic business and personal journey to success.

Get all the lesson's from Roy's journey and hear why Prisoner #1056 did not let his circumstances dictate his future outcomes. Roy's story will inspire you and this episode is the perfect ending to Season 2.

December 2023

In this episode we speak with Roy Ratnavel, author of Prisoner # 1056: How I Survived War and Found Peace. Roy discusses his journey from political prisoner in Sri Lanka to Executive Vice-President of a major financial services company in Canada.

December 2023

In this video, Roy Ratnavel talks about Trauma in the Sri Lankan Civil War.


ROY RATNAVEL was born in 1969 in the capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. At the age of seventeen, he became a political prisoner and spent gruelling months in brutal and oppressive conditions. After his miraculous release from prison, he arrived in Canada all alone at the age of eighteen with $50 in his pocket, then rose from the mailroom to the boardroom. Ratnavel is now a retired Bay Street executive who was the Vice Chairman of Canada’s largest independent asset management company.
Roy is also the recipient of Report on Business, Canada’s 50 Best Executives 2020 award. He is involved in many philanthropic causes—including the 2019 successful summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to bring awareness and shatter the stigma surrounding mental illness and to raise money for the fight against this debilitating health issue. He is a mentor to many emerging young leaders in the asset management business. Roy is a keynote speaker and a bestselling author. His first book, Prisoner #1056, became an immediate #1 national bestseller in Canada.

August 2023

“Born in 1969 in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, Roy Rathnavel, at the age of seventeen, became a political prisoner and spent a few months in brutal prison. Released from prison with the help of a family friend, he went to Canada on his own to seek asylum at the age of eighteen. He retired a few weeks ago after holding a senior position at Canada's largest independent fund management firm, facing many difficult events. He describes himself as “Sri Lankan by birth, Tamilian by pride, Canadian by choice”.

July 2023

Imagine being imprisoned at just 17 years old in a Sri Lanka prison camp and then miraculously finding your way to Canada, where you'd go on to become a successful executive. That's the incredible story of Roy Ratnavel, author of Prisoner Number 1056, who joins Aaron Pete in this deeply inspiring conversation. Aaron Pete and @Prisoner1056 explore the importance of hard work, resilience, and staying true to one's values, as Roy shares his remarkable journey that highlights the power of hope and humanity even in the darkest situations.

December 2022

Our latest Tamil Innovators Spotlight features Roy Ratnavel. Roy was born in 1969 in the capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. At the age of seventeen, he became a political prisoner, and spent grueling months in brutal and oppressive conditions. After his miraculous release from prison, he arrived in Canada all alone at the age of eighteen, with just $50 in his pocket. Ratnavel is now an executive at Canada’s largest independent asset management company. Prisoner #1056 is his first book. He currently resides in Toronto.

December 2021

After being forced to leave war-torn Sri Lanka and immigrating to Canada, Roy Ratnavel (@roy_ratnavel) started as a mail clerk at CI Global Asset Management and over the span of 30 years, has made the leap to Executive Vice-President at CI Financial as well as the Head of Distribution for CI Global Asset Management. He joins Ara on this week’s episode of The Tamil Creator to discuss his upcoming book, the importance of hard work and (calculated) risk-taking, people’s inability to amicably disagree in today’s social media era, climbing Machu Picchu and much more.

June 2022

July 2021

After being forced to leave war-torn Sri Lanka and immigrating to Canada, Roy started as a mail clerk at CI Global Asset Management and over the span of 30 years, has made the leap to Executive Vice-President at CI Financial as well as the Head of Distribution for CI Global Asset Management. This week's episode is all about strategies Roy Ratnavel used to climb the corporate ladder in Canada. I discussed extensively with Roy the strategies he used to navigate his career and how he leveraged his unique attributes to stand out in his professional and personal life.

April 2021

Out of necessity, remote work boomed in 2020; and many organizations are now recognizing the agility and effectiveness of their remote workforce. This means that the return to the office is going to look a bit different, and leaders like you will have to embrace new strategies for managing hybrid remote teams.