PhD, MBA,MISM
Nilakshi Galahitiyawe is a Senior Lecturer (Grade I) in the Department of Decision Sciences, Facultyof Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.Dr.Galahitiyawe obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing Management (Sp) from Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, university of Sri Jayewardenepura in 2001. She obtained her Masters Degree from Faculty of Graduate Studies of the same University specialized inOperations Management. In Year 2013, she completed her Doctoral Degree from University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in the field of Services Supply Chain Management.
Her main areas of teaching include, supply chain management, services management and research methods for social sciences.
Apart from providing her teaching and research capabilities to many faculties in the University of Sri Jayewardenepura she has been providing her services to other higher educational institutions in Sri Lanka such as Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM,USJP), University of Colombo,and University of Kelaniya.
Dr. Nilakshi Galahitiyawe also a well-known speaker and trainer for data analysis using Structural Equation Modeling at the National Centre for Advanced Social studies(NCAS), Sri Lanka for several years. In her academic life, she has published a number research papers in many international conferences peer-reviewed and international journals. She also served as a reviewer for several journals and conference papers locally and internationally. Apart from that, she holds several academic positions at the University such as Co-Editor of Vidyodaya Journal of Management(VJM), Member of Editorial Board in Sri Lankan Journal of Management (SLJM) published by Postgraduate Institute of Management, USJP.
Dr. Galahitiyawe also been working as the ‘National Coordinator’ for e-learning program conducted by the Asian Institute of Productivity and Quality in collaboration with Institute of Productivity and Quality, Ministry of Public Administration in Sri Lanka. Currently, she is attached to the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, as a Senior Lecturer and the Coordinator of the Doctoral Programme.
MBA,HRM(UK) MISM
Sandra is the Group Chief Customer Officer of Dialog Axiata Plc and the Chairperson of the Digital Customer Experience Expert Working Group for Axiata. Sandra is also a Director of Dialog Business Services.
She has over 30 years of experience in the Mobile Industry and is the recipient of multiple awards for Women in Management, leadership and for her exceptional contribution and achievements in the sphere of Customer Experience Management. In 2017, she was honoured with the CMI Management Excellence Award for Women in Management. Sandra was also one among 7 service practitioners across the globe to have received the prestigious Customer Experience Impact Award, presented by the Customer Experience Professionals Association USA.
Sandra is an avid keynote speaker, panelist and presenter and has spoken at over 100 global events representing Dialog. She is a certified Customer Experience Professional from CXPA and an alumna of the Cranfield School of Management UK. She is also a Lean Six Sigma practitioner and a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo School of Computing since 2009.
In addition to her role at Dialog, Sandra is a founding member and a Director of SLASSCOM, the national IT-Knowledge solutions chamber of Sri Lanka and a founding member and Vice President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Service Management (SLISM).
Msc,MISM
Madhuri Fernando is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She graduated from University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka with a Bachelor of Science Marketing (Special) Degree and obtained her Master’s degree with a Merit Pass from Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), Sri Lanka. She is specialized in lecturing in Consumer Behavior, Marketing Management, and Services Marketing in which she conducts research. Some of her research work has been published on Asia-Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Management Research Review and International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship. She is also specialised in Soft Skills Development of undergraduates where she acts as a consultant. She serves as the Editor of University of Kelaniya Newsletter and also serves as the Coordinator of Diploma in People Skills – a soft skills based Diploma delivered to undergraduates of University of Kelaniya.
PhD, MBA,MBS,bsc(Eng),BA,ACMA,MISM
Sameera Holds a Bsc (Engineering) degree from the University of Moratuwa and BA degree from Leeds Beckett University UK. He also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied statistics. Subsequently, he obtained Masters degrees from Australian Institute of Business and University of Colombo. There after, Sameera obtained the PhD in Management from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He is an associate member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK, and The Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka. Sameera accounts for more than 12 years managerial experience in middle and senior management roles in Private Sector. He has published many articles in service management and currently engaged with SLISM as an Associate Editor.
MSc,. FCS, MISM
Mr. Yasa Karunaratne graduated from the University of Ceylon with a BSc. Honours in 1967. and in 1979 was awarded a United Nations Fellowship and obtained his Masters in Computer Science from Colorado State University.In 1969 he joined the State Engineering Corporation where he started his illustrious career in Information Technology. In 1970 Mr Karunaratne joined the Department of Census and Statistics where he was fully responsible for architecting the 1971 Census of Population. He served as the Head of IT Department in Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Head of IT Department in ETF Board.
He currently serves as the Secretary General of South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation (SEARCC). He has played a vital role in organising international conferences in Kuala Lumpur, Sydney, Chennai, Brisbane and Mumbai. He was an Information Specialist for the US Department of Agriculture and a National Consultant to the United Nations. He revolutionised the Computerised Utility Billing in Sri Lanka in 1987, which has been adopted by the leading utility providers in the country. He was also a Council Member of the Computer Information and Technology Council of Sri Lanka (CINTEC). Mr. Karunaratne was a founder member of CSSL and was awarded the Honorary Fellowship of CSSL in 2001. He introduced the National Schools Software Competition to Sri Lanka in 1990 and enabled Sri Lankan school children to participate in International competitions.
One of the prestigious moments of his presidency in CSSL was the hosting of the Sri Lanka’s first International IT Conference – SEARCC’95. As the first Sri Lankan President, Mr. Karunaratne’s leadership as the Chairman of the SEARCC’95 Organising Committee that enabled to enhance Sri Lanka’s image internationally.He has represented the Computer Profession in the Organisation of Professional Associations since 1989 and was its Vice President on two occasions. He was the Chairman of Sri Lanka Information and Communication Technology Association (SLICTA) from 2003-2005 which was considered the voice of the ICT industry in Sri Lanka.
MBA,HRM(UK) MISM
Ms. Rekha Weerasooriya is the General Manager, Customer Experience Management & People Development at Dialog Axiata PLC, the Premier Connectivity Provider in Sri Lanka. She has over 19 years’ experience in Customer Experience and Human Resources. She is responsible for Customer Experience Service Culture Transformation to deliver best in class service experience for Dialog customers by developing people capability and driving customer advocacy. Rekha has handled multiple roles across the organization including Retail, Contact Center and HR. She was selected as an Axiata Champion which is the top 0.5% elite performers amongst the Axiata Group. World HRD Congress 2018 awarded her “100 Most Influential Global HR Leaders Award” and “100 Top Global Training & Development Minds Award”.
She is a Certified Trainer from City and Guilds UK, holds a Diploma in Human Resource Management from Wigan and Leigh UK, a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, she is a Certified Customer Service Manager by Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium Hong Kong and holds a MBA from Buckinghamshire New University, UK. Rekha successfully completed a resident General Management Development Programme “Leadership in the Digital Age”, at INSEAD Business School, Singapore.
Dr. Gamini Gunawardane had his basic education at Ananda College and St. Thomas ‘College (Matara) and completed his initial university education at the University of Ceylon receiving a B.Sc. (First Class) degree and later, at the Vidyodaya University receiving an MBA (Distinction Pass). Thereafter, he proceeded on a Fulbright Scholarship to the prestigious Graduate School of Business at University of Chicago in U.S.A. where he received his MBA and Ph. D. specializing in Operations Research and Operations Management.
Thereafter, Dr. Gunawardane was a professor at University of Zambia (Acting Dean of the Business School), University of Chicago, University of Scranton and California State Universities at Fullerton and Los Angeles. He is recognized as an international scholar in Service Management, a key subfield of business operations management. He has over twenty five publications in international peer reviewed scholarly journals many of which have been cited by other scholars in their work. He also has extensive management expertise in public organizations and private companies in Sri Lanka and U.S.A.
Dr. Gunawardane has been working with academics and public and private sector managers in Sri Lanka over the past several years on improving Service Management education, training and research in Sri Lanka. His book “Service Management: Concepts, Principles and Applications for Sri Lanka” was published in August 2017. This book is an important component of his efforts to encourage improvement of service management in Sri Lanka. Considering the fact that over sixty percent of Sri Lankan economic activity is in the services sector, his efforts should receive great appreciation.
Thereafter, Dr. Gunawardane, working with academics and public-private sector professionals, was instrumental in forming the Sri Lanka Institute of Service Management in January 2018.