IPM Awards Honorary Membership to Island’s Eminent Personalities

Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (IPM), the nation’s leader in HRM is the knowledge Centre for local and regional People Managers. As the catalyst and partner in human capital development, the institute continuously improves quality, standards and practices of the profession.

The lifeblood of the Institute is its members who have made enormous contributions towards the success of the institute. In addition to professional enhancement, IPM facilitates its members with the opportunity to exchange ideas, sharing information and provides an excellent networking opportunity for HR Professionals.

While further expanding its membership network, IPM recently recognized two eminent personalities, who have contributed to the further development and advancement of HR profession of the island with institute’s Honorary Membership, at IPM annual graduation 2013. Mr. Upali Wijayaweera, the Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations and Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education were thus facilitated with IPM’s honorary membership.

Mr. Upali Wijayaweera, the Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Labour Relations was recruited to the Sri Lanka Administrative Service in 1984. He joined the Department of Labour in 1985 and held several important posts. He is the Chairman of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Srama Vasana Fund and National Institute of Labour Studies. He is also a member of the board of Directors of the HDFC Bank.  He holds a B.Com (special) Degree from the University of Kelaniya and a PhD in Public Administration from SLIDA (Sri Lanka). Further, Mr. Wijayaweera continues to be the Government delegate to represent Sri Lanka at the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization, Geneva from 2011.

Dr Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, has held top-level positions in the public and private sector. He has also functioned as the Director Human Capital, Youth Development and Rural Network at Cargills Ceylon PLC., a leading FMCG conglomerate in Sri Lanka. He completed his first degree from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura winning the “top of the batch” in 1977 and was conferred his PhD in Management from Keio University in Tokyo in 1993. His latest article on “Shifting Paradigms of Higher Education in Sri Lanka” has been published in Re-creating and Re-positioning of Sri Lankan Universities to meet Emerging Opportunities and Challenges in a Globalized Environment. He has also initiated to calculate the “Employability of Graduates” of all the national universities by the date of graduation ceremony for the years of 2012 and 2013.