Dr. Samantha Rathnayake

Co-Chairperson

Dr. Rathnayake counts over 25 years of management and learning solutions experience in diverse sectors, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO), the ICICI Bank India, and the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), and the Sri Lanka Foundation (SLF). He serves as a senior faculty/lecturer at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka since 2016. He is heading the Executive/Management education cluster responsible for more than 75 leading companies in Sri Lanka, Postgraduate Diploma in Management Programme Coordination, and handling industry research skills for final projects in Colombo and 6 overseas study batches.

He graduated from the University of Kelaniya with a Special degree in HRM, an MBA from PIM, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and a Ph.D. from the Infrastructure University of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds Certified Professional Marketer – (Asia), Practicing Marketer (Sri Lanka) status, and a Certified Human Resource Development Auditor from TVRLS, India. Dr. Rathnayake has conducted or delivered talks as a speaker, panelist, moderator, reviewer, and Human Resource Development trainer at many international conferences and institutions in many countries.

At present, he contributes to the following professional engagements.

• The Chairman of Panel judges for the Best Management Practices Company Awards organized by the Chartered Institute of Professional Managers of Sri Lanka (CPM SL) 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• The Chairman and a Member of the Panel of Judges to evaluate the Entrepreneur of the Year (SLEOTY) competition organized by the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industries of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) since 2016
• The Chairman of the People Development Awards 2024 organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Training and Development (SLITAD)
• A member of the Academic Council of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL)