Professor Susirith Mendis to keynote CIMA Business Leaders Summit 2013

The bipolar world that resulted from the Russian Revolution and the rise of the socialist system as an alternative economic and political system dominated and determined the future of nations and the affairs of men for most of the 20th century until the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the focus of the political world was unified once more, consolidating around the new world order and the business world was inundated with buzzwords such as ‘globalisation’ and ‘the market economy’.

The 2008 financial crisis, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s, took the world by storm and economies across the globe are still to recover from its aftermath. According to the US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, this was caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, and could have been avoided.

The global economic outlook for 2013 remains highly uncertain. Growth rates in Europe are expected to disappoint (Euro zone–0.2%; UK–1.1%); Economic growth in the US remains weak and unemployment high. By comparison, the growth rates in emerging economies look very healthy (China—8.2%; India—6.0%; Russia—3.8%; Brazil—4.0%; Mexico—3.5%; Southeast Asia—5.8%; Sub-Saharan Africa—5.7%).

Professor Susirith Mendis, in his keynote speech at the CIMA Business Leaders Summit (BLS) 2013 questions how corporate leadership will prepare to face the possibility of a new economic order signalled by these trends. His presentation will confront the audience with the need to abandon their comfort zones in a bid to meet the new realities of the global geopolitical landscape.

Corporate governance, he moots, must be subject to self-reflection, in order to fully realise its potential for change, reflecting the theme for BLS 2013, ‘Get real!’ which propounds the need for a radical shift in leadership to meet the evolution of the business world.

Professor Susirith Mendis is currently the University of Ruhuna Vice Chancellor. He has made significant contributions to the field of education in medicine, having been the Head of the Centre for Development of Ethics in Medicine, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Director of the Staff Development Centre of the University of Ruhuna, and having publications related to the Continuing Professional Development of health professionals. Professor Mendis was granted research fellowships by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

He has served on a number of national committees, such as the Presidential Committee on Educational Reforms, the District Advisory Committee, United Nations Development program (UNDP) ‘Strong Places’ project, and is currently a member of the Steering Committee, Hambantota International Hub Development Project.

He has twice held the position of Temporary Advisor to the Regional Director, World Health Organisation and is a member of The Hastings Centre (for Ethical Studies), New York, USA and the World Network of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics, the International Centre for Health, Law and Ethics, University of Haifa, Israel and is a Life Member of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science and the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

Sri Lanka Telecom is the strategic partner for the CIMA Business Leaders Summit 2013, the principal sponsor of the event is Citizens Development Business Finance PLC, and ThakralOne and Lankem are co-sponsors.

The Official Banker for the Business Leaders Summit is HSBC, Sri Lankan Airlines as the Official Airline, and Cinnamon Grand Colombo as the Official Hotel. Wijeya Newspapers is the exclusive print media partner for BLS; News First, MTV, MBS are the official news partners, and LBR and LBO are the official digital media partners for the conference.