Sri Lankans take top seats in Asia Marketing Federation

From left: Jack Yao, Pradeep Edward, Rohan Somawansa and Boojong Kim

The Asian Marketing Federation (AMF) has re-appointed Rohan Somawansa for the second time as its President, while two other prominent corporate personalities, Pradeep Edward and Ruwan Liyanagamage, were appointed Secretary Generals at the recently concluded Annual General Meeting held in Taiwan. The First Vice President and Second Vice President seats were allocated to Boojong Kim and Jack Yao of Korea and China respectively.

Pradeep Edward is the immediate past President of SLIM whilst Ruwan Liyanagamage is also one of the past Presidents of the national body for marketing in Sri Lanka.

The members of the Board of the Asia Marketing Federation were chosen from among many candidates representing powerful member nations, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Macau and Sri Lanka. 

The Asia Marketing Federation (AMF) is a collaborative platform for all the marketing associations in Asia. Originally founded in 1991 as the Asia Pacific Marketing Federation (APMF), it evolved into AMF in 2007. The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) is the local body affiliated to the Asia Marketing Federation.

Rohan Somawansa is currently the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication/Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at the DSI Samson Group. He is also the Director of DSI Trading Ltd. and Globe Knitting Ltd. of the same group. Somawansa is a marketing graduate and holds several postgraduate qualifications. He has also served as a senior member of the Education Reforms Committee of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing in the last six years and as a Chief Examiner in Marketing for CMA exams conducted by CMA Sri Lanka. 

His memberships in professional bodies include Fellow Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and the Singapore Institute of Marketing (SIM). He is also a member of the American Marketing Association and the World Chief Marketing Officers’ forum (CMO), and was recently conferred an Honorary Fellow Member by the Institute of Marketing Malaysia for services rendered for marketing development in Asia.    Somawansa was initially appointed Vice President of the AMF in 2011 and then its First Vice President last year, prior to his new position at the Federation’s helm. 

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing immediate past President Pradeep Edward counts over two decades of experience in the field, and has spent the last eight years at Board Level in a General Manager/Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer capacity. He currently provides direction to Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics Ltd. as their Chief Executive Officer. 

Edward holds an MBA from Buckinghamshire University, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing/Business Management and a Diploma in Finance. He is a Certified Professional Marketer (Asia Pacific), Practicing Marketer (Sri Lanka), Chartered Marketer (CIM-UK), and a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM-UK). He is also an Honorary Fellow Member of the Institute of Marketing Malaysia and is currently reading for his PhD.  

One of SLIM’s past Presidents, Ruwan Liyanagamage is also a versatile business leader with a strong foundation in sales and marketing. He has over two decades of experience in various disciplines that include finance, sales and marketing, specialising in FMCG markets. 

Liyanagamage held the post of Treasurer of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing while he was a Council Member for four consecutive years, just prior to being appointed President of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (2015/2016). He is currently a Director at Chisel Holdings Ltd. and Head of Operations for Therighttalent.net, a leading head-hunting partner in Sri Lanka.

As the President running in his second term, Somawansa stated that the key decisions for the next year will be to strengthen the presence of South Asian countries in the AMF and CPM covering Asia. He elaborated that with the national marketing body celebrating its 50th anniversary, the next AMF Board meeting will be hosted in Sri Lanka with a week dedicated to the marketing fraternity.