The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) which is the apex body for Sri Lankan Marketers, elected its first ever female President Thilanka Abeywardena at its 51st Annual General Meeting held last evening, a statement said.
Thilanka is an International Marketing professional with 15 years of experience in strategic marketing management with geographic exposure ranging from Sri Lanka, UAE to emerging Asian markets. She is currently working as the CMO Lead – South East Asia Emerging Markets at the Fortune 500 Company; Microsoft leading marketing and communications across 9 Asian countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
She is the former head of Marketing & Communications at Etisalat Lanka and corporate brand manager at E-WIS. Thilanka holds an MBA (UK), BSc Special (Hons) degree in IT and have completed postgraduate diploma in marketing at CIM, UK. She has also completed the Executive Education on Modern Marketing from Kellogg
School of Management.
Thilanka also holds multiple marketing awards under her belt for the work in Sri Lanka and Myanmar including Effie, PR Awards Asia, Brand Excellence and Manthan Awards. She was also recognized by Women in Management and International Finance Corporation (World bank group) at the 6th Professional and Career
Women Awards for Leadership Excellence in Marketing in 2016.
Thilanka is the first female President to be elected in SLIM’s 50 year history.
