Academic Council 2025 / 2026
Prof. (Dr.) Thamara Gunasekare
President – Chartered Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (CIME)
Professor of Management, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
Prof. (Dr.) Thamara Gunasekare is a highly respected academic leader and an influential figure in the field of Business Management. With over 25 years of distinguished experience in academia, research, and institutional leadership, she currently serves as the President of the Chartered Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (CIME), guiding the institute towards academic excellence and global relevance.
She holds a PhD in Management from the University of Kelaniya and an MBA from the University of Colombo, with a strong academic foundation in Business Administration. Her areas of expertise include leadership, organizational behaviour, human resource management, and contemporary management practices. Her research contributions have been widely recognized, with numerous publications in internationally indexed journals.
Prof. Gunasekare has held several key leadership roles within the University of Kelaniya, including Head of Department, Director of the Centre for Management Research, and Programme Coordinator for postgraduate degree programmes. She has also led major national and international initiatives, notably serving as Project Coordinator of a World Bank-funded AHEAD project, securing a grant of LKR 18 million to enhance higher education outcomes.
An accomplished scholar and mentor, she has supervised a significant number of postgraduate and doctoral research projects, while actively contributing to the global academic community as a keynote speaker, conference chair, and editorial board member. Her excellence in research has been recognized with multiple awards, including the prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Award for Best Researcher.
In addition to her academic contributions, she plays a vital national role as a Chief Examiner for the G.C.E. Advanced Level examinations in Business Studies, contributing to the development of future generations.
As President of CIME, Prof. Gunasekare brings visionary leadership, academic integrity, and a strong commitment to nurturing skilled, innovative, and globally competitive entrepreneurs and professionals.
Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Rana
Marketing Faculty, College of Healthcare Management & Economics, Gulf Medical University, UAE
Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Rana is a marketing faculty at College of Healthcare Management & Economics at Gulf Medical University, UAE. He believes in driving and motivating academics and research such a way that, it can be best utilized in an enthusiastic and dynamic environment to foster versatile personalities. He is MBA and Ph.D. with MHRD Scholarship from Government of India and Post Doctorate from Putra Business School, University of Putra, Malaysia. His research profile is followed by publications into ABDC/ABS/Scopus/Web of Sciences Ranked & indexed journals published by Elsevier, Emerald, InderScience, Sage, and Neilson Journal Publishing etc. Dr. Rana is a versatile academician. He performs various roles, as Guest Faculty, Scholar, Editor, Editorial Board Member, Guest Editor, Author, Guest Speaker/Panel Speaker/Moderator, Conference Speaker/Session Chair/Committee Member & Convener, and Workshop Expert at various platforms in India and overseas. He is a senior editor with the International Journal of Emerging Markets (Emerald); FIIB Business Review (Sage); South Asian Journal of Marketing (Emerald); and Advances in Emerging Economies and Business Operations (Taylor & Francis). Dr. Rana has delivered more than 100 workshop sessions and expert talks across the globe on different topics related to publishing in high quality journals.
Prof. Athula Gnanapala
Professor in Tourism Management & Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
Prof. (Dr.) Athula Gnanapala is a Professor in Tourism Management attached to the Department of Tourism Management, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (SUSL). Currently, he is working as the Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. He served as the acting Vice-Chancellor of the SUSL for nearly one year before appointing the present Vice-Chancellor. Further, he is a former Head of the Department of Tourism Management and Programme Coordinator of the MSc. in Ayurvedic Hospital Management degree programme. Currently, he serves as co-editor-in-chief of the South Asian Journal of Tourism and Hospitality.
He obtained his first degree, a B.Sc. in Tourism Management, from the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka in 1997 and an M.Sc. in Management from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in 2003. In 2011, he completed his Doctoral degree in Tourism Management at the School of Business, Xiamen University, P.R. China. His research interests include consumer behaviour in tourism, tourism marketing, travel motivation & satisfaction, wildlife tourism, sustainable tourism planning & development, destination management, marketing, etc.
He has published his research works in nearly 25 books and book chapters, more than 40 research articles in refereed and indexed journals, and more than 60 international conference presentations. He disseminates his expertise as a reviewer of nationally and internally recognized academic journals, tourism consultants, editorial members, and scientific committee members for international symposiums. Further, Prof. Gnanapala renders his service as a postgraduate and Ph.D. supervisor and examiner.
Currently, Prof. Gnanapala is an active member of various Sri Lankan and oversees professional and Academic bodies such a member of the Broad of Study of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the Vice President of the Professional Business Coaches Association (PBCA), Country Coordinator of the CESTour (Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Tourism) project of the European Union, Chairman of the Subject Benchmarks Preparation Committee (Tourism and Hospitality) of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka.
Prof. Amit Shankar
Assistant Professor in Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam, India
Prof. Amit Shankar is an Assistant Professor in Marketing at Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam, India. Prior to joining IIM Visakhapatnam, he was associated with IMT, Ghaziabad as Assistant Professor. He has obtained his Ph.D. in Marketing from Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He has conducted several workshops on Marketing analytics, SPSS, Amos, SmartPLS, Advanced Excel, and Process Macro in premier institutes of India. His research interests are in the areas of retaining, services marketing, and mobile banking. Amit’s research has been published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Service, Technovation, Journal of Bank Marketing, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Australasian Marketing Journal, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, Journal of Global Information Management, and Marketing Intelligence & Planning, among others.
Prof. Muhammad Kashif
Resource Person
Prof. Muhammad Kashif is working as Assistant Professor, Business School at GIFT University, Pakistan. With 15 years of full-time teaching and research experience, he has published 50 articles in internationally acclaimed journals. These journals include Personnel Review, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, International Journal of Bank Marketing, TQM Journal, Journal of Management Development, British Food Journal, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, International Journal of Consumer Marketing, and the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics as few to name. He worked with the British Food Journal as Guest Editor to successfully launch a call for papers on food anti-consumption. For Emerald Publishing, he works as a brand ambassador for Pakistan where the core role is to increase awareness among Pakistani academics concerning research methods and publications in international journals. In his role as a trainer, he delivered various seminars and workshops all across Pakistan and in Indonesian, Morocco, and Sri Lankan universities.
Prof. Kaushalya Yatigammana
Dr. Kaushalya Yatigammana is a Senior Lecturer attached to the Department of Commerce & Financial Management, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She obtained her primary and secondary education from Good Shepherd Convent, Kandy and entered to the University of Kelaniya in 2001. She graduated with a First class honors in Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Kelaniya 2005 and earned her MSc in Management & Information Technology from the University of Kelaniya in 2009 and PhD in Business/Management from Management and Science University, Malaysia in 2015. She started her academic career as an Assistant lecturer in Department of Commerce and Financial Management University of Kelaniya in 2005. Currently she is specialized in lecturing of Management Information Systems, Management of technology and Business Model Generation in the University and working as a visiting faculty in local institutions. As her expertise mainly based on e-learning and she served as a Director of National E-Learning Resource Centre of the University of Kelaniya. Currently she is serving as the Chairwoman of the Board of Study in Digital Learning under the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Kelaniya. She was also the author of many research articles, chapters and edited books in the field of e-learning.
Mr. I.A. Ekanayake
Mr. I.A. Ekanayake completed his first degree in BSc. Business Management (Special) with a first class from Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and completed his MBA in Operations Management from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Currently he is serving the Faulty of Management Studies of Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka as a Senior Lecturer and the Head of the Department of Business Management. Mr. Ekanayake is a passed finalist of Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka and an Associate Management Accountant of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka. Further, he is also an Associate Member of The Institute of Chartered Professional Managers of Sri Lanka, and a Life Member of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Association. He has also successfully completed Six Sigma Black Belt. He is also serving the country as a Chief Examiner for the Department of Commissioner General of Examination of Sri Lanka. Further, Mr. Ekanayake was the immediate past Coordinator of Diploma in Business Management, and current Coordinator of the Diploma in Professional Business Coaching offered by Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and holds several other administrative positions in the university. And also was the founding Editor in Chief of the Udyama - Management Digest Business Magazine of Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Mr. Ekanayke has published his research work in local and international conferences, edited books, as well as in international journals, and serves as a reviewer for both local and international journals.
K. D. Sumali Shathika
K. D. Sumali Shathika is an accomplished Human Resource Management professional and academic contributor, currently serving as the Registrar, National Transmission Network Service Provider (Pvt) Ltd of the Ceylon Electricity Board. She brings extensive experience in human resource management, training, and institutional administration, making her a valuable contributor to academic governance and strategic development. She is presently reading for a Doctor of Business Administration at the University of Kelaniya and holds a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Management from the Open University of Sri Lanka and actively contributes to the advancement of professional HR standards and practices. She is also a graduate of the University of Kelaniya and her academic journey is further enriched by qualifications in counselling psychology, media studies, and professional HR certifications. With hands-on experience as a lecturer and trainer, Ms. Shathika plays a vital role in bridging academic knowledge with industry practice. She contributes strategic insight, professional expertise, and a learner-centered perspective to support institutional excellence, governance, and continuous improvement. She is deeply committed to mentoring and guiding students, particularly those aspiring to become entrepreneurs, business leaders, and HR professionals, by sharing practical knowledge, industry experience, and ethical values to prepare them for future challenges.