IPM past President Lalith Wijetunge inducted as OPA President

IPM Sri Lanka Past President Lalith Wijetunge was inducted as the 37th President of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) of Sri Lanka at an Induction Ceremony held on January 4th 2018, at Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo.

Over 200 distinguished professionals representing member associations were present at this important annual event. IPM Sri Lanka, the only professional body for the human resource fraternity in the OPA, was represented at the ceremony by Office Bearers of the Executive Council, Senior Members and the Chief Operating Officer of IPM Sri Lanka. Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

“We are delighted that a distinguished human resource professional of the stature of Lalith Wijetunge has been inducted as the President of this prestigious organisation. Having been at the helm of IPM Sri Lanka for three consecutive years, his dynamic leadership qualities have helped IPM achieve its current pinnacle status that it enjoys,” said IPM Sri Lanka President Prof. Dharmasiri.

“We are confident that he will be able to steer OPA to achieve greater heights as a much respected professional association during his tenure as its President,” he added.

Wijetunge’s leadership helped to transform IPM Sri Lanka into a dynamic professional body in the Asia Pacific Region. As the President of IPM, he has served as a Vice President of the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resources Management (APFHRM), the professional body of human resource and people management associations representing countries in the Asia Pacific region including Australia, New Zealand and all other Asian Countries. He is also a Fellow Member of IPM.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the HR profession in Sri Lanka as well as internationally, a number of local and international accolades have been bestowed upon Wijetunge. Some of these are ‘IPM Lifetime Gold Medal for HR Excellence’ in 2017, the highest accolade an individual can receive for achieving excellence in the HR profession, ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution in HR’ at the Sri Lanka’s Best Employer Brand Excellence Awards 2017, ‘Lifetime Achievement Award in HR’ at the Global HR Excellence Award 2013 in Mumbai, India and ‘Lifetime Achievement Award In HR’ at the Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards 2012 in Singapore. Wijetunge was also adjudged the winner of the ‘International Pride of HR Profession Award’ at the Asia Pacific HR Congress 2009 held in India. He is presently employed as Consultant - Human Resources and Administration, Dutch Lanka Trailer Manufacturers Ltd, a well reputed BOI company. He has a wide range of experience in serving reputed organisations as Head of Human Resources, such as SLT Human Capital Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd, Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd (popularly known as Lake House), Ceylon Leather Products (Pvt.) Ltd, Korea Ceylon Footwear MFG Ltd and various other private and public sector organisations.

The OPA is the apex body of 48 member associations with a membership of over 60,000 professionals in Sri Lanka representing professions such as medicine, engineering, accountancy, architecture, law, management, banking, town planning computer science, human resource management, and more.  OPA was founded in 1975 under the aegis of the Commonwealth Foundation. The OPA is a strong force in society and its opinions are sought by policy makers in the government as well as outside.