MarCom Collective appoints Board of Directors and Advisory Council

From left: MarCom Collective Board of Directors President Roshan Wijeyaratne, MarCom Collective Board of Directors First Vice President Tharaka Ranwala and MarCom Collective Advisory Council Chairman Hemaka Amarasuriya

The MarCom Collective has announced the appointment of its Board of Directors and the establishment of the Advisory Council at its inaugural meeting held recently.

The role of the MarCom Collective Board will be to assist in formulating policy matters related to the marketing communications industry in Sri Lanka with the objective of developing the industry. Further, to engage with the Government on policy related matters and to coordinate with industry associations to ensure that the respective industries abide by mutually acceptable norms and with a framework for accountability. The Advisory Council members will review, comment, and offer guidance on all policy matters. 

Dr. P.B. Jayasundera – Secretary to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had advised the Collective to register as a legal body, to further champion the cause of the country’s advertising and marketing communications sector, during his recent meetings with a team of senior representatives from the MarCom Collective. The meeting was part of the Collective’s ongoing engagements with the government and all other relevant stakeholders on reviving and strengthening the industry, enabling it to better contribute towards economic recovery.

Coming together at the onset of the global pandemic, the member associations of the MarCom Collective have been working together on bringing to light the sector’s contribution to the economy, which needed to be highlighted and the diverse issues it faces as well as strategising on how they could work in collaboration with each other, to address them in a post-COVID-19 business environment.

The newly-appointed Board of Directors of the MarCom Collective comprises of Roshan Wijeyaratne – President, Tharaka Ranwala – First Vice President, Sugiban Sathiayamoorthy – Second Vice President, Roshani Fernando – First Secretary, Nishan Wasalatantri – Second Secretary, Delan Silva – Treasurer, Laksiri Wickramage – Assistant Treasurer, Santush Weeraman – Director, Mario Nesadurai – Director.

To assist the Board, which primarily is constituted by the Heads of respective professional associations, a Special Committee was also formed to enhance the working of the Board of Directors. Sulaiman Nishtar, Bathiya Jayakody, Thayalan Bartlett and Rohan Rajaratnam were selected as the committee members. 

The Advisory Council consists of Hemaka Amarasuriya, Thirukumar Nadarasa, Deepal Sooriyarachchi, Arjuna Herath, Imal Fonseka, Nilushi Jayatilleke, Kasturi Chellaraja, Shamindra Kulamanage, and Makshoodh Meerasaibu.

Commenting on this, MarCom Collective President Roshan Wijeyaratne said, “Since its inception during the lockdown in 2020, the MarCom Collective has done a great deal of work to size up a hitherto unknown quantity, the MarCom Industry in Sri Lanka, better understand the impact of the pandemic on the local industry and create awareness with the authorities of the plight of the industry. We hope to continue this work and partner with the Government in shaping policies that would create a suitable environment for the sector to survive and thrive. I am confident that working together in synergy will enable the marketing communications industry to emerge stronger from this global crisis.”

The MarCom Collective is an industry body comprising of nine associations representing the advertising and marketing communications sectors as well as businesses and professionals associated with them, that came together following the crippling impact of COVID-19. The Collective continues to engage with its members and other stakeholders to bring to light the diverse issues faced by the sectors and how they could work together to address them in a post COVID-19 business environment.