CIPM marks 60th anniversary with commemorative stamp

CIPM Sri Lanka President Jayantha Amarasinghe (3rd from left) with Postmaster General of Sri Lanka Ranjith Ariyaratne and other dignitaries from CIPM 

CIPM Sri Lanka – the nation’s leader in human resource management celebrated its 60th anniversary with the issuance of a commemorative stamp and 1st day issuance in collaboration with the Department of Posts, Sri Lanka recently. 

The momentous occasion was celebrated at a ceremony held at the Waters’ Edge in Battaramulla with the participation of CIPM President Jayantha Amarasinghe, CIPM Vice President Ken Vijayakumar, Chief Guest Postmaster General of Sri Lanka Ranjith Ariyaratne, together with council members of CIPM and other officials of the Postmaster General’s office and CIPM. 

Welcoming those present at the occasion, CIPM President Jayantha Amarasinghe traced back CIPM’s humble beginnings to 1959 when a group of personnel managers and personnel officers came up with the idea of establishing an organisation dedicated to personnel management in Sri Lanka. 

“On 28 October 1959, a conference of personnel managers took place in the presence of officers from the Department of Labour and the International Labour Organisation which was sponsoring the labour management, relations and labour related projects. The Government too admired the forming of the Institute of Personnel Management during this period, and the inaugural meeting of the institute was held on 22 April 1960 at which the constitution was adopted which saw the birth of our great institution. The architects of this endeavour included late Senator Sir Cyril De Soyza and founder President late S.A.G. Perera to whom we owe a debt of gratitude,” he said. 

“Having achieved many significant and noteworthy milestones as a professional human resource management body over a 60-year period including being awarded the prestigious ‘Charter’ status in 2018 at which point we rebranded as the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), our professional membership surpasses the 2,000 mark and our business school enrols over 9,000 students every year,” he added thanking the steadfast efforts and dedication of the many past presidents, executive councils and members who worked wholeheartedly with a purpose and a vision to elevate CIPM to its current standing as the Nation’s leader in human resource management. 

CIPM brings an international flavour to human resource management best practices with its affiliations and close relationships with like-minded HR bodies such as the Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management (APFHRM) of which CIPM is the current President, World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). 

“Human resource management is one of the most important and influential areas of management. While it is easy, expected and encouraged to practice modern human resource management principles and best practices in the private sector, it is not so in the public/state sector. As a professional body and business school which produces a large number of human resource professionals employed in the business and public/state sector in Sri Lanka, CIPM is doing an exemplary service to the forward journey of our country,” said Postmaster General of Sri Lanka and Chief Guest Ranjith Ariyaratne congratulating CIPM on its 60th anniversary.

The design for the CIPM 60th anniversary commemorative stamp was selected by a special committee comprising of CIPM council members and officials after a competition which was open to the public including members, staff and students of CIPM. The selected design was the work of Sewwandi Kumarapperuma, member of staff, CIPM.