Top HR professionals at IPM’s National HR Conference 2015

The National HR Conference is an annual event of the human resources industry that sets trends in the profession. Organised by IPM, it’s the most sought-after event by HR enthusiasts and preferred by participants due to its ability to study the latest trends by industry professionals and for the opportunity created for networking.

Similar to the previous years, a series of events was lined up this year as well followed by technical sessions that provided both global and local insights of HR practices at the two-day conference. Over 900 local participants and delegates from India, UK, Japan and Bangladesh participated at the conference which was held on 16 and 17 June at the BMICH chaired by Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri, Acting Director and the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Management University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Day one of the conference entailed a series of events including the HR Service Providers Exhibition showcasing the finest and latest HR solutions followed by the clash of the champions, the only debating contest dedicated to the HR fraternity, and the preliminary round was held on 18 May. Of the 13 organisations that participated, the dynamic teams of Sampath Bank and Virtusa competed at the final round on 17 June. Virtusa emerged winners after a hard-hitting competition between the two teams.

People Leaders’ Awards and HR Excellence Awards

Another exciting event was the People Leaders’ Awards and HR Excellence Awards rewarding the most outstanding personalities and organisations in HR and other disciplines. Day one was made even more colourful with a series of entertainment items following the theme of this year’s conference: ‘HR for National Prosperity, Insights, Initiatives and Implications’.

In rewarding the best performers of all disciplines alongside the quantitative analysis of Neilsons; Indika Prematunga – Chief Financial Officer AIA Insurance PLC was selected as the winner of the People Leaders’ Finance category, Lasantha Hasrath Munasinghe – Deputy General Manager Marketing Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC as the People Leaders’ Marketing category winner, Sanka Weerasinghe – Chief Technology Officer/Chief Architect Bileeta Ltd. as the People Leaders’ IT category winner and M. Indika Lalith Perera – Country Supply Chain Manager Coca-Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd. as the People Leaders’ Supply Chain category winner.

Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd. emerged overall winners of the Talent Management category, where Virtusa Ltd. emerged winners of the People Development category, Vivanta by Taj Bentota for Employment Engagement category and Nirosh De Silva – Head of Human Resources and Administration Emerald International Ltd. was awarded the prestigious PQHRM Professional of the year 2015 of the HR Excellence Awards 2015.

Technical sessions

Day two of the conference entailed a series of technical sessions by industry professionals both locally and globally including ‘Why HR for National Prosperity? A Global Perspective’ by Prof. Srinivasan Raghavan, Associate Professor of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and ‘Why HR for National Prosperity? A Sri Lankan Perspective’ by Dr. Chandra Embuldeniya, Consultant Higher Education.

This was followed by ‘How HR for National Prosperity? Public Private Initiative Sharing,’ a panel discussion by Rajeeve Goonetileke, Supply Chain Director of GlaxoSmithKline, Madu Ratnayake, Senior Vice President and Head of Digital Virtusa Ltd., Musharrof Hossain, President, Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management and Bangladesh Society for HRM, Somesh Dasgupta, President, National Institute of Personnel Management India, Sarath Kumara, Executive Director Human Resources and Administration Loadstar Ltd., Ravi Edirisinghe, Vice President Freight Links International Ltd., Dr. Lloyd Fernando, Program Director Public Policy, Postgraduate Institute of Management moderated by Janaka Kumarasinghe, Director HR Services Kent-Ridge Ltd.

Next up was ‘Engaging the Fickle Mind’ by Ranjan De Silva, Consulting Partner, Sensei International, ‘The Changing Face of Reward: A Global Perspective’ by C. Hewapaththini, Senior Human Resource Specialist, Saudi Investment Bank, and last but not least ‘Modern Trends in HR for National Prosperity’ by Alan Ovens, International Director, CIPD UK. Ovens also stated: “The conference has been a true learning experience and I have certainly taken home learnings from this successful conference. Among the highlights from both days, The Great HR Debate was a novel concept and I look forward to take this concept to my mainland once I return to UK.”

Continual progress development

“We place great emphasis on continual progress development through our conference. The conference is an opportunity for Sri Lanka’s top HR fraternity to network and it is also a forum to discuss the modern HR trends,” said National HR Conference Chairman Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri.

“This year too, we had an exciting array of program with our keynote speaker Dr. Lawrence Perera, Chairman/CEO of Micro Holdings, who surely did challenge conventional thinking and encouraged HR professionals to start thinking from a practical perspective and as Ovens, International Director CIPD, very correctly mentioned, attracting talent and retaining them is quite a challenge at present,” added Rohitha Amarapala, President of IPM.

“‘Engaging the Fickle Mind’ was one of the best technical sessions I attended and I must say after a hearty meal keeping such a large audience awake was quite a challenge. Ranjan De Silva did an amazing job. It was a fruitful two-day conference and I will without a doubt recommend next year’s conference to my colleagues,” stated a participant of the conference.

From its modest beginnings in 1959, the Institute of Personnel Management Sri Lanka (IPM) has developed to being the leading human resource authority in Sri Lanka, focusing on proactively meeting the needs of the HR practitioner. Through the years, IPM has adapted to the many changes and developments in human resource management, remaining committed to upholding the highest standards in the profession.

 

Pix by Lasantha Kumara