ISM APAC appoints first Sri Lankan Managing Director

ISM APAC, the regional arm of Netherlands based e-commerce company ISM e-Group, marked the dawn of a new era as it announced the appointment of its first Sri Lankan Managing Director, Priyantha Bethmage as the two Dutch General Managers of the company bid farewell.

ISM APAC Managing Director Priyantha Bethmage

With its head office located in IT Park Orion City in Colombo, ISM APAC today has over five years of presence in Sri Lanka and has evolved to be a trendsetter in the country’s IT industry exhibiting a rapid and sustainable growth with its technical innovations and professional expertise.

The company pioneered the open office concept which resulted in the famous ISM family culture. With a people-centric mindset, it invests on many wellbeing programs and initiatives to improve employees’ physical fitness, mental health and personal development on both soft and hard skills. ISM’s office in Sri Lanka, the development centre which serves globally, achieved an excellent international working environment on par with its counterparts in such a short period of time.

Its continuous effort and engagement towards its people and corporate culture is well reflected when it was bestowed with a ‘Great Place to Work’ certification in 2019, including being named as one of ‘Best Workplaces in Sri Lanka’ in 2017 by the Great Place To Work Institute. In its expected long journey in the industry the Dutch management has rested their trust and confidence on Priyantha Bethmage by appointing him as the first Sri Lankan managing director. 

Priyantha has over 23 years of experience in Information technology industry mainly in software development. His passion was taking up challenges in start-ups based in, Belgium, Germany, UK, Sri Lanka and Netherlands. He started his career as a software engineer after graduating from the University of Colombo. Being involved in the managerial arena for a number of years, he got equipped with an MBA from the University of Moratuwa specialising in IT. 

At present, he is pursuing his second master’s in human resource management and Labour Relations from the University of Colombo. Priyantha involved in initial development activities with ISM APAC since its inception in 2014 and focuses critically on operation excellence. 

With the help of prior experience in the industry he was able to face the challenges that came in his way in the process of the development of ISM and was of great help to the Dutch management to bring the company to this elevation. He strongly believes in teamwork and that the success of an organisation is its people. He further believes that without the contribution of the employees the organisation cannot reach this exceptional height that it has gained in a short period of time. Under his leadership, the company will continue to grow by investing in its employees and by pursuing its way to the next triumphant stage. ISM APAC will structure its Board of Directors along with Uditha Wijesundara, IT Director, ISM eGroup and Head of Sana Hosting Operations and Tharanga Perera, Finance Director.

Uditha is an entrepreneurial, futuristic leader and was one of the founding members of ISM APAC. He holds a BSc in Computer Science from Mangalore University and presently pursuing an MBA in the University of Bolton. With over 12 years of experience in the global IT industry including over 10 years as a lecturer, Uditha always looks to inspire others and believes that living by example is the best way to achieve desired performance. It is this attitude that led him to win the hearts of people wherever he goes.

Tharanga has over 15 years of experience, having worked in the fields of manufacturing, insurance and freight forwarding in India and Sri Lanka. He has been instrumental for the excellent financial practices since inception of ISM APAC. Under his leadership, the finance team at ISM APAC continues to significantly contribute to the global finance team. He has a BSc in Accountancy and a MBA (PIM), both from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, followed by a Certified Management Accountants qualification from Australia and currently pursuing ACCA accreditation. 

ISM APAC indulges in many corporate social responsibility programmes including its signature annual ‘Sipsatharata Arunellak’ which uplifts education by developing underprivileged schools across Sri Lanka. It also actively hosts and participates in knowledge transfer sessions, organizes inter- and intra-hackathons and sponsors industry-related events, and recruits’ interns from universities among many others.

The Dutch-based group, with its partnerships and experienced teams collectively consisting over 600 employees, is a major contributor to the e-commerce industry globally for more than 25 years and has offices in Sri Lanka, Australia, Austria, Colombia, Germany, Ukraine, UK, and the United States.