IMC and PR pioneer NGage banks on women leaders

Wednesday, 3 July 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sheron Jayasundara takes over as CEO and joins board with Chamika Colonne

NGage Strategic Alliance, the integrated marketing communications and public relations pioneer announced the appointment of two of its top women executives, Sheron Jayasundara and CFO Chamika Colonne, to the

Chairman Nimal Gunewardena

CEO Sheron Jayasundara

CFO Chamika Colonne

company’s board, with Jayasundara being passed the baton as CEO by its founder Nimal Gunewardena.

Jayasundara has been a stalwart of the agency for 23 years and was formerly COO and Client Relationship Head, and was seen as the ‘go-to’ mover by the agency’s clients. She is a highly respected ad industry figure having headed the industry association, the Four A’s, for two successive terms and now retained in an emeritus role. During her terms, she brought the industry together on significant initiatives including the Diploma in Corporate Communications and PR with the SLPI.

She was recognised by Women in Management with a Gold Award as a leader in her industry in 2018, and by the Mumbai-based Women’s Leadership Congress as a ‘Pioneering Woman Leader’ in 2019. She has been a juror at the Effies and SLIM Brand Excellence and has attended several conferences and workshops overseas with the Agency, including the Cannes Lions.

Colonne is a Chartered Accountant and member of the ICASL. She has 20 years’ working experience in the finance and audit sector and has been with the agency for 10 years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Speaking on the appointments, Founder and Chairman Nimal Gunewardena said, “I am delighted to announce these appointments as we pursue new and even more relevant directions, under our new brand NGage, for what we have excelled in over our 26 years, adding developmental communications and social and environmental advocacy to our prowess in brand building and corporate profiling. I am indeed happy to have Sheron and Chamika join me and Yeshanth on the board, and pass the baton to Sheron.”

“These appointments reflect the gender-balanced and female-driven company we have built, with several female leaders in key functions – Amali Wedamulla in Client Service, Druvinka Dias in PR Consulting, Ravini Jinadasa in Digital, Alefiya Ameerali in Strategy, Nayani Chandrasinghe and Chanchala Gunewardena in Creative, Nishamani de Alwis in HR and Dinushi Wijekoon in Finance, with many other talented men and women playing vital creative and professional roles,” he added.

On his own role, he stated, “I will continue to play an on-going working role in the agency as Chief Strategist, Innovator and Mentor, in addition to being Chairman, to steer the agency in new directions and build an array of extended services under our new vision as NGage.”