WiLAT holds 6th Annual General Meeting

The sixth Annual General Meeting of the Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT) was held on Thursday, 9 May, at the Auditorium of the National Chamber of Commerce amidst a large gathering of the industries eminent personalities and members of the association. 

Gayathri Karunanayake (CMILT) was appointed as the new chairperson for the year 2019/20. Gaaythri takes the helm from the outgoing Chairperson of WiLAT Dhashma Karunaratne and will be responsible to execute WiLAT’s advocacy initiatives whilst working closely with its parent body, the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and Global WiLAT Forum.  

Gayathri has over 14 years of work experience in field of supply chain and was the former Logistics Manager of Unilever Sri Lanka LTD responsible for the end-to-end logistics function managing five distribution centres with dedicated 3PL logistics teams spread around the region. She is also a process champion in SAP and ERP implementation and is an expert in process development for Logistics Operations. She is currently heading the 3PL business unit at Spectra Logistics Ltd.

Gayathri holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Bangalore and a MBA from the University of Colombo. She also holds an Advance Diploma in Logistic Management from National Institute of Business Management. 

Executive Committee of Women in Logistics and Transport – 2019-20

Gayathri joined WiLAT in 2013 and was a part of the founding Executive Committee serving in the capacity of treasurer. She was then appointed as the Vice Chairperson of WiLAT Sri Lanka responsible for Branding and Sponsorship in the year 2018.

Anoma Ranasinghe, Niroza Gazzali and Maithree Attanayake were elected as the Vice chairpersons whilst Amra Zareer was re-elected as the Secretary and Manajri Nigamuni was elected as Treasurer for WiLAT for the year 2019/20. 

The outgoing Chairperson, Dhashma Karunaratne, will serve as the Immediate Past Chairperson and Gayani De Alwis will continue in the capacity of Advisor for WiLAT Sri Lanka. 

Karunaratne in her speech thanked the past committee for supporting her during her two-year tenure and wished the newly-elected Chairperson and her committee and mentioned that she hoped WiLAT Sri Lanka would continue the efforts under the four strategic thrust areas – namely, mentorship, leadership, entrepreneurship and empowerment. 

She added that at a time when WiLAT Sri Lanka was in a very strong position, she was confident that the new committee under the able leadership of her successor would be able to translate vision and strategy into world class execution and bring together all females in the logistics and transport industry to create value to the economy. 

New Chairperson Karunanayake concluded by pledging to make WiLAT Sri Lanka the shiniest diamond in the WiLAT global crown and mentioned she would work towards investing in young women professionals to encourage them in leadership and empowerment and help to set good foundation for future progress of women in the logistics, transport and supply chain industry. 

Incoming Chairperson Gayathri Karunanayake and Co-FounderAdvisor Gayani De Alwis felicitating outgoing Chairperson Dhashma Karunaratne

The vote of thanks was proposed by Amra Zareer and in which she also invited the Gayani De Alwis, the Co-Founder/Advisor for WiLAT Sri Lanka, to felicitate the outgoing Chairperson in recognition of her dedication, support, commitment, leadership and contribution made towards WiLAT SL. 

WiLAT is the women’s forum of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and is part of an ever expanding global network. WiLAT is considered as a live wire of the institute. The main objective of WiLAT is to promote and encourage the art and science of logistics and transport among women. 

Currently WiLAT is present in 18 countries with over 1,800 members in the global network which is expanding rapidly.  WiLAT Sri Lanka is one of the five pioneering fora of the global network and was established on 21 March 2013. WiLAT membership is open to all women working in public and private sector and in academia in the areas of logistics, transport, supply chain and supporting functions in organisations. 

WiLAT Sri Lanka forum is expected to provide a platform for women engaged in the industry to maximise their true potential both professionally and personally WiLAT Sri Lanka since its formation in 2013, has played an active role in promoting gender diversity in the logistics and transport sector through value enhancing activities. 

For more details on WiLAT, visit webpage http://www.ciltsl.com/wilat/.