BMICH CEO Sunil Dissanayake infuses leadership and new initiatives

For Sunil Dissanayake, life, work and service have come full circle. As the Director/Chief Executive of the BMICH, he aims to infuse leadership and new ideas to one of Colombo’s and Sri Lanka’s best known landmarks.

Nearly 40 years ago, at the young age of 23 he was hand-picked by former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike whilst employed as a Hotel Manager at the Ceylon Hotels Corporation (the then catering partner at BMICH), to be part of the team at the BMICH for the prestigious 5th Non Aligned Summit Conference in 1976 and functioned as the Manager of the Delegates Restaurant, where the Heads of State dined. 

Today, as a respected industry veteran and top professional Dissanayake brings, commitment, passion, attention to detail and getting the basics right. He notes, “If you don’t get the basics right, you can’t do big things.”

He recalls the building of this stately venue completed in 1973 as a gift to Sri Lanka from the Chinese Government in memory of late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and despite undergoing many refurbishments, with all costs met by the Chinese Government and a resident Chinese technical team, it stands tall as a national Icon, rich in history and natural beauty.

According to Dissanayake, the BMICH today is “a state-of-the-art conference and international convention center with advanced and sophisticated equipment including the simultaneous translation facility for 32 languages and has 16 different venues spread across 42 acres of land catering to every possible occasion”.

Contributing to the BMICH’s success is its management structure. Governed by an eminent and a very diverse Board of Management led by former President Madam Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as Chairperson, which meets four times a year where policy decisions are taken. “We implement the policy decisions and operate the business,” Dissanayake noted. 

The BMICH is owned by the Bandaranaike National Memorial Foundation (BNMF) and incorporated by an Act of Parliament whose line ministry is the Presidential Secretariat.

He elaborates, the venue is recognised locally and internationally as not just a “premium conference and convention center, but as a national heritage”. Throughout its four-decade history the BMICH has hosted many events of grandeur; organised, planned and executed brilliantly. “We have become the first choice or ‘top-of-mind-recall’ for major conferences, conventions and exhibitions, awards ceremonies and concerts,” he added.

As the Venue’s CEO he emphasises: “Our unwritten theme is that we do everything a Hotel does and our venues are purpose built for hosting diverse events. We offer accommodation too to event organizers who wish to stay at the event venue to facilitate the efficient management of the event. Compared to five star or other hotels our pricing is very competitive and we work together with our catering partner, Mount Lavinia Hotel Catering Services (MLHCS) to be cost effective for our customers.”

He adds, unknown to many the BMICH “has its own dedicated kitchen with about 100 employees which includes catering, operations and restaurant managers, an executive chef and chefs and waiting staff working here. Everything is similar to a five star hotel in terms of hygiene and sanitation, food storage, cold storage, food preparation, food production and service is done in our well equipped kitchens.” 

Dissanayake lends his distinct expertise in management, human resources and hotel management in leading the BMICH. “It’s leading from the front and guiding and coaching people. I believe the leader of the organisation should be omnipresent and should be visible to the clients and staff. We pay personal attention and meet with every function and event organiser. I personally meet with them before the beginning of an event or at the end of it.”

He also infuses four decades of management experience combined with fresh thinking and updating with current developments in the industry. He says, “You should be totally committed to what you do - even at the expense of your own personal leisure time and give leadership to the team. You should be passionate about what you do, and operate as if it is your own organisation, that’s what I believe and do.” 

Dissanayake commends the BMICH staff who he says are “very friendly with a positive attitude and flexible approach and with very high integrity. There have been a many instances, where they have found various valuable items like money, purses, laptops, tabs and phones and returned them to the guests.”

Long considered a dynamic HR Management expert, Dissanayake also oversees the development needs of his staff. He notes, “We have implemented continuous learning initiatives. We just launched an English language programme and next month we are conducting a series of service excellence programmes on quality, management and delivery. We are also highly safety conscious and all staff have completed very extensive training in safety and fire prevention.”

Keen to fully exploit the venue’s full potential, Dissanayake has a number of exciting plans in the pipeline. “We created our business plan for the next three years,” he notes. Among them is the need to showcase the impressive facilities including the “unique and sophisticated ‘orchestra pit” at the platform in the main conference and concert hall, to attract hosting of international concerts.

He adds: “We want to refurbish and re-launch the Nuga Sevana and also the Mihilaka Medura, the eco-friendly hall and we are even looking into the possibility of constructing an amphitheatre.”

While the BMICH remains high in demand as a venue for all types of events, Dissanayake continues to collaborate and drive the organisation. “I am right at the bottom, guiding our people to deliver in front,” he notes.