Gayani De Alwis appointed as WILAT Global Vice Chairperson
CILT Sri Lanka Chairperson Gayani de Alwis was recently appointed as Vice Chairperson and member of the Global Women in Logistics and Transport (WILAT) Steering Committee.
Her appointment was formally announced at the CILT international convention held in Wroclaw, Poland, in June.
The new WILAT global operational guideline was adopted for governance with the new operating structure at the convention. De Alwis will be responsible for South Asia.
WILAT global vice Chairs will facilitate regional collaboration by working with individual countries in the respective regions to expand the footprint of WILAT, actively drive the four strategic thrusts of WILAT, membership growth and share best practices.
De Alwis was the former Director, Customer Service and Management Committee member of Unilever Sri Lanka Limited, responsible for supply chain. During her 19.5-year tenure with Unilever locally and overseas, she has worked in supply chain, research and development and quality assurance prior to her early retirement to start her own consulting and lecturing career. She was the first female Director for supply chain and the first Global Lead Auditor appointed from South Asia in Unilever.
De Alwis holds an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and an MSC in Food Process Engineering from University of Reading, UK. She did her undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Moratuwa before moving to the UK to complete her Masters. She is also a Certified Supply Chain Manager from the International Supply Chain Education Alliance, USA.
De Alwis is Chairperson and Chartered member of The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Sri Lanka. She is the second female to be appointed as Chairperson after 27 years. She was the Founding Chairperson of WILAT Sri Lanka. She is the global lead for promoting the mentorship strategic thrust for WILAT globally.
She is a Fellow of the Institute of Supply and Materials Management. She is a member of The Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka and Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce. She was also a Board Advisor for AIESEC SL, the international student body.
She was recently awarded the ‘Women at the Helm Award for Most Outstanding Female Business Leader of the Year’, at PIMA National Management Awards and ‘Distinguished Mentor and Role Model’ award from WILAT Nigeria for her efforts in promoting mentoring globally. She is a strong advocate of women’s empowerment and actively engages in mentoring and coaching.