CIM Fellow Wins Key Sri Lankan Award

Nadi Dharmasiri FCIM win top marketing award at the Top 50 Professional & Career Women Awards

This week saw Nadi Dharmasiri FCIM honoured for her contribution to marketing and sales at the Top 50 Professional & Career Women Awards 2018. In its eighth year, the event took place in the Colombo region of Sri Lanka. The event celebrates the achievements of remarkable business women, who have inspired their sector and encouraged the next generation of visionaries through their work in the media, their careers and overall business acumen.

A Fellow and CIM trustee, Nadi has over twenty years’ experience in banking, telco, financial services, FMCG and advertising, working across a range of marketing disciplines. Receiving the award, Nadia follows in the footsteps of Thilanka Abeywardena of Microsoft and Shermila UdeniBanadara of Unilever.

Nadi was elected to CIM’s Board of Trustees in 2017 and has been on the CIM Sri Lanka Board since November 2005, serving as: chairperson, vice chairperson, regional treasurer and head of public affairs and communications.

Discussing the awards, head of the 2018 panel of judges Dr. Rohantha Athukorala said: “We see more women playing the pivotal positions in organisations, but they continue to remain in the back stage and do not like to get highlighted for success. In my view it’s a cultural issue that will fade away with the entrenched competition we see in the market place. The ‘Top 50’ Professional and Career Women awards helps create awareness for remarkable Sri Lankan women and their exemplary values, ideas and deeds, to which we can all aspire."

Congratulating Nadi on her win, Leigh Hopwood (DipM, FCIM, Chartered Marketer) and chair of CIM, said: “The Top 50 Professional & Career Women Awards share our passion for championing and supporting exceptional women leaders in business, from large corporates to SMEs. We are honoured to have one of our Fellows and board members receive such a prestigious accreditation. Currently CIM operates across 130 countries, supporting over 30,000 members worldwide. Sri Lanka is one of our largest marketing communities, which is a credit to Nadi and the CIM Sri Lankan staff, who work tirelessly to support our members.”

“We believe marketing needs to continue to be a forward-looking industry, and it’s imperative that we take a united stand to address inequality and end gender pay discrepancy. We are proud that women make up 57% of our Board of Trustees (up by 20% over the past 2 years) and believe businesses must acknowledge the commercial benefits diverse teams provide.”