Hermawan Kartajaya, the President of World Marketing Association, is one of the “50 Gurus Who Have Shaped The Future of Marketing” appointed by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, United Kingdom (CIM-UK).

He is a unique combination between a thinker of strategic business concept, particularly in marketing, and a practitioner. Complimented by his strong ambitions to enhance knowledge, he has becoming a sturdy consultant in his field.

“Hermawan Kartajaya is to Asian Marketing what Philip Kotler is to Global Marketing,” - Warren J. Keegan. The Indonesian-born Kartajaya has studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Surabaya, and attended many Executive programmes at Wharton, Harvard and Insead amongst others. He has also lectured widely, from Switzerland to Singapore. A Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), he was President of the Asia-Pacific Marketing Federation between 1998 and 2000.

In 2000, Kartajaya co-authored "Repositioning Asia: From Bubble to Sustainable Economy" with Philip Kotler. In it they analysed why the Asian crisis of 1997 occurred, and outlined what the governments and companies of the region could do to develop more sustainably in the future. Kartajaya’s expert analysis, in-depth knowledge, and strategic thinking, won him acclaim from many of his peers. Al Ries said of him “The positioning of Hermawan Kartajaya in marketing is unique. He is a combined ‘product’ of Western mind, Asia heart and Indonesian soul. Every company must get his advice.” 2002 saw him team up with Kotler again in their book "Rethinking Marketing: Sustainable Market-ing Enterprise."

His latest international publication is "Attracting Investors: A Marketing Approach to Finding Funds For Your Business," co-authored with Philip Kotler and S. David Young.

Since 2002 Kartajaya has been President of the World Marketing Association. He is also President of MarkPlus&Co, the Asia-based management consultancy firm that he founded in 1989.

He is the first Indonesian to enter the international league in marketing with his own models and received an acknowledgement from Prof. Philip Kotler, the world’s guru of marketing. He is also one of the few Asians who has been invited to give a speech in the American Marketing Association (AMA) Educators Conference.

Leading marketer and the Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), Uditha Liyanage, Ph.D., has been appointed as a full Professor of Management by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.  Moreover, the University of Canberra, Australia has appointed him as an Adjunct Professor of Management.

 Professor Uditha Liyanage counts over 15 years of senior management experience in industry.  He thereafter joined the academia and read for the doctoral programme.  A chartered marketer, Prof. Liyanage was the Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Sri Lanka region and was on the International Board of CIM, U.K.

Professor Liyanage is a leading Marketing Consultant and a developer of Senior Managers. He is on Boards of Directors of a number of leading companies.  He is also a member of Boards of Study and Management of a number of professional and academic associations and institutes.

Prof. Uditha Liyanage has published widely in both local and international journals on branding and strategic marketing and addressed numerous local and international conferences and forums.  His models on branding and business strategy have been cited internationally by a number of key marketing writers.

Professor Philip Kotler is the author of: Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control, the most widely used marketing book in graduate business schools worldwide; Principles of Marketing; Marketing Models; Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations; The New Competition; High Visibility; Social Marketing; Marketing Places; Marketing for Congregations; Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism; The Marketing of Nations; Kotler on Marketing, Building Global Biobrands, Attracting Investors, Ten Deadly Marketing Sins, Marketing Moves, and Marketing Insights from A to Z. He has published over one hundred articles in leading journals, several of which have received best-article awards. Kotler developed new concepts in marketing including demarketing, megamarketing, turbomarketing and synchromarketing.

Professor Kotler was the first recipient of the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) “Distinguished Marketing Educator Award” (1985). The European Association of Marketing Consultants and Sales Trainers awarded Kotler their prize for “Marketing Excellence”. He was chosen as the “Leader in Marketing Thought” by the Academic Members of the AMA in a 1975 survey. He also received the 1978 “Paul Converse Award” of the AMA, honoring his original contribution to marketing. In 1989, he received the Annual Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award.  In 1995, the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) named him “Marketer of the Year”.

Professor Kotler has consulted for such companies as IBM, General Electric, AT&T, Honeywell, Bank of America, Merck and others in the areas of marketing strategy and planning, marketing organization and international marketing. He has also advised governments on how to develop and position the skill sets and resources of their companies for global competition.

Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka, assumed this position in November 2005 when His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the President of Sri Lanka. Prior to this, Mr Weeratunga held the position of Secretary to the Prime Minister from April 2004. Formerly, he was the Director, Re-engineering Government in the Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). He has also been a Senior Consultant at the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, teaching both the Masters in Business Administration and Masters in Public Administration programmes.

 Mr Weeratunga entered the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) in January 1977 and has held a number of senior positions in the public service as Acting Secretary to the Prime Minister, Additional Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education & Higher Education, Director General, Tertiary & Vocational Education Commission, Vice Chairman, National Apprenticeship Board, and Senior Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.  In the early part of his career, he was an Assistant Government Agent, a district administrative position.

He had also been Chief Technical Advisor/Vocational Training Specialist in the Regional Office of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for Asia & Pacific, Thailand and had worked as a Consultant of the United Nations Development Programme for the Government of Maldives. In addition, he has done several consultancies for the ILO. 

He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Colombo and a Bachelors Degree in Natural Sciences from the same university. He is a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow of the Pennsylvania State University, USA.  

Throughout his career, he has served many Task Forces, Committees, and Governing Councils of universities and Boards of directors of Public Corporations and Statutory Boards.

Mr. Weeratunga is the Chairman of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka and in addition, chairs the National Administrative Reforms Council (NARC), the Steering Committee on Knowledge Hub Initiative, and National Steering Committee on Nutrition. He was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) at its 50th Council Meeting in Colombo in September 2010. In November 2008, he was unanimously elected Chairman of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Committee of the United Nations ESCAP – the Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and re-elected for a second term in 2010.