Nalaka Godahewa awarded Doctorate

Nalaka Godahewa, CEO of Sri Lanka Insurance and Director of Imperial College of Business Studies, successfully completed his PhD at the University of South Australia.

The Research Degree Committee of the University of South Australia accepted his thesis on ‘The impact of market orientation on the business performance of manufacturing organizations’ based on the recommendations from examiners from University of Sydney, University of Adelaide and University of Western Australia. Dr Nalaka Godahewa developed his thesis based on a 5 year long research on the topic and was amongst the earliest to complete the PhD among a batch of 27 doctoral candidates registered with the University in 2003.

An old Anandian, Dr Nalaka Godahewa completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering at the University of Moratuwa and read for an MBA at the Post Graduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Apart from professional qualifications in engineering Dr Godahewa is also a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of UK and also a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing of UK. He also serves as the branch president of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia.

Immediately after graduating from University of Moratuwa with an honors degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, he joined Unilever Ceylon, where he learnt the basics in management. He progressed in his career rapidly and held the positions of Head of Business Development of Unilever, Marketing Director of Suntel, General Manager of MAS Shadowline, CEO of two MAS overseas operations in Far East and Sub Saharan Africa before taking over as CEO of Sri Lanka Insurance. Dr Nalaka Godahewa has also been lecturing university undergraduates, postgraduate students and students pursuing professional qualifications for more than a decade. Having effectively balanced the demands of a professional career and higher education for almost 17 years Dr Nalaka Godahewa now intends to pursue his life long passion for greater involvement in the education sector.