Port Chairman wins TOYP 2010 Award

Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Dr. Priyath B Wickrama was among the ten outstanding young Sri Lankans who received their Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Sri Lanka (TOYP) awards at the HSBC JCI TOYP awards ceremony, held at the Waters Edge, Battaramulla.

Dr. Wickrama has won this award in recognition of his extraordinary achievements in the realm of "Business, Economic and/or Entrepreneurial Accomplishments" which have satisfied the judges and auditors who worked on an arduous selection criteria.

The scope of the awarding, which has been compartmentalized into ten different areas, encompasses the whole gamut of human endeavours aimed at improving the living conditions of human beings in the world, ranging from community development to international projects.

Contenders for the award should have demonstrated their social responsibility and should have improved themselves through participation, leadership and action.

Dr. Wickrama 37 said "I am delighted to have received this award because I did my best to act in the best interests of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and my country. For me the most important objective was the progress of the organization through the progress of the employee. I have always strived hard to do the right thing as per my conscience and the professional experience I gathered from my organization so that I could now say that I have discharged my duties conscientiously as the SLPA Chairman and that my hard work has paid off.

We had limited monies to spend on infrastructure enhancement projects and I had to make the best use of our scanty resources. I gave prominence to local talent and was fortunate enough to be backed by a strong management team. It is no exaggeration if I say that I left no nerve unstrained in forging deals with banks to find monies for getting our projects off the ground', he said.

Dr. Wickrama had his preliminary education at Embilipitiya Central College and entered the Moratuwa University to follow a degree course in engineering after getting through his A/L at the first attempt. Within a very short time he became a student leader and was appointed as the Vice President of the University Student Council.

He developed his management and administrative skills at the university by giving leadership to a number of student activities in order to secure the rights and welfare of his fellow students.

Dr. Wickrama joined SLPA as a mechanical engineer in 2001 and was subsequently promoted to the post of Executive Director in 2004. He has made history by being the first permanent-employee-turned-chairman in SLPA. Dr. Wickrama obtained his doctoral degree in Operations Management from the International University of America in the United Kingdom.

Immediately after assuming duties as SLPA Chairman Dr. Wickrama challenged the status quo and could positively bring about a paradigm shift in the organizational procedures, business processes, the ways they handle business and even the mindsets of employees and was able to establish accountability, transparency and good governance throughout the organization.

He was also instrumental in introducing drastic changes into the organizational culture as well. The Three-Year-Development-Plan, Dr. Wickrama's own brainchild, which was put forward by him as soon as he was appointed Chairman of SLPA, convincingly set the organization on the correct track during the time of Global Financial Crisis that hit the entire Shipping Industry.

This plan steered SLPA away from many errors that it would have otherwise committed in the crisis period.

And to mention a few of them, the Colombo Port Expansion Project has been expedited and the development work at Oluvil port is also expected to reach its culmination by the end of this year. The Port of Galle is also being developed as a cruise destination with a view to reaping the economic benefits of the lucrative tourism industry which is now booming in Sri Lanka.