Gowri Shankar at the helm as 36th President of CIMA Sri Lanka

Ms. Gowri Shankar Somasundaram was elected as the 36th President of CIMA Sri Lanka Division at its 20th AGM held at the Cinnamon Grand. Guest of Honour on the occasion was Dr. B. Mahadevan, Professor at IIM Bangalore. The second woman to head this premier institution in Sri Lanka, and also the third woman President worldwide, Gowri Shankar now joins the echelons of a band of distinguished personalities who have chartered the destiny of this much respected institute, since its inception in 1965.

Accepting the Presidency, Gowri Shankar said her vision was to reinforce the professional excellence of the fraternity. “Profession First is a theme that I will be devoted to. My year will be dedicated to the advancement of the Management Accountancy Profession, to equip, elevate and enrich it”.

She further stated, “Our discipline is in the business of creating value. Value Creation is the foundation of any business. We will advocate ‘thought leadership’ through Technical Forums where new ideas will be encouraged. We will also be driving discussions as to the enhancement of the profession in the Public Sector by facilitating our discipline to be introduced through new initiatives.

Gowri is also committed to Islamic Finance. With her travel mainly in the Middle East and working in the Islamic Finance context, she will launch Islamic Finance as a master course. “Business today demands intelligent and insightful professionals with a strategic vision. Students are our future wealth. Student development and growth will thus be a major focus in developing the ideal professional the world demands”, she added.

Functioning as Advisor and Business Partner to His Royal Highness Prince Mish’al Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Bin Abdul Aziz of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since February 2006, Gowri Shankar has been participating in business development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Region.

Consultant and Representative of the Gulf Bureau for Research and Economic Consultations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Gowri will soon take office as Country President for Kampac Group of Companies for Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Kampac is a group of companies in the Middle East with representation in 20 countries mainly in the oil industry, infrastructure and real estate development, telecommunications and hospitality. She is also developing a Finance and Re-structuring Consulting Company in the Bahrain mainly for the SME sector. She travels widely to GCC countries consulting in International Finance and Business Development.

Gowri who began working at Thomas Cook, UK, was later Group Finance Controller of the Cornels Group of Companies managing seven supermarkets after which she worked as a consultant at KPMG Ford Rhodes and Thornton. She then joined John Keells Holdings in 1995 as Manager for Corporate Finance and Management Review Division. She championed the e-commerce Strategy for the Keells Leisure sector and introduced Enterprise Risk Management to the John Keells Group.

Since 1994 Gowri Shankar has been involved actively in CIMA activities and also chaired a large number of committees dealing with a wide range of subjects at CIMA Sri Lanka Division. She is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK, and the Official Assessor for Membership for CIMA, London. Gowri Shankar is also an Accomplished Toastmaster and introduced Toastmasters to CIMA in 1993. She has actively conducted speech-craft programs for many corporates.