Upali Ratnayake – the Architect of CIMA brand in Sri Lanka

By Angelo Patrick

The CIMA world came to a standstill on the 12th June this year in salute to the veteran CIMA professional. For those of us who were associated with him from the time he joined CIMA when it was of Branch status in 1985, the way forward now seems to be impossible. It was to that extent Upali left his indelible mark with us.   

CIMA Sri Lanka had no permanent abode at the time he joined us and were moving here and there and we were at Skeleton Road, Havelock Town, when he joined us as the Manager of the Branch. I guess unknowing to us, he must have taken it upon himself to find us a permanent home.   

A distinct change came about in the Secretariat with him at the helm with the staff being greatly empowered leading to a greater participation in decision making amidst friendly and effective executions. Upali’s strength was his humaneness. His kind and considerate attitude tempered with his own way of getting things done. With the Council and the world outside he was a great bridge builder.   

CIMA at that time was less known and sought after by the business world. He was quick enough to identify this and the lack of a permanent home as the key weaknesses we suffered from and embarked to rectify these simultaneously using his strength in networking and public relations where he gave due recognition to every Member of the Institute and all Corporate personalities, however big or small they may be. For Upali no one was insignificant and everyone had his role to play in society. Confrontation was a word never found in his dictionary.   

At one of the Council meetings, he very quietly announced that he may be able to get a land for CIMA at Elvitigala Mawatha as a Government grant and whether he could have the Council approval to proceed with the project. Obviously, the Council was elated and gave Upali the nod to go ahead.   

This is where his strength in networking and pleasantly persuasive mannerism showed up when he was able to garner the support of a very senior Cabinet Minister to orchestrate the deal with the highest in the land. CIMA London lost no time in signing all the ownership documents and the building came up in double quick time. In 1988 the building was ready for opening and he pursued the local Council to invite the CIMA Global President for the ceremony.   

This is the very first freehold property owned by CIMA International. Even the London Headquarters was not a freehold property at that time. This happened within just three years of Upali’s arrival. This achievement together with the rapidly increasing student population and the tremendous growth in Corporate recognition with several of the Blue chip Boards having CIMA members, London promptly awarded us the Divisional status, only the second Division in the world at that time.   

With CIMA growing in strength and stature, Upali saw into the future and felt the need to grow the space for students and members. He saw the adjoining piece of land belonging to the Labour Secretariat getting into disuse and again using his charm and network he approached a very powerful Cabinet Minister who had authority over this property to hand it over to CIMA for educational purposes. His case was so convincing that the land was transferred to CIMA and the building extension completed in 2006.   

For Upali, CIMA was his life and always left no stone unturned to defend, protect and pamper the Members, Council and the Presidency. For him they were even higher than the highest in the land.   

President JR was invited to inaugurate our National Conference and on his arrival at the venue, the Council Members lined up by the side of the entrance to be introduced to the President. When he arrived, he was met by the Divisional President and Upali and His Excellency walked right past the Council line up. Upali would have none of it. He held him by the hand and navigated him back to the starting point in the line for the Members to be introduced to him.   

He had great skills in diluting explosive situations in a calm and collected manner. Once at a Council meeting the President inquired from Upali as to what had happened to a cassette he had handed over to him a few months ago. Since there was no certainty of its location, a certain amount of agitation was building up. In exasperation the President asked, “Upali, is it lost?” Upali’s response was absolutely marvellous: “Not yet.” The whole room exploded with laughter and there the matter ended.   

There were several times where he used to get sandwiched between the local Divisional Council and the London office. Upali held the Divisional Council supreme and would never challenge their views because he felt fully confident he would be able to get London and us on common ground. Late that night after all of us had departed after the meeting, he would call his Team Leader in London and iron out the matter with a win-win formula. That was Upali – move forward with nothing but peace and harmony.   

Having joined us in 1985 as the Branch Manager and ascended to the position of Regional Director (International Development), he retired in 2007. My tenure with CIMA was not much different to that of Upali’s and I know for one what CIMA was and what it is now and the linkage can be described in just one word – Upali.