New board to steer 4 A's

The directors (seated from left) - Secretary : - Paddy Weerasekere - General Manager - 141 Worldwide, 2nd Vice President - Dilith Jayaweera - Joint Managing Director - Triad Advertising, President - Laila Gunesekere Martenstyn - COO Grant McCann Erikson, 1st Vice President - Keith Wijesuriya - CEO - BBDO Sri Lanka, and Treasurer - Niranjan Palipane - Director/ CEO - Clinch. (Standing from left) - Director - Alann Lopez - CEO - 5th Elephant, Special Advisor - Kenneth Honter - Chairman - Sarva Integrated, Director - Alyna Haji Omar - General Manager Response - Marketing, Director - Sanith de S. Wijeyeratne - Chief Insight and Incite Officer - Minds DRAFTFCB, and Director Chrishantha Jayasinghe - Managing Director - Sarva Integrated. Another director Michael Holsinger was not present at the time the picture was taken.

A bold new direction, leadership and vision were very evident at the recently concluded Annual General Meeting of the Accredited Advertising Agencies Association in Colombo. The AGM saw the election of well known industry official Laila Gunasekera Martenstyn as the new President for the year 2008 , and also saw a balanced board of industry veterans mixed with relative newcomers being elected to support her, according to a statement issued by the 4 A's.

Thanking the membership for the continuous participation and support throughout the previous year, outgoing President Rohan Rajaratnam, reviewed the 12 months. He remarked that the association responded to the occasions where it was called upon to fulfill both roles of leaders and spokesman for the advertising industry and said the association was instrumental in attempting to resolve key industry issues with both the heads of Electronic Media Institutions and even with the Central Bank. He also recognized the contributions made by key members of the association in the formulation and conduct of key industry events such as the Chillies 2007 and the upcoming SLIM Effies.

Thanking the outgoing President for his continuous effort on behalf of the association, the new President informed the membership that unlike previous years, this year would see major change in the affairs of the association. "I won't stand here and just make a list of promises for the year," she said. " I only seek to assure you that my Board and I are committed toward achieving the goals of the association and I leave it to you to judge at the end of my term if we have satisfactorily fulfilled our obligations." She welcomed her committee and went on to say that issues faced by the whole industry would be treated with the topmost priority by her board. She stated that she personally, along with 1st Vice President Keith Wijesuriya would champion this cause. She also noted that the association's commitment to education and training would also get a boost in the upcoming year with 2nd Vice President Dilith Jayaweera and Director Michael Holsinger spearheading this area of activity. In addition she also called upon veteran Ad-Man Kenneth Honter, now appointed as a special advisor to the Board of the 4A's, to spearhead the association's CSR activities along with herself.

The 4 A's is the apex body of the ad industry in the country.