BCI Board Nominee Spotlight: Nalin Wijetilleke HonFBCI
About the nominee
I have been deeply committed to the BCI for nearly two decades, maintaining an active and enduring connection since 2004. During my tenure at a large international bank in the UAE, I worked alongside like‑minded resilience professionals to co‑found the BCI UAE Forum. I was unanimously elected as the Founder Forum Lead—an appointment that marked the beginning of my formal leadership journey in BCI.
My dedication to the profession has strengthened consistently over the years. I have held respected leadership roles in professional bodies across both the UAE and New Zealand, earning the trust and regard of resilience communities in both regions. After relocating to New Zealand, I focused my efforts on advancing the BCI profession locally, raising awareness of business resilience and preparedness among practitioners. My contributions were recognised when I was unanimously elected as the BCI Auckland Forum Lead in 2014, followed by my election to the BCI Australasia Board in May 2017.
I am professionally qualified across multiple complementary disciplines, each reinforcing the other, and collectively giving me a distinctive edge in the resilience and security arena. I am among the few BCI professionals to have received the highest honour from another global body. In 2025, I was inducted into the ISACA Hall of Fame in New Orleans, USA—awarded by an organization with nearly 170,000 members worldwide. Over the years, I have also received multiple highly regarded awards from BCI, reflecting my sustained commitment to strengthening resilience, elevating professional standards, and contributing meaningfully to the global continuity community
Prior board or governance experience
I have held board positions for many years, including with the ISACA UAE Chapter from 2006 to 2011 including being the Chapter President, and the BCI Australasia Chapter Board: Board Director & NZ Area Rep. May 2017 to 2019. I have also been on the board of the Botany & Flatbush Ethnic Association - New Zealand for the past six years, a voluntary organization for community health and wellbeing.
Why serve on the BCI board?
Serving on the BCI Global Board offers a valuable opportunity to apply my expertise in advancing business continuity and resilience. I am passionate about strengthening and expanding BCI’s membership base. I am confident I can do this by helping shape BCI’s strategic direction and ensuring its policies remain aligned with evolving needs and emerging challenges.
As a board member, I will champion strategies that cultivate a growth mindset among members—encouraging continual learning, adaptability, and the ability to view challenges as opportunities for innovation.
My recent travels across several Pacific countries have reinforced the pressing need for organizational and business resilience. From New Zealand to the wider Asia‑Pacific region, I am well‑placed to actively promote proactive preparedness and response strategies for unexpected events and natural disasters.
I am eager to guide upcoming professionals through BCI’s mentoring platform, fostering inclusivity, continuous learning, and knowledge‑sharing while also gaining valuable insights from peers. And I am committed to upholding BCI’s integrity by ensuring transparency, accountability, and ethical governance in all operations.
What skills and experience do you bring to the BCI Board?
My core strengths span governance, AI, crisis management, business resilience, information and cyber security, and risk & compliance management. I have not only practised these disciplines extensively but have also taught and audited them, giving me a comprehensive and practical understanding of how they interconnect to strengthen organizational resilience.
I bring a mature leadership style shaped by years of guiding professional groups and working closely with colleagues, teams, external stakeholders, and customers.
These areas of expertise align closely with emerging business needs, particularly as organizations navigate increasing complexity, technological change, and heightened expectations around resilience and governance. I am confident that this blend of experience and capability would be highly valuable to the BCI Board.
