Sysco LABS Recognized as a ‘Company with Great Agile Leaders’

Sysco LABS has been recognized as a ‘Company with Agile Leaders’ at the inaugural Great Agile Leaders Awards 2025, organized by the Colombo Leadership Academy. Sysco LABS emerged as the first company in the country to be formally recognized for cultivating Agile leadership on a scale. The ceremony, held at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo, brought together top organizations and professionals championing leadership across industries. 

In addition to the organizational accolade, five Sysco LABS leaders were individually honoured with the ‘Great Agile Leader’ title: Kalana Dias, Associate Director- Delivery, Lohitha Chiranjeewa, Associate Director- Engineering, Irshad Nazli, Associate Architect -Cloud Services, Amila Surendra, Senior Software Architect, and Ishanka Thilakaratne, Associate Director- Delivery. Each of these colleagues demonstrated exemplary leadership, adaptability and a commitment to fostering agile ways of working within their teams, enabling consistent results in a dynamic business environment thereby delivering immense value to Sysco. 

Speaking on the recognition, Rasika Karunatilake, Managing Director, Sysco LABS Sri Lanka, said, “The Agile methodology originated in the tech industry with the Agile Manifesto over two decades ago. Since then, it has evolved into a philosophy that shapes leadership and ways of working across all industries. At Sysco LABS, agility has been at the heart of how we deliver quality and value. This recognition affirms our commitment to building world-class and future ready teams. I’m especially proud of our five colleagues who were recognized as Great Agile Leaders.”

Agile practices are deeply embedded in Sysco LABS’ operating model, from engineering and delivery to leadership and people strategy. This foundation has enabled the organization to streamline workflows, improve responsiveness and deliver value to its parent company, Sysco, the world’s largest foodservice company.

About Sysco LABS 

Sysco LABS is the Global In-House Center of Sysco Corporation (NYSE: SYY), the world’s largest foodservice company. Sysco ranks 54th in the Fortune 500 list and is the global leader in the trillion-dollar foodservice industry. 

Sysco employs 76,000 associates, has 340 smart distribution facilities worldwide and over 14,000 IoT-enabled trucks serving 730,000 customer locations. For fiscal year 2024 that ended June 29, 2024, the company generated sales of more than $78 billion. 

Sysco LABS, Sri Lanka delivers the technology that powers Sysco’s end-to-end operations.   

Sysco LABS’ enterprise technology is present in the end-to-end foodservice journey, enabling the sourcing of food products, merchandising, storage and warehouse operations, order placement and pricing algorithms, the delivery of food and supplies to Sysco’s global network and the in-restaurant dining experience of the end-customer.

01 Image: Rasika Karunatilake – Managing Director, Sysco LABS Sri Lanka accepting the ‘Company with Agile Leaders’ award at the ceremony

02 Image: The five Sysco LABS Leaders recognized at the Awards – L-R: Amila Surendra, Lohitha Chiranjeewa, Ishanka Thilakaratne, Irshad Nazli and Kalana Dias.