Mark and Comm appoints Thilina Samarasinghe as Consulting Director for Media & Advocacy

Mark and Comm (Pvt) Ltd, the Colombo based strategic communications and public relations agency, has appointed Ruwan Thilina Samarasinghe as Consulting Director, Media & Advocacy, from 12 October 2026.

Samarasinghe brings close to three decades of experience across journalism, media relations and strategic communications to the role. He was previously at Adfactors Public Relations Lanka where he served as Group Head of Media Relations, Strategic Communications and Crisis Communications. In that role, he led advocacy, policy and crisis mandates for some of the country's most prominent industry bodies and corporations.

His career began in the newsroom. He spent over a decade at Ravaya Weekly Newspaper, rising to Business Editor, and was named Business Journalist of the Year in the Sinhala language three times, in 2005, 2006 and 2012, by the Editors' Guild Journalism Awards for Excellence. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Writership and Communication from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and is currently reading for a Master's degree in Economic Policy Studies at the University of Colombo.

At Mark and Comm, Samarasinghe will work alongside the agency's media relations team, and will closely consult the agency's advocacy and strategic communications practice for clients navigating policy, economic and industry level conversations.

Mark and Comm works across technology, aviation, financial services, hospitality, FMCG, industrial, agriculture, development, healthcare and sustainability, among many others. The agency, a member of the GlobalCom PR Network and a Corporate Member of PRCA APAC, received Silver in the Rest of South Asia PR Agency of the Year category at the Campaign Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year Awards 2025, and won double Gold, including the Grand Prix for PR Agency of the Year, at the 15th ACEF Global Customer Engagement Awards 2026.

"Thilina has spent his career on both sides of the newsroom desk, as a journalist and as the person building the relationships that journalists rely on," said Thanzyl Thajudeen, Managing Director of Mark and Comm Pvt Ltd. "That combination is rare, and it matters most exactly where our clients need it, in policy, advocacy and crisis communications."

"I've built my career trying to make complicated policy and economic stories make sense to the public," said Samarasinghe. "Mark and Comm has built a reputation for serious, substantive work without losing the speed and flexibility of a boutique agency, and that's the kind of environment I want to be part of."