Udari Ekanayake

Dr Udari Ekanayake is a Lecturer in Leadership and Management at the School of Management, RMIT University. She holds a Doctorate in Strategic Management from Monash University, as well as a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) and a Master of Business Administration (Management) from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Before joining RMIT, she worked as a lecturer at Central Queensland University’s School of Business and Law and taught as a sessional lecturer at Monash University and the University of Newcastle.

Her research focuses on strategic leadership, particularly CEOs’ personality traits, bio-physiological characteristics, and their interactions with Top Management Teams. Her work has been published in The Leadership Quarterly (ABDC A* journal), and she has co-authored a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Individual Differences in Organizational Contexts (APSA Rank: A+).

With over eight years of experience in tertiary education, Dr Ekanayake has designed, coordinated, and taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Strategic Management, Managerial Communication, and Organisational Change. She has led several teaching innovations that promote student-driven learning in hybrid environments and enhance engagement through gamification and business simulations. She has received commendations for outstanding teaching performance at both Monash University and Central Queensland University.