Dr. Dusty Alahakoon is the Chairman of NEXT Campus and Director at PepperCube Consultants. With a distinguished career spanning over three decades, Dusty brings a wealth of expertise in strategy, leadership, and transformation.

Formerly the Managing Director of Heineken Lanka (2011-2021), Dusty is a seasoned corporate trainer and speaker at forums. He lectures in master’s programmes, specialising in strategy, leadership, and transformation, drawing on his rich corporate experience.

Dusty’s journey is marked by a unique blend of high-level multinational corporate roles and academic achievements from top institutions worldwide. He has leveraged his roles in British American Tobacco (2000-06), Coca-Cola (2006-10), and Heineken to cultivate a deep understanding of organizational dynamics from both an ‘inside out’ and ‘outside in’ perspective.

After earning his second master’s in Change and Transformation from INSEAD, Dusty transitioned from his corporate career to pursue his passion for guiding individuals and organisations through change and uncertainty. He partners with organisations to achieve robust, resilient, and optimal outcomes by focusing on the fundamental drivers of human behaviour and the hidden dynamics within organisations.

Dusty holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) UK, where he is a Fellow Member and Chartered Marketer. He completed his MBA in 2002 and became the first Sri Lankan to graduate from the Master’s in Coaching & Consulting for Change (2017-2019) at INSEAD Business School. He later earned his doctorate from ECS Clermont, a triple accredited business school in France, specialising in organisational change capability.

Trained at the University of Pretoria, Cornell Tech, INSEAD, and Harvard Business School, Dusty has developed a robust foundation in strategy, leadership, and transformation in the digital age.

In his free time, Dusty enjoys teaching, cycling, and exploring new destinations. He is a Rotarian and a member of the Rotary Club of Colombo. He is the founder of the “Life After School Foundation,” dedicated to career guidance and shaping future talent for the corporate sector.