Tush Wijeratne
Tush Wijeratne
Global Talent Acquisition Director - WPP
Tush Wijeratne’s path into talent leadership has been anything but conventional—a journey shaped by reinvention, adaptability, and a willingness to step into entirely new arenas.
He began his career as a qualified accountant, spending five years in finance before pivoting into law, where he worked across immigration and criminal matters for two years. But rather than follow a traditional route, Tush chose to make a bold career change once again—joining a recruitment agency focused on telecom billing and CRM hiring.
That move proved transformational. It was there that he learned the fundamentals of recruitment, leadership, and business management. Rising quickly through the ranks, Tush became a director of the firm and went on to oversee global office operations.
From there, his career expanded across every side of the people function. He moved between in-house talent acquisition, RPO environments, HR leadership roles, and broader non-HR operational positions—building a uniquely well-rounded perspective on how organizations scale through people.
For the past 14 to 15 years, Tush has focused primarily on internal leadership roles within global organizations, leading transformation programs, building high-performing teams, and helping define what the future of talent acquisition should look like. Throughout that time, he has partnered closely with executive leadership teams and board-level stakeholders, aligning talent strategy directly to business outcomes.
Today at WPP, Tush continues to operate at the intersection of talent, transformation, and innovation—bringing decades of cross-functional experience into one of the world’s most recognized organizations.
What Energizes Him Most
For Tush, energy comes from building what’s next.
He is motivated by transformation—whether that means redesigning talent functions, improving how teams operate, or helping organizations evolve for the future. Rather than maintaining the status quo, Tush is most engaged when solving complex problems and creating smarter, more scalable ways of working.
He also thrives in environments where talent leaders have a seat at the strategic table. Having worked closely with C-suite leaders and boards throughout his career, Tush values the opportunity to connect people strategy with commercial priorities and measurable business growth.
Just as important, he is energized by continuous learning. Having successfully reinvented his own career multiple times, he brings curiosity and openness into every new challenge.
How Recruiting Is Changing
Tush believes talent acquisition is entering one of its most significant shifts yet: the rise of intelligent AI-powered operating models.
In the past year, he has seen organizations rapidly adopt AI across core recruiting workflows—from generating job descriptions and scheduling interviews to creating interview questions and reducing bias in decision-making processes.
For Tush, the key impact of AI is not replacement—it is enablement.
These tools are helping recruiters become more efficient, more productive, and more focused on high-value human work such as stakeholder management, relationship building, and strategic advisory support.
Looking ahead, he sees the next phase as the era of smart AI agents.
These agents may increasingly handle sourcing, screening, coordination, and other repeatable recruiting tasks. As that happens, talent leaders will need to think differently about operating models, workforce design, and capability building.
Tush also believes future talent teams will increasingly build and customize their own AI agents—tailoring them to company needs, monitoring performance, and adapting them quickly as business conditions change.
In his view, the leaders who succeed will be those who know how to combine automation with human judgment.
Tush’s Advice for 2026
As organizations move deeper into the AI era, Tush encourages talent leaders to stay proactive, experimental, and commercially minded.
Technology is advancing quickly, but tools alone are not strategy. Leaders must understand where AI creates real value, where human expertise remains essential, and how to redesign functions accordingly.
He advises TA leaders to think beyond today’s workflows and begin preparing for future operating models now—ones where recruiters spend less time on repetitive administration and more time influencing hiring decisions, advising leaders, and improving candidate experience.
At the same time, he emphasizes adaptability. AI capabilities will continue to evolve rapidly, and talent functions must be ready to pivot just as quickly.
For Tush, the future of recruiting belongs to leaders who embrace innovation without losing sight of the human relationships that drive great hiring.
That balance of strategic thinking, operational depth, and future-focused leadership is what makes Tush Wijeratne a standout voice in the global talent landscape—and a deserving member of the Talent 100.
