Alastair McCapra Shares Plans for CIPR Future

Wednesday 12^th saw the population of Leeds hanging onto their hats and trees gracing the tarmac of our roads, but that did not stop Alastair McCapra, Chief Executive of the CIPR venturing up from London to attend and speak at the CIPR Yorkshire & Lincolnshire Annual General Meeting, held at Leeds Business School.

Alastair has been appointed to re-structure the CIPR and stated that as it stands the organisation will not be able to carry on as it is. We have outlined his plans to develop the CIPR over the course of 2014 below:

·         The organisation currently has an appetite for change and in Alastair’s opinion there needs to be a transition of tone and direction for the organisation, starting with using the full name proudly: The Chartered Institute of Public Relations as opposed to the CIPR.

·         Further to this a board of ten directors will be appointed to make key decisions, this along with a leaner council will substantially cut any red tape.

·         A key point that Alastair wants to encourage throughout the industry is the importance of taking our code of conduct and profession seriously in order to gain respect from other industries. Alastair proposes that the President must be accredited or chartered, the council representatives must be registered for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and the disciplinary code must be strengthened to enforce professional standards.

·         The Council currently stands at 49 representatives. This leads to complex decision making processes and will be condensed to only thirty council representatives, with the addition of two associate council members and one student member to represent the diverse range of members within our community.

·         Finally, Alastair shared a very exciting project plan with the group. This year will see the institute introduce Chartered Offices. If you are currently chartered, you can apply for your office to gain chartered status. All of your staff would need to take part in CPD and in return your agency would be advertised on the CIPR website as a Chartered Office.

We would like to thank the CIPR Yorkshire & Lincolnshire group for holding its AGM at Leeds Business School. We wish Alastair the best of luck in his new role and look forward to seeing these changes come to fruition.

Charlotte Pittock-Holdsworth is a final year PR with Marketing student. She completed a placement year within the PR team at Vauxhall Motors and hopes to spend her career within the automotive sector.
@charlottelph