After a search which spanned the better part of one year, the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) named as its new executive director Rosemary Graham, an veteran U.K. corporate PR executive. Most recently an independent PR consultant, she held senior communications and management positions with the Chartered Insurance Institute, Royal Automobile Club and the U.K. Department of Education and Science.
Graham resides in the London area, which simplifies the planned move of IPRA's office from its Geneva, Switzerland location to London--a decision that IPRA officials announced earlier this year.
The hiring of Graham ends a nearly eight-month period in which IPRA was without a top executive, after former executive director Dennis Clagett left at the end of last year to pursue consulting and writing opportunities.
IPRA members confirmed that one person, a U.S. citizen, to whom the job had been offered several months ago, turned down the offer at the last minute after deciding not to relocate to England.
Graham joins IPRA as it attempts to improve its financial condition and boost its membership. Membership has remained at the 1,000 person mark for several years, even as the profession has expanded dramatically in many nations, and interest in overseas public relations programs has become a priority for many corporations.
The organization appears to be righting itself, with finances this year on budget, after three years of deficits.
Though Graham appears to be little known outside of the United Kingdom, she is well-regarded in her native country. "She's one of the senior members of the Institute [of Public Relations] and has done a lot for our education and training program to move it forward," said John Lavelle, executive director of the Institute of Public Relations, England's society for PR professionals. "I'm mighty disappointed" that she had to resign her volunteer post as chairman of IPR's education and training committee to take the IPRA position, he said.
David Davis, senior vice president/international, in the London office of broadcast distribution firm Medialink, New York, said Graham has a reputation for "high intellect," and is known for her interest in education and training.
Graham told PR NEWS last week that her first priority will be to find an office for the organization in London, a task she expects to finalize in the next couple of weeks. A central London location is sought, hopefully near the offices of other PR organizations such as the Institute of Public Relations and the International Committee of Public Relations Consultancies Associations Limited (ICO).
IPRA's lease for its current space in Geneva, Switzerland, expires at the end of September, said Carolyn Fazio, a management consultant who is an advisor to IPRA's board and has been serving as transition coordinator for the move to London and hiring of a new executive.
The new IPRA executive will seek to enhance the organization's ability to deliver professional development programs. "As we move into the knowledge-based economy, increasingly, what keeps people at the forefront of their profession is their continuing professional development," she said. A long-range initiative she supports is the encouragement of various national governments to enact tax breaks to cover the cost of education and training programs that individuals currently pay for out of their own pockets to advance their professionalism. "That is really something worth striving for," she said.
Graham also expects the organization will consider more local meetings, given many PR professionals' inability to attend meetings in countries far from their own. "This is close to the heart" of the current elected president of IPRA, Colin Church, said Graham. (IPRA's next meeting is in early November in Bombay, India.) (IPRA/Geneva, 011-41-22-791-0550; Graham, 011-44-1-81-941-6658; Fazio, 407/995-8383; Institute of Public Relations, 011-44-1-71-253-5151; Medialink, 011-44-1-71-439-1774)