On the show today we’re talking about the results of the PRCA’s Governance Review with Ray Eglington, who is a board member of the PRCA and Group MD of Four Communications.

Before we start a quick plug for our next couple of webinars: LinkedIn as a Marketing Channel and The March of PR: The increasing dominance of earned media ideas in integrated marketing.

Here’s a summary of what we discussed:

2 mins Ray gives an overview of the PRCA Governance Review.

“This is about creating a structure for the next phase of the PRCA’s growth”

“It (the size of the PRCA) probably got a bit ahead of the governance of the organisation.”

“We’ve completely reworked the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the organisation - the rules of how the organisation can operate”

“People need clear authority, so they know what the bit of the PRCA that they are part of can and should be doing.”

“Currently the board is of over 30 different directors..that will slim down to a total of 10 people, 8 of them from within the industry, from a clear election process. We’ll have 2 independent directors.”

“There will be an audit and risk committee - so we’ve got clear management of the finances of the organisation…it will oversee a nominations and remunerations committee so that senior executives within the PRCA - how they are chosen, how there appraised, how they are evaluated and how they are rewarded is done transparently”

9 mins Does the governance of a non-profit organisation membership organisation differ from a normal commercial organisation?

10 mins Why did the PRCA decide it needed to have a governance review?

“There was a huge amount of goodwill from members but they wanted to be sure that the PRCA is operating to UK and global best practice.”

“We only need to look at the CBI to understand the importance of good governance and a good reputation for trade bodies” Ben Smith, founder, PRmoment

12 mins What is the rollout for the governance changes at the PRCA?

“There will be an extraordinary general meeting in September of this year, where members will have a chance to review and agree on a new management board and a new president (which is a new role) - that will then take us forward to the next AGM in April/May (2024.)”

14 mins Ray talks about the new President and Vice President roles that are being proposed.

16 mins Ray talks about whether the death of Francis Ingham was covered in the governance review.

Here is PRmoment founder Ben Smith’s post which gives some more context into the death of the PRCA’s ex-CEO Francis Ingham, if you haven’t read it already.