Josh Krichefski, CEO for EMEA and the UK at GroupM, was formally elected as IPA President at a Special Council meeting held on 23 March 2023. Jamie Elliott, CEO of The Gate London, was elected as IPA Honorary Secretary and Bronwen Hemming, Finance Director of Wieden+Kennedy London, was re-elected as IPA Honorary Treasurer, completing the new team of Officers.
Meanwhile, at the IPA Annual General Meeting held on the same day, new IPA Chairs were appointed for England & Wales – Richard Aldiss, Managing Director of McCann Manchester – and for Northern Ireland – Helen Blakley, Deputy Managing Director of Genesis. Sarah Golding, CEO of The&Partnership, was appointed as the new IPA 44 Club Chair and Julian Douglas took up an ex officio position on Council as the Immediate Past IPA President.
Also at the AGM, 19 members were either newly elected or re-elected to the IPA Council following its annual elections process.
Of these 19, 12 were re-elected for a further three years and seven are new to Council.
The re-elected members are:
The newly elected members are:
Council is the governing body of the IPA, responsible for its overall management and strategic direction. Council comprises 42 elected members, each of whom is elected for a three-year term, and six ex officio members, namely the two most recent IPA Past Presidents, plus the IPA Chairs of the 44 Club, England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
View a full list of IPA Council Members
As GroupM's CEO for EMEA and the UK, Josh led the EssenceMediacom merger focusing on culture, people, product, client growth and revolutionising the operating model.
Josh is also trustee of The Talent Foundry, is on the board of the MS Society and is known for his advocacy work around mental health and workplace wellbeing. In this area, he has created a Manifesto for a new era of mental health in business, working with UK government to help businesses manage mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. He is a long-suffering Arsenal supporter, lover of travel, music, theatre and film.
Richard Aldiss is Managing Director at McCann Manchester, part of McCann Worldgroup. Richard joined the Manchester agency in 1997 as a media group head after an eight-year stint at the network’s Birmingham office, he has held a number of leadership roles at the 400 plus strong agency across media, channel planning and client service.
Richard is the newly appointed IPA Chair for England & Wales, having just completed a two year stint as City Head for Manchester & the North West. He is also a board member at the Manchester Publicity Association (MPA), a collaborative, not for profit membership organisation that aims to bring together and support the media and creative industries across one of advertisings’ heartland regions. His experience across the industry is extensive and as MD he is currently board level lead across clients such as Royal London, Thornton & Ross and United Utilities. Richard is very focussed on the sectors’ learning and development agenda and keeping and attracting talent into what he rates as one of the best professions there is!
Helen has over 25 years marketing communications experience, working mainly in the Northern Irish, Republic of Ireland and GB markets across B2B, B2C, Corporate and Internal campaigns. She started her career client-side in Diageo and IKEA, before moving into agency land in client services roles and then progressing to wider agency management. As Deputy MD, Helen is responsible for the day-to-day management of the agency, culture and people development, ways of working, quality focus and client & contract management. The multiple award-winning 30+-strong agency team deliver smart, creative and effective work through ‘good thinking’ across a full suite of advertising, design, digital and brand projects for clients across a variety of sectors including public health, safety, utilities, destination marketing, economic development, food, drink and retail.