The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) has named Robert W Grupp as its president.

Grupp brings 30 years of public relations experience to IPRA, with special expertise in international corporate communications. IPRA is an association of nearly 1,100 individual public relations executives in 100 countries.

As president of IPRA, Grupp’s role is to expand the organisation’s global network and to advance the public relations profession in both established and emerging markets. Public relations education, ethics, transparency, and demonstrating and measuring the value of public relations to companies and organizations are central themes in IPRA initiatives.
 
In remarks to more than 100 leaders of the public relations community, Grupp said his leadership priorities include improving communications with members, publicly promoting the public relations profession, international member recruitment and retention, and providing intellectual leadership to the profession.

The association will host two major events during his term, the IPRA Summit in London on June 9 and 10 (www.iprasummit.org) and the IPRA 2008 Public Relations World Congress in Beijing from November 13 to 15 (www.ipraworldcongress.org).

As IPRA president, Grupp joins China International Public Relations Association president Li Daoyu, the former Chinese Ambassador to the US, as co-chair of the IPRA Public Relations World Congress.

The triennial congress is expected to draw 800 people to China from more than 50 countries to discuss trends and issues facing public relations professionals worldwide.

Registration for the conference is now available at www.ipraworldcongress.org.  Lead sponsors for the World Congress include PR Newswire, Ketchum, Fleishman-Hillard and Wieck Media.

Grupp, a vocal proponent of “public diplomacy” and its relevancy to business and public relations, describes it as an essential tool to foster understanding of common interests and to build respect for cultures and contributions by people across a dramatically changing world.

“IPRA’s founders wanted to use public relations to help the world reunite after world war – geographically, culturally and economically. Today, some 53 years later, IPRA pursues a similar vision as we operate in challenging new global markets that are growing and evolving rapidly,” Grupp said.

The IPRA board and council are scheduled to meet in New York this week. The 2008 board members in addition to Grupp are: Elizabeth Ananto, vice president, Indonesia; Nigel Chism, treasurer, UK; Alexandre Cordeiro, Portugal; Mixael de Kock, South Africa; Furio Garbagnati, Italy; Maria Gergova, president-elect, Bulgaria; Cristophe Ginisty, France; Richard Linning, UK; Melek Manisali, Turkey; Johanna McDowell, South Africa; Philip Sheppard, Belgium; Gergana Vassileva, Bulgaria. IPRA is managed by CEO James Holt and staff at its Secretariat in suburban London. – TradeArabia News Service