2025
Purpose with Pace: Professional Bodies in a Changing World
Introduction
Professional bodies are complex things. They represent multi-faceted professions, which themselves often span sectors and borders. They represent the interests both of their members and of the public. They often contain a very wide array of activities, including as businesses, as media commentators, as influencers and leaders of policy development and, sometimes, as regulators. The last of these in an environment where the role and structure of regulation itself is under pressure. Few other organisations face such a varied and daunting array of challenges.
Many professional bodies have an amazing heritage. Their history and traditions are huge assets but can also be liabilities. Many have found that governance structures which once served them well have struggled to always deliver the pace, level of scrutiny or the variety of external skills and perspectives which are needed today. Many have sought to renew and reform those structures, but that is no easy task.
For this edition we have talked to three different senior leaders, at board and CEO level, to understand how their organisations are approaching these challenges.
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Edition Overview
By Jonathan Morgan, Deputy Chair & Head of Regulation Practice
Professional bodies are complex things. They represent multi-faceted professions, which themselves often span sectors and borders. They represent the interests both of their members and of the public. They often contain a very wide array
Read moreLeading Through Change
Interview with Dr Helen Phillips, Chair of the Board at the Chartered Insurance Institute
You are the Independent Chair of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), which has a governance model which is quite different from a lot of professional bodies. Tell us how that works and the benefits it
Read moreThe Independent Perspective
Interview with Liz Peace CBE, Senior Independent Governor, RICS
Liz Peace CBE is the Senior Independent Governor on the RICS Council, a key role recommended by Lord Bichard’s review of the organisation’s governance. As a non-surveyor providing independent perspective, she bridges the Governing Council
Read moreFocus on the Fundamentals
Interview with Marcial Boo, Chief Executive of the Insolvency Practitioners Association and Chair of the Institute of Regulation
As founding Chair of the Institute of Regulation and Chief Executive of the Insolvency Practitioners Association, Marcial Boo has led four different regulators, including the MPs’ spending watchdog IPSA and the Equality and Human Rights
Read moreLeadership Appointments
Saxton Bampfylde is proud to have played a key role in appointing outstanding leaders across a wide range of organisations. Here, we share a selection of recent appointments, with leaders stepping into roles that will
Read morePartner Perspectives
Meet Nick Ricketts, Partner & Consultant
Nick joined Saxton Bampfylde as a Consultant in early 2025, working across social impact, government and regulation. Nick has an extensive and distinguished background in executive search, specialising in senior appointments for leading global development
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