IAPI has announced that Geraldine Jones, business director, Publicis Dublin has been appointed to the board. With twenty years’ experience in the advertising industry, Geraldine started her career in CDP, having obtained a 1st Class Honours BSc from Trinity in Business Management and Marketing. She moved to Publicis in 2000 and after six years, spent two years in Young Euro RSCG, before returning to Publicis in 2008. Her empathetic nature, client management skills and strategic abilities has led her to become an integral part of the Publicis senior management team.
“Throughout my time in the industry (almost 20 years) there has been a constant narrative around change – the changing and fragmenting media landscape, the changes in consumer behaviour relating to media consumption, the change in the type of work we can do as a result of data and tech, the changing landscape that now includes consultancies. However, some things don’t change – the need to focus on making effective work, nurturing our talent and maintaining our credibility as an industry is as important now as it ever was. With this in mind, I am thrilled to take my place on the IAPI board and use my experience to add to the great efforts already ongoing,” says Geraldine.
In the Nov 2019 Board Elections, Geraldine came within just one vote of taking one of the two vacancies on the IAPI Board. In accordance with the IAPI Articles of Association, the board unanimously voted for Geraldine to be appointed following the resignation of Ray Sheerin. Ray has served on the board for over three years and has been an integral part of the newly invigorated IAPI. He spearheaded the work that resulted in the creation of the IAPI Pitch Guidelines which is now widely used across the industry as a best practice guide to choosing an agency. In 2019, he was also the instigator and brains of the Ireland before Agency initiative for the LGBTQI+ charity, BeLonG To. This 16-agency collaboration resulted in a significant increase in secondary schools participating in StandUp week.
“Ray has been of huge support to the IAPI Board and to me personally and he should be proud of what he has achieved,” says Charley Stoney, CEO, IAPI. “He is a font of wisdom and has worked tirelessly to maintain the highest standards of creativity and integrity within the industry. We are extremely lucky that we have been able to appoint someone so experienced in his place and we’re delighted to welcome Geraldine on Board.”
The IAPI Board consists of 12 Board Members, all of whom are non-executive directors from member agencies, except for the CEO, Charley Stoney. The remaining 11 NEDs are: Shenda Loughnane, President, IAPI & Group Managing Director, Dentsu Aegis; John Mathews, Treasurer, IAPI & Financial Controller, In the Company of Huskies; Gemma Gilmore, Business Director, Spark Foundry; Mark Nutley, Creative Partner, Goosebump; Charlotte Barker, Deputy MD, Dynamo; Fiona Field, Deputy MD, Mediaworks; Abi Moran, CEO, JWT Folk; Margaret Gilsenan, Co-Founder and Strategy Director, Boys + Girls; Sean Hynes, Creative Director, Bonfire and Jonathan Conlon, COO, Group M.