Thursday, March 28, 2024

New IABC Barbados president challenges membership to guard against irrelevance

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Fay Cooke-Nurse, new president of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Barbados Chapter, is encouraging communications professionals to guard against irrelevance in a world where “change is the new norm”.

Cooke-Nurse takes over from Deborah Stoute for the 2018-2019 term. Stoute will now serve as senior delegate on the new board of directors. Before being elected president, Cooke-Nurse served as VP administration for two terms, VP membership, and was president-elect for 2017-2018.

In her president’s address to the Annual General Meeting of IABC Barbados, Cooke-Nurse, a public relations and media relations consultant and principal of Millennium Communications, also said a lack of awareness of the challenges facing communications professionals could lead to them being underappreciated.

“We all know that communications is a profession which is detail oriented and calls for us to be determined, strategic and energetic – but ours is also a profession that can be underappreciated because many are still unaware of what it takes to do the job and to do it well. As we soldier on, we must guard against becoming isolated in our world of deadlines and deliverables. Membership in IABC Barbados may be viewed as an annual expense – but is it one that we can afford to forego? Change is the new norm in our world and to remain relevant, we must invest in our profession,” the new President stated.

Also addressing the membership, outgoing president Deborah Stoute, manager, marketing & corporate communications, Republic Bank (Barbados), encouraged the board to continue to work to move the Association forward. Stoute said that it was still her dream to see IABC evolve to having a secretariat to facilitate the educational and professional objectives of its members.

“More important than my dream is the fact that this IABC Barbados Chapter can and does provide what we need more than anything as communications professionals – opportunities for continuous learning and honing our skills, the ability to remain au courant in a changing world, and interaction with a network that can provide something we as communications professionals always need… information,” Stoute said.

The remainder of the new IABC Board comprises president-elect, Carol Walcott, senior associate, marketing & communications, PwC; VP finance, Tracy Moses, senior marketing communications officer, Nation Group; VP  communications, Debra King, director corporate communications at CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank; VP marketing, Jackie Marshall-Clarke, manager communications and government relations, Barbados Light & Power Co. Ltd; VP administration, Samantha Hazlewood, information officer, Barbados Accreditation Council; VP professional development, Carmel Haynes, principal, Haynes Consulting; and VP membership, Novaline Brewster, chief, corporate communications, Central Bank of Barbados. 

The IABC also recognised and congratulated Lynda Holder, a former IABC president, who was appointed to the executive board of the IABC Southern Region on July 1st, 2018 as VP Chapter Relations.

The IABC is represented in more than 70 counties globally. IABC Barbados presently comprises 35 members drawn from across the public and private sector.

The Association’s professional development seminars continue to attract scores of professionals – both members and non-members – who benefit from shared expertise and networking opportunities. (PR)

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