The new chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations: has ambitious plans for the organisation and - if a career that has taken in the full range of comms discipline and corporate battles is anything to go by - she has the drive to see them through. Neil Gibbons reports. Photographs by Sam Friedrich

“What I want is for people to think, ‘This is my CIPR’.”

Jane Wilson, the energetic new CEO of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, is opening the doors of the CIPR. A month and a half into the job, she’s seeking to rally the PR community around the organisation so that members enjoy more value, the industry has a more powerful voice and her staff feel a greater sense of involvement.

That calls for a dialogue-led approach to leadership that some CEOs might struggle with. But her speech is peppered with inclusive-sounding words: engagement, involvement, collaboration, understanding, conversation. “To be honest, I’m mainly in ‘receive’ mode at the moment,” she says. “I’m just trying to gain as much information as possible.”

Jane’s well used to collaboration and conversation, having grown up in a busy and “hugely encouraging” household of five children in a council house just outside Glasgow. Vying for attention with four other siblings, it’s little surprise that at comprehensive school she was drawn to performing arts, even joining the Scottish Youth Theatre. “All I wanted then was to be a performer.”

But after a year in Michigan as part of an exchange programme, Jane won a place at Glasgow Caledonian University to study Communication and Mass Media. “At that time, communications and media degrees were just coming in and were competitive to get a place on. The degree course was still finding its feet. It was very broad and combined sociology and semiotics with practical subjects such as video production.”

After graduating, she found a job in marketing – “I basically would have taken any job I was offered” – but the six months she spent as marketing assistant at East Kilbride Ice Rink don’t even merit a place on Jane’s CV. Yet she does concede that it was a worthwhile experience.

“I threw myself into it. It was a hoot. I remember phoning Radio Clyde and getting them to give tickets away. I didn’t know you had to pay for promotions so I just bypassed that department. At that age, you don’t know what the done thing is. So you keep doing what you’re doing until someone tells you not to.”

Her next role was with Concern Worldwide, an international aid agency, but she soon realised that fundraising wasn’t for her. She was lucky to be offered a swift way out, through a contact who worked in recruitment for Celtic FC. The club was looking for a temporary marketing executive. It was, she says, “one of those muck-in jobs”. She wrote the investor newsletter, her first introduction to IR, as well as working with PR and marketing.

But six months later, she moved to the First Ford car dealership chain, an ambitious and growing group that would give Jane the opportunity to progress rapidly. Sure enough, having started there as marketing executive, she was marketing director by the age of 28.

“I was very lucky that the firm was so keen to expand. I learnt so much: I did my first merger, I was overseeing all local marketing, I got a trip to Detroit for training and was involved in lots of direct and integrated marketing there. I also set up a CRM system and a call centre as well as handling PR and events.”

It was quite pressurised, she says. “Thinking back, it was probably the one job where I was promoted beyond my level of experience. By the time I left it was fine. But it had been a big leap, interesting but full on. It has meant that nothing fazes me now, so it’s equipped me to handle other big career leaps such as moving up to comms director, or becoming a CEO.”

She remained at First Ford until her role was made redundant. And even then, she didn’t stay idle long. A contact of hers put her in touch with Scottish Media Group, which was looking for a marketing manager. “They acknowledged I was probably too senior for the role, but said the group communications director was looking for someone. So I met Callum Spreng. He said, ‘Can you start tomorrow?’”

This was her first experience of corporate communications, but she took to it enthusiastically. “The hardest thing was going from being a senior person in a small company to a less senior person in a large company. But it was about getting into the corporate stride.”

It was a busy role, working on projects as diverse as the acquisition of Virgin Media Group and the Scottish and Grampian Television Licence renewals. But her development was helped by the tutelage of her boss. “Callum was great, I learned a lot from him.”

According to Callum, “Jane has a remarkable ability to build relationships. She can build rapport with people at all levels and, as a result, achieve much more than might otherwise have been the case. She was great fun to work with – ridiculously cheerful and something of a live wire.”

After two and a half years, it felt like time for a change. So on a work trip to London, she popped in to see Impact Consultancy, a financial and corporate PR firm. And, once again, she was asked to join almost immediately. At Impact, Jane was responsible for both business development and advising AIM-listed media companies including UBC Media. She worked with its CEO Simon Cole.

“Jane is one of those people who makes herself the reason you do business with a company,” Simon recalls. “She takes total control of your account, is reliable and tireless in delivery. Jane is someone who, in a business where friendships and professional relationships are often clouded, has a tremendous ability to mark exactly the right line between them. She is great fun to work with but you always know that there is a steely and determined executive in there who will look after your interests and hers tirelessly.”

When Impact was sold to Mantra and Jane decided she didn’t want to stay – “I fancied going in house” – Capital Radio invited her to interview for the role of comms director, a real step up.

“It was a really rigorous interview process,” she says. “I had to have four interviews. But I didn’t mind at all. It was the most I’ve ever wanted a job in my life. I’d done the constituent parts in other jobs. But this was total control.”

Having been selected for the role, Jane was responsible for PR, investor relations, internal communications and public affairs. And as part of Capital’s senior team, she contributed to strategy and policy.

“I ran all the comms campaign for the merger. I’d be working 20-hour days; and got to see first-hand what a merger can be like. And once the merger was completed, I then had to apply for the job”

“The biggest priority in the new role was media relations, specifically the issue of Chris Tarrant and whether he was going to stay on as breakfast DJ. It was a big deal: every time he discussed it, the share price moved. We had to get a grip of that.”

She also had to rewrite the narrative. Every time Capital Radio was mentioned in the media, it was prefixed by the word ‘struggling’. “It was important that I increased investor confidence and analyst understanding. Capital’s business was primarily an advertiser-funded model at a time when ad revenues were falling. I had to explain what drove our revenues.”

It was a period of unprecedented corporate and internal activity for Capital. “The work was very varied,” she says. She had to deal with the resignation and appointment of two CEOs, legislative changes and manage the Xfm Manchester FM radio licence application – the only win in Capital’s then 30-year history.

But it was challenging too. Capital acquired a number of radio and online brands including Choice FM, an independent voice for the black community in London, “which meant we had to handle race and cultural issues.” But the biggest task was undoubtedly the merger with GWR Group.

“I ran all the comms campaign for the merger. Sometimes I’d be working 20-hour days; and got to see first-hand what a merger can be like and how to work with advisers. And once the merger was completed, I then had to apply for the job.”

She got it, but the dust was far from settled. Instead, as the director of communication of what was now GCap Media, Jane faced several new challenges. “I learned a lot about what works but also how not to do a merger,” Jane says. “I realised that what happens at the top and how the leaders behave is absolutely reflected throughout the organisation.”

But the battle also provided invaluable experience for her: “We had to communicate regularly and quickly, and balance that with due process. It also gave me a deeper understanding of people’s fragility. People are loyal and you realise how closely aligned they are with their companies. We absolutely saw a brand personality reflected in the staff.”

And then came a hostile bid from Global Radio. The timing wasn’t ideal. Just months after returning to work after maternity leave, GCap announced that Ralph Bernard was stepping down as CEO. Days after Fru Hazlitt took over, the bid came in.

“It was made worse by the fact that I was on holiday and, in a burglary, my phone and Blackberry were stolen, so I had two days of radio silence while things were going mad.”

Jane was part of the senior team leading the defence of this bid, which resulted in a final purchase price of almost 20% above the initial approach. Afterwards, the merged company delisted and became a private company.

With the IR angle gone, a huge part of Jane role’s no longer existed. So she left the new company in the summer of 2008.

“My heart wasn’t in it anymore and my energy levels weren’t what they needed to be. My role no longer existed, and fortunately I was in a position where I could leave. I’m a big believer that when we have choices we should use them. My education has given me choices and opportunities that my parents never had.”

With that opportunity taken, Jane decided to make the most of the time off. With her partner and child, she planned a six-month trip round the world. Discovering she was pregnant on the day of booking the flights, the trip was truncated to four months, since which time she has had her second child and married.

A brief stint in a part-time comms role at Seatwave only reinforced a feeling that had grown for some time: “I was looking for something different. I wanted to run something, and ideally something in a creative industry.”

Jane said goodbye to Seatwave in June and made some calls. It didn’t take long for the opportunity to present itself. Now at the CIPR, she breaks her priorities down into three strands.

“Firstly, there’s our staff. I want to encourage greater collaboration in the organisation. They’ve had a really tough year and this is a new start. So I want everyone to have a really good understanding of our goals and our offer to members.

“Secondly, there’s communication with our members which should be far better. It’s important to make people understand what we can offer them. So in the first instance I’ve been meeting with our regional groups to find out what matters to them.

“And thirdly, there’s better engagement with the outside world. We should be the voice of the PR profession and emphasise the great work our members do.”

Financially, she says, the CIPR is in much better health than last year. “In a difficult year, we have attracted new members and have still got around 9,500 in total. But we need to make sure we give them a reason to stay or for new people to join. Our members are the CIPR. They have a responsibility to make it as good as it can be and I have a responsibility to reflect that. I want people to know what’s in it for them and feel they own this organisation.”

Education: Glasgow Caledonian University, BA (Hons) Communication and Mass Media (2:1)
                    Montabella High School, MI, USA
                    St Andrews High School, East Kilbride

Personal Interests
The arts (particularly music), writing and travelling. A member of the Institute of Public Relations, the Investor Relations Society and a Fellow of the RSA.