For the last 15 years I have worked in PR, as head of communications for some major corporates, including FirstGroup’s rail franchise, First Capital Connect and latterly the NHS. I know and understand the pressures corporate communications professionals are under and how professionalism and passion are key to driving forward change and improvements.

I have history with the CIPR. Three years as chair of the CIPR South West committee and many more before that as a committee member and for the last two years I have served on the institute’s national board, as well as its council.

Through working with Stephen Waddington on his presidential campaign, I decided to put my hat in the ring for CIPR president for 2015. I was elected unopposed. My presidential year will officially commence when I return from maternity leave on 1 February.

Last June, I set out my ambition for the year ahead: to make membership more meaningful to clients and employers, for the CIPR to stand up for a profession confident in its high standards and able to demonstrate its value, for the code of conduct and the CIPR’s Continuous Professional Development (CPD) system to be positioned as assets that build trust in our practice and to reach audiences beyond the industry.

The CIPR’s mission is to professionalise public relations. I, along with Waddington (president for 2014), Rob Brown (president for 2016) and the officers of the CIPR believe this can only be achieved once the majority of the people who work in our industry are accountable to a code of conduct, skilled or qualified to carry out their roles, engaged in continuing professional development and that these points are validated in a way the public can access and understand.

This is the key to making membership meaningful, building trust, standards and making public relations relevant beyond our base.

My vision is that by December 2015 the CIPR will have taken significant steps forward on asserting the value of continuing professional develop to members, the wider profession and the world of business.

As result, it is my hope that a far greater number of members will be participating in CIPR CPD, completing their CPD records and starting their work towards, or establishing their status as Accredited Public Relations Practitioners.

At a more senior level, I hope more members will be working towards achieving Chartered Public Relations Status on a clearly articulated pathway which will be at the core of the CIPR’s work.

Chartered status is our opportunity to express to the world that it can and should expect the highest quality and standards from these individuals, in terms they already understand from the worlds of accountancy, engineering and marketing.

It is a benchmark for professional excellence and a validation of skills, qualifications and experience. It represents the highest standard of knowledge, expertise, integrity and ethical practice.

It is my belief that 2015 will be the year that professional development will become a prerequisite for public relations professionals, not a nice to have, and the CIPR will be at the forefront of this change.

Joining the institute demonstrates that you’re accountable to professional standards and that you are invested in your professional future. I’d urge you to start your journey today.

Sarah Pinch is president of the CIPR