The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has appointed chief of PR consultancy Aura PR and founder of #PRFest, Laura Sutherland, as its Scotland Group chairman.

Sutherland founded the annual event, #PRFest, the world’s only festival dedicated to public relations, and has won the PRCA Dare Award in 2018 and 2019 for 'PR consultant of the year.'

She joins national coordinator Wilma Littlejohn and vice chair Lee Madigan, head of communications, ORE Catapult.

Sutherland says,  “I’m honoured to be asked to serve as the Scottish chairman, and am pleased to be setting my sights on the Scottish PR and communication industry again, as the PRCA works to develop better engagement with its members across the nations and regions. My work across the CIPR is at a UK national level and my work with PRCA a Scottish national level but I want to ensure better coordination of activity across the different membership organisations in Scotland.

She adds, “I’ll be kicking off with a member survey to understand the needs of our members in Scotland and to gauge where we are at in key areas such as professional development, ethics, leadership and strategic thinking."

The outgoing Scotland chairman is Natalie Buxton, MD of Weber Shandwick Scotland, and ougoing local representatives are NextGen Scotland chair, Sarah Mooney and public affairs board representative, John Morrison.

Francis Ingham, director general, PRCA, says, “As everyone who has been to #PRFest over the years knows, Laura Sutherland is a one-woman PR dynamo! We’re therefore delighted that she is our new Scotland chairman, and we’re look forward to strengthening even further our offering to Scottish members.”