CIM UK announces new President and Chair

Tuesday, 4 March 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the world’s largest professional body for marketing, has announced the appointment of two senior industry leaders, to take up the position of President and Chair respectively. Jenny Ashmore, Chief Marketing Officer at UK energy company SSE plc, will undertake the role of President, and Matthew Neilson, NHS Scotland Associate Director of Marketing and Customer Engagement for National Services Scotland, joins as Chair. As President, Jenny will support the CIM’s wider outreach to professionals, businesses and the general public, and promote the importance of responsible marketing, personal development and high professional standards within organisations in the UK and overseas. She has previously held senior marketing positions at organisations including Yell, Procter and Gamble, where she undertook global and UK marketing roles, and Mars where she was Global Chief Marketing Capability Officer, responsible for developing and implementing their marketing-driven philosophy and approach across global markets. Speaking of her appointment, Jenny said: “I am excited to take on the role of President at a really important period for CIM as they deliver their three-year strategy, and at a time when the marketing industry is going through great changes in areas such as data and analytics, sustainability and social responsibility.” Prior to his role at NHS Scotland, new CIM Chair Matthew Neilson was Senior Global Sustainability Manager at Unilever. Before this, he held a variety of roles at Royal Mail, including Head of Sustainability and Head of Specialist Marketing. He has also been Trustee and Vice-Chair at CIM since 2010, and takes over the role of Chair from Andrew Harvey. Matthew Neilson said: “CIM has a number of exciting initiatives planned over the year ahead and I eagerly await getting involved in strengthening its role in representing and developing the profession. I’m looking forward to drawing on my experience of promoting sustainable and responsible business practices to proactively engage the industry with best practice and its role as the interface between business and consumers.” Commenting on the new appointments, Anne Godfrey, chief executive of CIM, said: “We are thrilled to be welcoming Jenny and Matthew as our new President and Chair. They are two highly experienced marketers who have held top-level positions at hugely respected major multinational companies. I look forward to their wealth of experience informing our strategy at CIM as we continue our journey in becoming an even more customer-led organisation.”