Six awarded Honorary Fellowships of the CIPR

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations is pleased to confirm the following individuals have been awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Institute:

• Richard Bagnall Hon.FCIPR
• Pat Gaudin Dip CIPR, Found. Chart.PR, Hon.FCIPR
• Henry Gewanter Hon.FCIPR
• Avril Lee Hon.FCIPR
• Ann Pilkington Hon.FCIPR
• Kevin Taylor Chart.PR, Hon.FCIPR

Honorary Fellowships are granted by the Board of Directors in recognition of exceptionally outstanding services to the Institute and/or the development of the public relations profession. Fellowships are bestowed upon Members in recognition of distinction in the public relations profession.

Richard Bagnall

Richard has been a CIPR member for over 30 years. In that time working in public relations, he has won several awards for his work advocating for best practice in research, measurement, and evaluation including the CIPR President’s medal, AMEC’s Don Bartholomew Award, and Provoke Media’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He has made several contributions to the Institute by serving on its social media panel, authoring chapters in CIPR publications, speaking at numerous national and regional events, and judging awards.

Richard has led some of the world’s foremost media intelligence organisations including Metrica, Gorkana, Prime Research UK, and CARMA and has volunteered with leading organisations such as AMEC, which he chaired for six years, and the UK Government’s Cabinet Office Evaluation Council for 11 years. He co-founded and heads CommsClarity Consulting Ltd, a strategic advisory firm supporting comms professionals with their comms evaluation.
 

Pat Gaudin

Pat has been a passionate member and supporter of the public relations profession and the CIPR for over 30 years. She has served on both the Institute’s Council and Board, is a founding Chartered PR, was a member and Chair of its Professional Development and Membership Committee, was a member, vice chair and chair of its Local Government Group (later Local Public Services Group), and served on and chaired the Iprovision Board. In 2013, she was awarded the Stephen Talents Medal and in 2015 she co-authored PR and Communication in Local Government and Public Services in the CIPR PR in Practice series.

Pat has had a distinguished career in local government PR at Lothian, Edinburgh, Essex and Chelmsford Councils and most recently as a PR consultant/interim in local government and public services across East Anglia, Hertfordshire and London. She lectured at UAL London College of Communication and has used her PR skills with disability CIC Purple, Theatre Arts Action Trust, and the Essex Book Festival. She is also a Fellow of the RSA.

Henry Gewanter

Henry has been a member of the Institute for more than 30 years and continues to stand up for ethical practice as the current co-chair of the Professional Standards Panel. He is committed to bringing through the next generation of PR Professionals, having joined the Institute’s mentoring programme from its inception.

Henry’s commitment to ethical standards came to widespread public attention because of his leading role in working with UK national media to reveal the scandal of UK MP’s expenses. He set up Positive Profile in 1997 and now runs it having previously worked at Financial Dynamics, First Financial, the investment bank County NatWest, and National Westminster Bank.
 

Avril Lee

Avril has led the CIPR’s EDI work for a decade, most recently as Chair of the Institute’s Diversity and Inclusion Network and previously serving on its Diversity Working Group and Diversity and Inclusion Forum. She has twice served on the CIPR Board and her work has contributed to the establishment of the Institute’s award-winning Reverse Mentoring Scheme with the Taylor Bennett Foundation, and its pursuit of NES accreditation.

She has been a Board Trustee with Doctors of the World UK since October 2018 and in 2022 was awarded the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal For Outstanding Contribution To Public Relations. Last year BME PR Pros recognised her championing EDI change by awarding her a lifetime achievement award. Avril is Head of Health and Wellbeing Europe and UK at Zeno.
 

Ann Pilkington

Ann is a long-standing champion and advocate of the public relations industry having co-founded PR Academy in 2007, helping hundreds of professionals from all over the world to become qualified. Ann spearheads the operations and development at PR Academy as well as providing support to students. She has a particular interest in how communication can support change and project management and has explored this in her book Communicating Projects and as a chapter author in several books.

A CIPR member for more than 30 years, she was an active volunteer with what was the Wessex CIPR group for many years.

Ann began her career in regional journalism and went on to work in public relations for brands including the AA, BT, Barclays, and to lead communication for large government change programmes before co-founding PR Academy.

Kevin Taylor

Kevin joined the CIPR in 1992 and has served on the CIPR Council and as chair of the Education and Professional Standards Committee. He was first elected to the CIPR Board of Directors in 2004 and served as the CIPR’s 60th President in 2009.

Kevin was elected to the Board again in 2017-18, during which time he also chaired the Professional Practices Committee, later serving as the CIPR’s Regulatory Consultant. He was awarded the Sir Stephen Tallents' Medal in 2017. In 2023 Kevin became Chair of the Iprovision charity and led the launch of its 75 Fund to support people from financially or socially disadvantaged backgrounds to advance or begin a career in the public relations profession. Kevin has acted as a mentor on the CIPR’s Progress Mentoring scheme and has informally mentored many practitioners over the years.