One of the great things about the PSI Board is its ability to adapt to meet our changing needs and focus areas. We have continuously done this over the years and as 2020 drew to a close I reflected a lot on what we had achieved, what we still wanted to accomplish and what were the barriers to holding us back. You can see the PSI Business plan to find out more.
We know our members are active and engage with a variety of content and communication platforms, but we still have more to do as we move to a heavily online presence with a need for more holistic offerings across our committees rather than working in silos that we have tried in many ways to overcome in the past. We want to ensure that our members anywhere in the world have easy access to content and that PSI is the place people want to come to develop themselves as statisticians in healthcare and to build/develop their networks with like-minded individuals. We are also looking at making sure the PSI Board is efficient and effective for PSI. With this in mind, we will be looking to change the Articles to allow for the PSI Board to have between 8-14 members, rather than the 10-14 currently stated - our new Board structure will have 9 members.
The new Board structure is below and will officially take effect in July 2021 following the AGM and voting of new/current Board members. To ensure that we don’t lose 6 months of the year in getting started the newly created roles have already been assigned with either current BoD members or through our succession planning as part of the natural cycle of Board membership. I want to take the time now to thank all the directors for their openness to the new structure and for their ability to think outside of their own roles to what makes the best sense for PSI. We are confident the new Board structure will help deliver our future goals.
While there are a number of committees which may sit under a Board Director, I have only highlighted below the current Board positions which have been directly impacted by the changes for simplicity.
The two biggest changes is the creation of new Events Director and Careers Director roles. While training, scientific and conference will still drive the majority of new content along with the SIGs and our journal club, we have struggled in the past to ensure we have an overarching view of the events we are putting on and how events are connected to each other. The Events Director position will be responsible for overseeing all PSI events, which will make our offerings easier for members to follow in areas they are particularly interested in. We will also be working to focus our content around 6 areas I wrote about in my last SPIN article, these are:
I am pleased to announce that Rachael Lawrance who has led the Scientific Committee for the last 2 years will take on the Events Director role.
For the Careers director role we wanted to have a more holistic view of what we can provide to our members to support and advance their career whilst also promoting statistics as a valued profession and career choice to schools and universities. We wanted to build on the amazing work CALC has been providing to more members and bridge this with the group we set-up last year under Naomi Given’s who are developing a PSI leadership program. Further details are coming soon to support the launch of this exciting new offering. Our Business plan has a lot of focus on supporting career development, and the Careers Director role will have a focus on this and expand what services we can provide to our community. I am pleased to announce that Kim Hacquoil who has worked on CALC and is working on the PSI Leadership program will take on the Career Directors role.
The new digital lead role may turn into a full Board position but at the moment this position will focus on developing a digital strategy and the transformations PSI will need to embrace to ensure we are fully integrating digital tools and solutions to enable PSI to be successful for the future. I am pleased to announce Alexander Schacht will take on this role.
Finally communication is core to the success for PSI both in terms of connecting with members via emails, newsletters and the website, and in outreach to other key partners, stakeholders and related associations. I am pleased to announce Steve Jones will be stepping in to take on the Communication Director role.
As ever we will learn and adapt the PSI Board as we need to, to keep us ready for the future. If you have any questions please reach out to me via psi@mci-group.com
Wishing you all a happy 2021
Lucy
