The BCI has appointed Heather Merchan, MBCI, as its latest board Chair. This is an elected position with a two-year tenure. Heather replaces Christopher Horne in the role.
“Elected board members are volunteers and Chris has dedicated a huge amount of his time, knowledge and skills to steer the BCI through challenging times,” commented Heather. “Chris’ tenure will be remembered for his work to ensure good corporate governance, prioritizing the health of the organization, as well as strong leadership despite uncertainty and unpredictability.”
Looking ahead to her term as Chair, Heather stated:
“I start my term as Chair with a clear set of strategic goals and the resources to commit to achieving them. Our strategy has member experience and member value at its core. We are setting targets which will result in a visible improvement in the BCI’s offering to members including CPD and mentoring platforms, an expanded range of Special Interest Groups, increasing member-only content, and building increasingly supportive relationships with the Chapters.
“We have listened to member feedback and are committed to weaving equality, diversity and inclusion into all aspects of BCI strategy and operations. The BCI has recruited staff with the expertise to make our vision a reality, along with board representation to guide the implementation of our vision. We are running workshops for the board and all staff to reinforce this strategy and embed the principles.
“Thought leadership is at the heart of the BCI’s reputation. We are investing in growing the team to continue the research papers that most of you know us for, but also evolving member-led research through Next Practice and Special Interest Groups. We will strive to recognise our ambition of becoming the interface between academic knowledge and practice in the resilience field with the launch of our Research Foundation.”
“2023 will also see the launch of the latest Good Practice Guidelines. Work on this is advanced and the BCI is already looking to the future of the GPG and its transition into an ‘evergreen’ document, which will be updated as frequently as the need arises. As well as this, we are working on a GPG for Resilience and will breathe fresh life into the Resilience Alliance which has been in a holding pattern whilst the respective members navigated the pandemic. Arising from all this work is additional scope to develop our education and training services. We are planning an advanced CBCI for experienced practitioners alongside several other courses that focus on the resilience space.”
