Board effectiveness review

ARB is governed by a Board that is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organisation and overseeing the organisation’s performance. In 2016, the Board was led by Beatrice Fraenkel, who was Chair for the first part of the year, followed by Peter Coe, who was elected as Chair in July. Richard Parnaby served as Vice-Chair throughout the year.

The Board consists of 15 members, eight are appointed lay members and seven are architects elected by their peers. Board members are eligible to serve two consecutive terms of four years under the provisions of the Act.

In late 2015, in line with the Board’s electoral scheme, we launched an election for the seven architects’ positions that were due to become vacant on 1 April 2016. The election resulted in three architects being elected for a second term of four years (Richard Parnaby, Alex Wright and Soo Ware), and four new architects being elected for the first time (Jason Bill, Danna Walker, Sue Roaf and Guy Maxwell).

The DCLG also launched a recruitment process in late 2015, and appointed two new lay members to the positions which became vacant on 1 April 2016 and a further new member to the position which became vacant on 1 August 2016. The three new lay members were Suzanne McCarthy, Jagtar Singh and Carol Bernstein. All new Board members underwent a thorough induction process during the first six months of their tenure.