Paul Neale FIAM is the founder of Not For Profit Business Services Ltd having previously started, and become Chief Executive of, a major association management division in a firm of Chartered Accountants for a significant number of years.
He is a past President of the Institute of Association Management (IofAM) and a Trustee and Treasurer of a charity dealing with crime prevention based in North London. He was on the main Committee and Treasurer of the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE) for over 10 years, a member of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), an individual member of Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and has been on the international task force of the AMC Institute (AMCI) based in North America.
He holds the position of Director or Company Secretary for a number of clients. He qualified as a Chartered Secretary but is no longer in membership.
This is his account of the founding of the IEDP:
'The need for a professional body was identified by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in their report entitled Equality and Diversity Practitioners Project, December 2007. Of the 500 practitioner respondents, almost 75% said that they need better infrastructure support. The research, funded by the EU, identified that practitioners need the means to develop necessary competencies and skills to deliver the evolving requirements to promote equality within and between all communities but the LSC had no plans to actually set up an organisation to deliver it.
I took this on board and as a practical response to the report’s recommendations and practitioners’ needs, the Institute was registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee on 14th May 2008. It was to provide the additional capacity building and support that these practitioners required and so the Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners was launched in January 2009.'
I am pleased to say that I have been a Director and Company Secretary since the very beginning.