Membership in the new Board was granted to Lina Jakučionienė, head of corporate communication in the Baltic states at an insurance company ERGO, Ingrida Bartkienė, communication manager for the Baltic and Nordic region at an IT company CSC, Janina Sabaitė Melnikovienė, communication representative of Achema, AB, Agnė Dvarionienė, chief specialist of the Communication Division of the National Audit Office, Renata Matkevičienė, assistant dean, associate professor and doctor at Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University, Andrius Kasparavičius, head of the communication agency Komunikacija ir Konsultantai, and Germanas Kavalskis, a freelance public relations specialist.
Lina Jakučionienė was elected the chair of the Board. She is to replace Mr. Kasparavičius who headed the LPRSA for six months. He had taken over the wheel of the organisation from Orijana Mašalė, head of OMConsulting, a strategic communication company, who was in command from late 2012.
“I accept the trust of the members in me and assume this responsibility. I am ready to work with a team and to maintain the previous work and experience and lead the association forward. We are prepared to enhance the understanding, prestige and significance of the public relations specialty so that the public relations professionals are not only the communicators of decisions made but also the decision-makers themselves as is typical in well-developed Western countries.
One of the priority areas of the association is the integration of the LPRSA into the international public relations community. In Lithuania, we have high quality communication experts, we receive awards in prestigious international competitions. The time has come to introduce ourselves on a global scale and avail of the opportunity to broaden experience and gain knowledge from excellent European examples which are based on the latest communication solutions,” Ms. Jakučionienė said.
The Board of the 2015–2016 term of office also had Lukas Mikelaitis, project manager of vipcommunications, an integrated communication agency, Ramūnas Matonis, chief of the Communication Division of the Police Department, Jūratė Virkutienė, marketing and communication manager of SEB Gyvybės Draudimas (Life Insurance), Milda Lomsargienė, head of communication of the insurance company If, and Mindaugas Ardišauskas, general manager of the communication agency Fabula Hill+Knowlton Strategies, as its members.
The Board of the LPRSA is elected for a two-year term of office by the members of the Association in a general meeting of members. The newly elected Board will start its work on 1 January 2017.
The general meeting also established a new division in the LPRSA – it will pull together the LPRSA members in Kaunas district. This division is to make sure care that specialists who live and work outside the capital city are provided with convenient conditions for improvement and participation in the LPRSA’s activities.
Set up in 2000, the LPRSA unites public relations specialists working in private and public sector who seek to improve their professional competence. Presently, as many as 200 public relations specialists from all parts of Lithuania are the members of the LPRSA.