WOR PROG PR K IN K IN OG RESS WOR: PR's industry bodies have promised to work more closely together to improve the sector's ethnic mix. But are these efforts too little too late, and what more can be done? By Arvind Hickman

For almost their entire existence, PR's trade bodies have largely reflected the ethnic diversity of the sector they serve rather than choosing to represent the change they want to see.

Thelackofrolemodels,perceptionissueswithin BME communities about PR as a career and noninclusive working environments have left the industry with shockingly poor representation - only nine per cent of professionals and a far lower proportion of leaders in the industry.

Although there has been plentyof talk about the lack of diversity within these organisations and at industry events,BME representation on the PRCA and CIPR boards has left a lot to be desired,leading to criticism that these bodies do not practice what theypreach on the issue.

PRCA director-general Francis Ingham admits his association has not done enough in the past to improve the ethnic diversityof its main board.

Recently,it took steps to change that by installing several new main board members from BME backgrounds and introducing a new board - the Race and Ethnicity Equity Board (REEB) - charged with improving ethnic diversityin the industry.

"So in terms of the PRCA board,it wasn't diverse at all until a fewweeks ago,and I hold my hands up on this and say,absolutely,we were just remiss in addressing this," Ingham tells PRWeek.

"We had a fewof our board members stand down [in July] to make way for others from more diverse backgrounds. Tony Langham, David Gallagher, Jon Hughes and Ed Williams [stood down], and we've now got new members of the board,who've joined Barbara [Phillips,who joined in July] on it. We have further progress to make ahead of our AGM in September, and we'll do that and be held accountable to that commitment."

The new board members are Kamiqua Pearce (founder and chief executive of Coldr and the UK Black Comms Network),Rimmi Shah (partner at Lansons),Ondine Whittington (group managing director for Golin and Virgo Health), and Hugh Taggart (corporate affairs practice lead at Edelman).The seven-member PRCA senior executive team includes three members from "non-white British backgrounds".

When pressed on why it has taken the PRCA so long to address ethnic diversity at board level, Ingham says there are several reasons,including the fact that the board is a reflection of the ethnic diversityfound in the industry.

"It's partly an oversight by me, and I...