Shepperson, who is currently senior corporate communications manager at Vodafone, has volunteered with the CIPR for 11 years. He has experience counselling CEOs and senior executives on comms matters, and has led financial public relations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate communications and campaigns across international markets.

Shepperson is former member of council and currently sits on the CIPR board. He was previously a director of the CIPR and also chaired the CIPR Greater London Group through the pandemic. He continues to sit on the CIPR Finance Committee.

As part of his nomination statement, Shepperson said the CIPR needs to invest wisely to create the platform for a bright and sustainable future. To deliver on this, Shepperson plans to better connect the community and invest in digital tools, empower members to manage and develop their careers through training, and promote the CIPR to ensure its voice is heard.

At the close of nominations on Wednesday 15 September 2021, Shepperson was the only valid nomination received. Shepperson says, “This is a great honour and I would like to thank all the members who have spoken with me and offered support in recent weeks. In addition, our Charter mission to fight for ethical, honest and transparent communications has never been more important in an era of disinformation and fake news."

“I will work very hard to support Rachel as President in 2022 and beyond that to build a sustainable future for CIPR so that it can continue to deliver the same value to current and future members that I have enjoyed over the past 23 years," adds Shepperson.