Christina Forsgård Announced as Inaugural ICCO Ethics Chair

As part of a drive for continuous improvement of ethical standards in PR globally, ICCO has named Christina Forsgård, Founder of Netprofile, as its inaugural Ethics Chair. She assumes the role ahead of ICCO’s annual ‘Power of Ethics’ campaign in September and will continue to drive progress in this area beyond the one-month campaign. The move comes as part of an ICCO Strategy to work with other sectors to focus on educating the public, businesses and PR professionals in regard to identifying and combating misinformation, disinformation and malinformation; whilst aiding identification of reliable information and trusted sources.

Christina is an experienced PR and Marcom leader, entrepreneur and the founder of PR multi award winning consultancy Netprofile in Finland. She takes an active role as a marcom technology angel investor, has appeared on several Top Influencer lists, and was awarded a National Security Award for designing a ground-breaking cyber security and disinformation training course.

Christina Forsgård, Founder, Netprofile Finland, said: “We acknowledge that our profession comes with great powers of influence, therefore we have responsibility to combat disinformation and fake news. Not because it’s important, but because it is absolutely vital for humanity. I am honored to act as the first ICCO Ethics Chair globally and fortify the power of ethics in communications with ICCO leaders.”

Elise S. Mitchell, President, ICCO, and Founder and Chairman, Mitchell, said: “Ethics is one of ICCO’s top strategic priorities. Christina’s expertise and leadership will help ICCO continue to elevate the global conversation about ethics and promote professional principles such as advocacy, honesty and transparency. I am delighted to serve alongside her.”

Francis Ingham MPRCA, Chief Executive, ICCO, and Director General, PRCA, said: “The establishment of an Ethics Chair demonstrates the importance ICCO places on raising ethical standards in PR globally. Having played a key role in developing the Helsinki Declaration, Christina is well positioned to lead ICCO’s work in tackling the new and changing ethical challenges of our time.”

ICCO works to raise professional and ethical standards of the public relations industry internationally and  the campaign marks two years since the Bell Pottinger expulsion from PRCA on 4th September 2017 that caused shockwaves throughout the profession as well as the creation of ten globally binding principles, agreed across 66 countries in the Helsinki Declaration, that champions the #PowerofEthics.

Find out how to get involved in #PowerofEthics here.

ICCO is the global voice of public relations consultancies, with membership comprising national trade associations, networks, and agencies in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas and Australasia. Collectively these associations represent over 3,00 PR firms. ICCO organised an annual global PR summit, has an international awards programme, and provides PR training and qualifications. www.iccopr.com