Dr Martina Byrne is to leave her post as chief executive of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) after eight years in the job. She joined the PRII from the Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) in place of John Carroll, who quit to become special advisor to Leo Varadkar at the Department of An Taoiseach.
Before being awarded a PhD in TCD in 2014, and later lecturing in both TCD and UCD, she was director of public affairs and a board member of Wilson Hartnell (WHPR). The recruitment process to appoint the institute’s next CEO is underway, managed by the PRII national council and recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.
Fellowship
During her career she has worked in-house and in consultancy roles, with international and Irish clients in the private and public sectors. She served on the PRII national council and the PRCA board and was awarded a fellowship of the PRII (FPRII) in 2004 in recognition of her contribution to the development of the profession.
Commenting on her forthcoming departure, Byrne said: “During my tenure we’ve grown membership and financial reserves significantly, expanded our services and professional development offer, introduced a membership assistance programme and, in the past year, launched AI guidelines, a new awards scheme and digital transformation.
