Who we are

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management is the confederation of the world's major PR and communication management associations and institutions, representing over 360,000 practitioners and academics around the world.

The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management is a not-for-profit organisation based in Switzerland.

The Global Alliance's mission is to unify the public relations profession, raise professional standards all over the world, share knowledge for the benefit of its members and be the global voice for public relations in the public interest.

The Global Alliance relies on the efforts of communication professionals to tackle common problems with a global perspective. By partnering with regional, national and international bodies to increase professionalism in public relations and communication management, this Alliance works to enhance the collaborative professionalism of the industry among its constituents around the world.


Board Meeting - April 2019

Board Meeting - April 2019

Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon, Portugal

Vision

The Global Alliance's vision is to enhance the role and value of public relations and communication management to organizations, and to global society. We pursue this vision by convening and serving the profession, helping to find universal principles that unite our professional associations and their members, while embracing a diversity that enables different applications in different parts of our global community.

 

Mission

The mission of the Global Alliance is:

  • To unify the public relations profession

  • To raise its professional standards all over the world

  • To share knowledge for the benefit of our members

  • To be the global voice for public relations in the public interest

 

Values

Collaboration

Working mostly by projects, the Global Alliance has a cooperative nature and its deliverables are made by outstanding association’s leaders and professionals who commit themselves to the profession engaging in teamwork.

Professionalism and Credibility

The Global Alliance seeks to increase the professionalism at several levels. By supporting its member associations, the GA commits to a better professionalism in serving the professionals’ interests and by promoting standards and guidelines, it also gives a positive contribution to overall professionalism in the practice of communication management and to its credibility.

Integrity

The Global Alliance is at the forefront of the representation of PR and communication management as a profession in which the importance of ethical behavior is unquestionable. The development of a Global Protocol on Ethics for Public Relations and the requirement that all GA members ratify it demonstrates the commitment to Integrity as a professional value.

Innovation and Change

The Global Alliance is committed to produce changes through innovation and the development of a worldwide community which is shaping the future of our profession.

Openness and dialogue

Believing that a fundamental trait of communication management is to make organizations better equipped at dialogue and understand the environment in which they operate, the Global Alliance thrives to reach out to PR leaders as well as to leaders from other fields of professional practice to increase their awareness of PR and communication management and to engage in fruitful and positive relationships with them.


We jointly search for global standards while embracing diversity.
— Gregor Halff, Global Alliance Former Chair (2015-2017)

executive boards and council members

  • From 1996 to October 2000, there was no formal governance structure. Organisations took turns hosting meetings - usually as part of larger conferences. In 1997 IPR (UK) hosted, in 1998 PRSA hosted, in 1999 it was IABC’s turn. Then during an IPRA world congress/PRSA international conference in 2000, Deanna Pelfrey of PRSA became the interim chair as she agreed to lead discussions forward with a small group of close collaborators (working group leaders) which later became recognized as the interim leadership: Deanna Pelfrey (PRSA), Catherine Bolton (PRSA), Jean Valin (CPRS), Margaret Moscardi (PRISA), Colin Farrington (IPR), John Gallagher (PRII).

  • Call for nominations for the first elected board and officers were launched in late Spring 2002 which resulted in the election of six officers. To allow for continuity, all were for a two year term (end date was end of calendar year at that time-now it is at the time of the Annual General Meeting) with the exception of Chair and Chair-elect positions, which were set at one year exceptionally for this first election.

  • The current board was appointed on May 2022 during the Global Alliance Annual General Meeting and it formally took office starting from July 1, 2021. Justin Green is the current Global Alliance President and José Manuel Velasco is the Immediate Past-Chair.

For more details on the Global Alliance executive boards and council members, download the historical overview.