A rapid advance to President of the IMC

Richard Popple is one of the first contributors to this section of the web site, and in the related correspondence noted that he became President in 1999, within 9 years of joining the Institute of Management Consultants, and wondered if this was a record. It probably is, and so I asked him how this came about. He commented:

"My sponsor on joining IMC was Air Commodore John Miller, a qualified barrister who, on retirement, took up a senior position on the staff of Windsor Castle. He certified, correctly, I believe, that the work I did in my final RAF appointment was consultancy: I played a leading role in the redesign of the confidential report form for RAF officers and the advisory notes for reporting officers. I was accepted in IMC as an Associate but my ascent began quite early.

I was sitting next to Helen Benedict at a Midlands branch meeting when the chairman called for a volunteer to be branch treasurer. As I had been trained as an accountant officer by the RAF, I said to Helen that I would be willing to be considered and, before I had finished, she was on her feet to say that they had a volunteer. Thus I became a member of the branch committee and later, by a process of inevitable gravitation, branch chairman with a place on the IMC Council.

I had to be formally elected to Council before I could be President and that was arranged in 1998 by Geoff Kitt [President 1994 – 95] and Kate Hook [then Director of the IMC]. The story of my life in brief!

I was also active in the IPM/CIPD, being twice Branch Chairman of Hereford and Worcester and therefore a member of Council. I chaired a lot of upgrading panels from member to fellow and contributed to discussions on improving the promotion process so I am now a Chartered Fellow in my own right and an Honorary Life Fellow but no longer active due to age. Between the RAF and setting up my consultancy practice, I was Senior Personnel Officer of a company of some 8,500 employees, then practice manager of a set of barristers’ chambers.  All good cross-fertilisation."

Calvert Markham