Overwhelming Support by the IBD Members to Progress for the Royal Charter Status

It is with great pleasure we can announce that the proposal for the IBD to be incorporated by Royal Charter has been hugely endorsed by our members in an Extraordinary General Meeting held on Tuesday 14th June 2022.

This clear support by the Members represents a significant step in our application process. The IBD is now in the position to formally submit our Royal Charter petition to the Office of the Privy Council.

With a great level of engagement among IBD members prior to and at the Extraordinary General Meeting the Members voted on six special resolutions, including several changes in the bylaws’ organisation.

The threshold for passing each Special Resolution is 75% and this was significantly exceeded in every case.

These are the results:

The process to become a Chartered organisation is long and involves different stages both internally across the organisation and externally to gather support from other industry organisations. This process consolidates all the support needed to be able to apply for the Chartered Status and help achieve the recognition that brewers, distillers and allied industry professionals deserve.

Once the petition is formally submitted, there will be further Government and public consultation. If finally approved the Institute will make its transition to become incorporated by the Royal Charter and will then be able to offer Members a road to becoming Chartered Professionals. This process could take a further 12 -18 months.

The idea to achieve the Chartered Status has been driven by our outgoing Chief Executive Officer, Jerry Avis and fully supported by the IBD Board of Trustees, Interim Chief Executive Officer and President.

“My aim over the past six and a half years has been focused on the IBD being a modern, professional association fit for the 21st century and to open a new chapter for the future of the organisation. The Chartership would bring the highest accolade for professionals working within our industry, providing rightful recognition and respect of the science and art of brewing and distilling across the globe. The new Chartered status, if hopefully achieved, will help us create a united and connected fellowship of likeminded professionals committed to their continued professional development in pursuit of perfection. It has been a true pleasure to facilitate this process before my departure”, said Jerry Avis.

“A Chartership is widely seen as the pinnacle for excellence and integrity in the modern professional world. Since we were established in 1886, the IBD has thrived to improve our understanding of the science and technology of brewing and distilling. We like to think we are the proud custodians of centuries of brewing and distilling wisdom. A Chartership would provide for the future of brewing and distilling, a future that empowers and enables our members to share knowledge, learnings and opportunities. A future that strives to support life-long learning throughout and beyond the careers of our members; and it inspires creativity and entrepreneurialism, from the solid commercial platform of safety, quality, experience and constancy”, said Douglas Murray, IBD Interim Chief Executive Officer.

“The industry continues to evolve with emergent entrepreneurialism, innovation and globalisation driving up the technical and practical knowledge requirements across categories and countries. But, globally the industry lacks a consistently recognised and respected professional title. This is what the IBD is trying to solve with the Chartership. Our charitable objective is the advancement of education in our industries, which will not change. The Chartership will help us reinforce our focus on supporting individuals to progress in their professional careers more than ever before and that professional development will be increasingly linked to the company and industry success”, said Bhavya Mandanna, IBD President.