Regulation 4: Biennially, and at least 60 days before the forthcoming AGM, the Council shall elect a Fellow or Associate to be the incoming President-elect with effect from the forthcoming AGM, for a term of one year, until the subsequent AGM.
The President-elect for 2026/27 can be any Fellow or Associate of the IFoA.
At its meeting on 26 November 2025 Council was asked to approve the Task and Person Specification for the President of the 2027/28 and 2028/29 sessional years.
In January 2026 the President will speak to Council members and ask for their views on candidates for the next President. Views on personal aspirations for the role will also be sought at that time.
In January 2026 the role will be advertised on the IFoA’s website.
The Council Appointments Committee will meet in February 2026 to consider the feedback received from the President and any applications received via the website advert. The Committee will determine whether it is desirable to engage recruitment consultants to help identify non-Council members who might be suitable for the role.
The Council Appointments Committee will meet in late March 2026 to assess the applications received (including feedback received from Council members and, where appointed, from the recruitment consultants) and agree a shortlist of crica three members who are considered suitable candidates to become President.
Following consideration by the Council Appointments Committee, the Chair of the Committee will contact each shortlisted member for confirmation that they wish to be put forward as a candidate.
Each candidate will be asked to make a declaration of suitability, in accordance with the IFoA’s Suitability Assessment Process.
The list of candidates will be announced to Council members once all confirmations are received and the suitability declarations satisfactorily completed.
Each candidate will submit for Council’s consideration brief statements in support of their candidacy together with details of their professional CVs by 23 April 2026.
The election meeting will take place on 7 May 2026 and will be a virtual meeting. The Chief Executive will be invited to attend at the discretion of the President, who will chair the meeting.
At the election meeting, each candidate will be invited to make a presentation of about 10 minutes to Council and then to take questions for about 15 minutes. Candidates will be invited to pre-record their presentations in the event of technical difficulties, though these will be used only as a last resort. Candidates will not be present during their fellow candidates’ presentations. It will be made clear to candidates that they will be required to provide supporting evidence of how their experience and skills meet the task and person specification, as part of both their written and oral submissions to Council.
All Council members, except those who are candidates, are eligible to vote. A single transferrable voting mechanism shall apply where the number of candidates is greater than two. Ahead of the vote, Council will be asked to confirm that the President should (as is custom) have a casting vote in the event of a draw. This casting vote will be provided to the Corporate Secretariat in advance of the vote count.
Immediately after the final candidate’s presentation has concluded, all Council members present at the meeting will be invited to submit their vote via an electronic survey or poll set up by the Corporate Secretariat, or email it directly to the Corporate Secretariat. Council members who cannot attend the election meeting will be asked to either submit their vote before the meeting or appoint an attending member as their proxy. The Corporate Secretariat will then count all votes received.
The Corporate Secretariat will inform the President of the name of the candidate with the most votes. The number of votes cast for each candidate may be disclosed to the candidates only, on request. Where there are three or more candidates, the number of preference votes received as well as the stage at which an individual was eliminated may be disclosed. This information should be kept confidential by the candidate.
