 Mark Koziol |  Ted Smith |  Joanne West |
Three members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council who complete their term of office this year have chosen not to seek re-election. They are Mr Mark Koziol, Mr Ted Smith and Miss Joanne West. Each has served just one three-year term on the Council.
The remaining four retiring Council members - Dr Gordon Appelbe, Mr Hassan Argomandkhah, Mr Peter Curphey and Mrs Linda Stone - are joined in the election by a further 12 candidates - Mrs Sarah Cockbill, Mr Ian Conquest, Mr Steven Curtis, Dr Brian Curwain, Miss Alison Ewing, Dr Nicola Gray, Mr David Kent,
Mr Kirit Patel, Mr Graham Phillips, Mr Alaster Rutherford, Mr Robert Wood and Mr Alan Woodcock.
Biographical details of the election candidates appear on pages 536 to 538 of this Journal. Voting papers and a booklet containing candidates' statements of policy are to be posted to members shortly.
Mr Koziol told The Journal that one reason why he was not seeking re-election was that it was vital to give new people the opportunity to sit on the Council. The only guaranteed way of enabling that process was for existing members to stand down. Before his three years on the Council he had served for three years on the Community Pharmacists Group Committee, and he felt it was now time to give way to someone else. However, he fully intended to offer himself for re-election at some future date.
Mr Koziol added that another reason for his decision was that he had volunteered to become involved in a professional project that would take up an enormous amount of his time over the next 12 months. The project was one that would be of benefit to the profession, but it had not yet reached the stage at which details could be made public.
Mrs West told The Journal that she had decided to stand down because her family and work commitments were currently such that she needed to devote more time to both, leaving her unable to commit the time necessary to being an effective Council member. However, she did not intend to relax her work in pharmacy politics at the local level, and she hoped to seek election to the Council again in the future.
Mrs West added that past three turbulent years had been part of the process of ironing out the Society's inherent problems. There was a great deal still to be done, and she offered her best wishes to the new Council.
Mr Smith's decision not to seek re-election follows a career move away from pharmacy practice. Mr Smith was formerly North West England regional general manager for Boots the Chemists, but on January 1 he took up an appointment as retail operations director of W. H. Smith High Street, the retail newsagent and bookseller arm of W. H. Smith Group Plc.