EXCLUSIVE: At its annual awards evening last night, Australian Marketing Institute’s chair Lee Tonitto announced that the industry body’s CEO of nine years Mark Crowe would be stepping down from the role on 31 March 2014.

Crowe told B&T that his decision to depart was the culmination of a number of things, but that after a year of major change he felt it was the right time to go.

“Having instigated much of the changes that will transform the association into a modern organisation, I think it’s prudent to hand over the reins to show that the changes were for the good of the organisation and they couldn’t be construed by anyone as self serving,” he said.

The AMI will next year celebrate its 80^th anniversary. The search for the person to lead the organisation into its next 80 years will begin shortly said Crowe, adding that he expected to be spending at least April and May next year consulting back to the AMI to assist the new CEO bed down the changes.

The major difference to take place within the 7000 strong membership association will be the direct election of a national board. Previously the national board was made up of representatives from the state councils.

“Under the new operating model, the members will have a chance to democratically elect their national board and underneath that strategic committees will be formed to deal with issues and promote marketing by areas of expertise. There will also be local committees to deal with local issues,” said Crowe.

He said the goal of the new operating model was to ensure that the skills of its individual members could be harnessed more effectively by affording people to contribute to issues by areas of interest and expertise as well as location.

“Having members in six states and two territories means that the needs and wants of our members can be very diverse,” said Crowe.