The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has announced the appointment of three new committee members to the NSW New Emerging Practitioners Group (NEPG) to help further the industry body’s support for young communications professionals.

April Rose (senior PR and social account manager at Niche Marketing Group), Aidan Simmons (media and communications officer at The Royal Australasian College of Physicians) and Maya Ivanovic (account executive at Palin Communications) join incumbent team members Hannah Rayment (senior account manager at Weber Shandwick) and Ishtar Schneider (senior account manager at Palin Communications and chair of the NSW NEPG).

Schneider said the new committee brings together a wealth of national and international talent from both agency and in-house backgrounds to enhance NEPG activations.

“The group is an enthusiastic and active special interest part of PRIA, dedicated to driving industry engagement and education,” she said.

“Our bi-monthly events provide free access to leading guest speakers and networking opportunities for up-and-coming communications professionals and students. We are thrilled to welcome April, Aidan and Maya to the team and to extend our offering of professional development events in 2017.”

PRIA chief executive Ann Howard said: “The continued growth of our NEPG committee is testament to PRIA’s strong commitment to nurturing the next generation of talent and continued professional development for our industry.”

Plans for upcoming events are already underway, including a PRINKS networking event in June and a speaker panel in August.