The board of the National Pharmacy Association held a meeting on March 31 at which the 14 board members who will govern the NPA over the next two years were confirmed.

The newly elected board members include Sanjay Ganvir, Sri Kanaparthy and Sukhvir Basa. The five outgoing members are Hemant Patel, Hiten Patel, Reena Barai, Umesh Patel and Amish Patel.

The organisation commented: “Recognising that the Board would already be losing a lot of organisational memory in 2023 with five members of Board standing down, the Board determined that three individuals should be co-opted onto the new Board as the process of transformation continues.”

The co-opted members include Andrew Lane, who recently announced his intention to stand down as NPA chair. The next chair will be announced at the April 24 board meeting.

The NPA said that between April 2023 and March 2025 it will complete the transition to a new board structure, whereby anyone has served 12 years or more will have to stand down.

The list of board members is as follows: 

• Raj Aggarwal (2-year appointment)
• Jay Badenhorst (2-year appointment)
• Sukhvir Basra (4-year appointment)
• Ian Cubbin (2-year appointment)
• Phil Galt (2-year appointment)
• Sanjay Ganvir (2-year appointment)
• Michael Guerin (2-year appointment)
• Salim Jetha (4-year appointment)
• Sri Kanaparthy (4-year appointment)
• Nick Kaye (4-year appointment)
• Andrew Lane (2-year appointment)
• Sanjeev Panesar (4-year appointment)
• Raj Patel (2-year appointment)
• Olivier Picard (4-year appointment)

Returning officer Gareth Jones said: “The NPA has undertaken a process of significant modernisation of organisational governance over the past years. Key elements of this process include adopting modern new Articles of Association, reforming the structure of the board and introducing term limits.

“The process of electing the board has also been changed so that half the board will be up for election every two years – which supports continuity and reduces the risk of a loss of organisational memory.” 

In a LinkedIn post on Sunday April 2, outgoing board member Reena Barai said: “It’s not been easy to be a jobbing contractor and hold down two national roles too. However, I felt this was an essential part of my contribution as I could relate to what it felt like at the grass roots for all the community pharmacy teams and then relay this at a national decision-making level.

"I definitely brought diversity to the board as the first ever Asian woman to be elected to the board in its near 100 year history. Whilst I was applauded for this fact at the time, I wanted to make sure that while I was the first, I didn’t want to be the last. So I’m pleased that there is another Asian woman (Sukhvir Basra) on the new board that formed yesterday.”