IDPC Board announces new leadership and bids a fond farewell to the outgoing Chair, Vicki Hanson

After serving for eight years on the IDPC Board of Directors, Vicki Hanson formally stepped down from her role as Chair in September 2024. This is the longest that any Director has served for IDPC, as the usual six-year term was extended for Vicki to ensure continuity on the Board and to allow her to serve as the Chair for the last two years.

Vicki has brought her own unique style of empathetic, kind and thoughtful leadership to the Board. She has helped to guide the organisation through the challenges of COVID-19, the subsequent transition to a remote-working Secretariat, and difficult funding environments. Vicki has always ensured that the Board was reminded of the important role that the IDPC network plays within the broader drug policy movement, drawing on her own experience in Jamaica where she has worked with traditional cannabis farmers. Vicki also served on the Finance and Resources Committee during her tenure. We will miss Vicki greatly, but are reassured that she will stay involved with us as she is a key player in the Caribbean for drug policy reform efforts.

Smriti Rana has been appointed as the new Chair and will be supported by Tomas Chang Pico who will now take up her previous position as Vice Chair. Smriti will also continue to serve as on IDPC’s Members Advisory Council (MAC), providing a crucial link between IDPC’s two governance structures. We congratulate both Smriti and Tomas on their new roles and look forward to working with them to implement our new Strategic Plan in the coming years.

We are now also advertising for new Directors to join our Board in the coming months. To aid succession planning, we are especially seeking an individual with strong finance experience to complement the skills of the other Board members. Please do share this call for applications widely among your networks.