The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) has awarded Liz Nottingham, HR director, Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), an IPA fellowship for her contribution to the marketing communications industry.

According to the IPA, Nottingham is the first dedicated and professionally qualified HR practitioner to have been awarded an IPA fellowship.

She is chair of the IPA’s People Management Group (PMG) which shares information on employment law, industry trends and personnel matters, and provides a support network to advertising agency personnel management.

Most recently, she has overseen SMG’s largest ever training programme, initiated a range of employee engagement initiatives and contributed towards some of the strongest retention rates in the agency’s history.