The governing body of The Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) is its Council, as was the case with the Institute of Brewing (IOB) and the International Brewers Guild (IBG) before amalgamation into the IGB (Institute & Guild of Brewing), the precursor to the IBD. Previous members of both the IOB and IBG will have their own perceptions of their separate Councils, but words like 'undemocratic', 'top heavy', 'too big', 'unwieldy', 'unrepresentative' have all been used in a critical sense.

When the Amalgamation Working Party (AWP) came to address the formation of an IBD Council, they were fully seized with the need to come up with suggestions of composition and representation which would both satisfy the business and educational charity requirements and, equally importantly, be acceptable to members. This article is intended to inform IBD Members of what has been put in place, the reasons for such a composition, who does what on the Council, and why. The IBD is a Company Limited by Guarantee, and registered as an educational charity with the UK Charity Commission. As such, it is bound by Articles of Association which, in turn, are conditioned by the prevalent UK Companies Act, or Acts. Council Members are directors of the Company, and trustees of the Educational Charity. Only statutory members of the IBD may be elected to Council, and they hold office in accordance with the Byelaws.

Council is responsible for the management of the IBD income and its property, plus all other 'affairs and concerns'. The IBD Council meets in full three times per year; an Annual General Meeting is convened to follow the mid-year Council. For functional purposes, the Officers of the IBD are the titled Honorary and Executive. Honorary Officers are: the President, two Deputy Presidents, and the Treasurer. Executive Officer is the Secretary. The Executive Officer attends Council, but is not a member of it. Whilst the Secretary performs the function for Council which the title suggests, his duties are primarily to manage and conduct the business of the IBD as Executive Director, under the direction of Council. Sub-groups have been established to bring papers to Council for consideration. The Organisation & Management Group deals with corporate governance, and gives support to the Executive Director with regard to financial matters; the Section Representative Group deals with membership matters. In addition to the Honorary Officers, Council includes a representative from each of the eight IBD Sections - Africa, Asia-Pacific, International, Scottish, Irish, Great Northern, Midland, and Southern. Furthermore, the Chairman of the IBBS is a council member.

Each section also has a secretary who may attend Council in the absence of their Section Chair (as an attendee) Secretaries are Directors and Trustees.

The structure of Council and the goverance matters are currently under review by Council with the objective of providing further improvements in Governance (see council minutes 25th April 2013).

To view the current list of IBD Council Members please click here