ROB Fearn, from Newton, has been elected as the chairman of the Merseyside Branch of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

A voluntary position, the 42-year-old from Banastre Drive's professional role is as a marketing manager for Siemens Business Services.

Although a member of the institute since 1999, he only joined the branch committee in December 2004.

He said: "My remit is to raise the profile of marketing as a core business discipline, to increase the relevance and to prove the demonstrable value of marketing for all companies and organisations within Merseyside, irrespective of their size and industry."

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) is the world's largest professional marketing body with 50,000 members worldwide and 3,000 in the north west.

The next Merseyside event for the CIM is on Thursday, October 13 at Liverpool Hope University, from 2pm to 3pm.

Admission is free.

To book, visit www.cim-nw

.co.uk or call 0141 221 7700.