Jo Cornish is the Chief Development Officer at CILIP, the professional association for library and information professionals. Working alongside the CEO and CCO, she sets the strategic direction of CILIP. She is responsible for CILIP’s culture, content and sector expertise and takes strategy and core purpose through to delivery. She is a passionate advocate for the importance of information and knowledge roles and the value they bring to society.

Jo has a recent background in professional standards, quality assurance, assessment and qualifications. She is co-author of the revised sector skills framework the Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB) and led the review of the professional registration process under CILIP’s Royal Charter. She leads the sector’s apprenticeship programme and is a founder-director of the expert apprenticeship assessment service, CILIP Pathways.

She provides strategic insight for several national sector skills projects including the Health Education England “Knowledge for Healthcare” strategy and the “Public Library Workforce and Skills Strategy”.

A Fellow of CILIP herself, with over 20 years’ experience as a practitioner, she specialises in building strategic partnerships across the profession. She believes that knowledge and information professionals provide unique and valuable skills that can and should be formally recognised and celebrated.