The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors - which now has a wide Asian footprint with members across the region - is now led by a woman for the first time in its 146-year history.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – which now has a wide Asian footprint with members across that region – is now led by the first woman president in its 146-year history.

The new president is Louise Brooke-Smith becomes; her tenure will run from 1 July to 30 June 2015. She intends to focus on three core areas: diversity, Africa and her professional specialisms, planning and land economics.

“Chartered Surveying is a globally recognised profession, and we must ensure that it is open to all, whatever their background, or gender. We are a proud industry, but have lagged behind others in terms of making the most of a diverse workforce,” said Brooke-Smith, RICS, president.

“I have been elected on my individual merits and not because of my gender,” she added.

Brooke-Smith, with 30 years industry experience, is currently director of Brooke Smith Planning, a planning and development consultancy she established in the UK.  She will continue this role alongside her presidency of RICS. Within RICS, she has been a member of the West Midlands Regional Board since the early 1990s, represented RICS on the National Planning Forum between 1989 and 2002 as vice chairman and is currently a commissioner for Disaster Management.

RICS accredits over 118,000 qualified professionals across the globe in land, real estate. In Asia, it supports over 18,000 individual professionals across the Asia Pacific region. The RICS Asia region covers national associations and local groups locating in Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, The People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong SAR. It also has members working across the region such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Laos PDR, Macao SAR, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, The Maldives, The Philippines, Timor East and Vietnam