Global PA Association & Training Academy stands as the leading professional body for executive and personal assistants, with a mission to elevate administrative excellence on a global scale. Established in 2007 by Rosemary Parr, former Executive Assistant to BT plc’s Chairman, the Association has grown from its London roots into an international hub of resources, advocacy and career development. Members benefit from CPD-accredited professional status, access to bespoke mentorship and a digital community that spans six continents.

By forging strategic partnerships with industry bodies such as the ILM and City & Guilds Group, alongside university alliances at Kingston Business School and Birkbeck, University of London, the organisation provides a recognised framework for career progression. This commitment to standards means a Global PA qualification carries weight in boardrooms from Manchester to Madrid, Nairobi to New York, affirming the value of skilled support professionals wherever they work.

As a dedicated Training Academy, the Association delivers a portfolio of classroom, virtual and in-house programmes designed to sharpen the leadership, technical and strategic skills of office professionals. ILM-accredited short courses—ranging from Advanced EA Management to Effective Business Writing—are complemented by bespoke corporate workshops.

Internationally, trainers have led bespoke programmes in Dubai’s financial district, equipping local executive assistants with advanced stakeholder management techniques, and conducted leadership retreats for PAs in Singapore’s central business district, focusing on resilience and wellbeing. E-learning modules extend reach to Latin America and Africa, allowing members to complete CPD bite-sized learning on demand. This multi-modal approach ensures consistent quality of training, while adapting to regional nuances and time zones.

Central to its global engagement are the Association’s signature events, which foster networking, thought leadership and peer recognition. The annual Global PA Conference & Awards, hosted at One Great George Street in London, features an International Executive Assistant of the Year Award dedicated to recognising outstanding talent beyond the UK and Ireland. Recent regional showcases include a networking summit at Epsom Racecourse with delegates from Europe and the Middle East, and a Singapore chapter forum uniting PAs across Southeast Asia.

Virtual PA Networking sessions unite hundreds of delegates from across the Americas, while topical webinars—such as “Change Management for Executive Support”—attract participants from over twenty countries. These gatherings reinforce a sense of community and enable cross-border collaboration on emerging trends in the profession.

Complementing learning and events, the Association’s global recruitment and career-support services connect high-calibre office professionals with leading employers across seven regions. From placing multilingual assistants in multinational tech firms in Berlin, to sourcing strategic partners for C-suite executives in Hong Kong’s finance sector, the recruitment team leverages its extensive network to match candidates and roles precisely.

Members also access wellbeing retreats—recently held in Somerset and the British Cotswolds—with delegates travelling in from Australia, the Gulf and South Africa, to recharge and develop leadership insight. A digital badge system allows members to showcase their CPD achievements internationally, and dedicated career clinics offer one-to-one coaching for role transitions. In this way, Global PA Association & Training Academy underpins every stage of the office professional’s journey, wherever they may be based.