A publishing platform built around its professional community
Governance Intelligence brings together specialist journalism, research and events for corporate governance professionals. Working with Ave, I developed a custom WordPress theme that connects this publishing platform with its member experience, giving readers a place to explore ideas, manage their profiles and save useful content for later.
The challenge
The website needed to accommodate several ways of engaging with Governance Intelligence: reading the latest news, exploring longer research, finding an event and returning to saved articles. These journeys also had to work alongside registration and content access, with a publishing system that could support more than a single article format.
That meant treating editorial content, events and membership as connected parts of the same site.
The solution
I built a custom block theme using WordPress full-site editing and PorterWP. Reusable templates and purpose-built editor blocks provide a consistent framework for the site, while structured content types and taxonomies organise its different publishing formats.
The theme brings together article listings, event pages, contributor information and related content. Search integrates with Relevanssi, while configurable archive pages and shared components allow the editorial team to build and maintain pages within the same visual system. Global design settings carry the Governance Intelligence identity through both the website and the editor.
A connected member experience
Membership is part of the theme’s core functionality. I integrated Restrict Content Pro and Gravity Forms with the registration, verification and profile journeys, alongside the rules that determine which content a reader can access.
The free membership experience includes a personal dashboard and bookmarked articles, so readers can keep track of material they want to revisit. Account screens and forms sit within the wider website, linking the day-to-day reading experience with the member’s profile.
The outcome
The new website launched in September 2026. It gives Governance Intelligence a WordPress home for its journalism, research, events and professional community, supported by a reusable set of publishing tools.
The result is a platform that accommodates a varied editorial programme and a personal member experience, with room for the team to develop its content and event offering over time.
