EFAPCO’s new Bureau line-up was elected unanimously at the Federation’s General Assembly at Estoril Congress Center. They will take over at the next Board meeting, set to be held at IMEX, Frankfurt, in May.
President for the next two years will be Luisa Ahrens Teixeira, a leading member of EFAPCO’s Portugal’s member association APECATE.
“I’m delighted to join the Bureau and to become the new President. Thanks to my APECATE membership I have seen EFAPCO go from strength to strength, expanding in just eight years from six member countries to 13.
“When Nicolas Le Brun hands over to me in May he can look back on four exciting years thanks to his active role in membership development, EU lobbying, and persuading PCOs in non-member countries to form their own national associations in order to qualify for EFAPCO membership. He will be a tough act to follow. However I’m pleased that he will remain on the Board as an Honorary President.
“I plan to keep up the intensity of our drive for greater financial and cultural recognition for our profession from the EU, and to work on expanding our membership into new countries and across all our existing member associations. I also want to enhance the already dynamic role of the Federation’s Board.”
EFAPCO’s incoming Vice Presidents are Piotr Wilczek from PCCA (Poland) and Daniella Serrati from Federcongressi (Italy). Sissi Lignou from HAPCO (Greece) was re-elected as Secretary General, likewise Kalalin Matray from MARESZ (Hungary) as Treasurer.
The General Assembly confirmed its commitment to active membership of the Joint Meetings Industry Council (JMIC) and to working with some of the other leading associations serving the industry worldwide.
A recent membership audit shows that EFAPCO now has well over 1,450 members including more than 510 PCOs.
The New EFAPCO President
Luisa Ahrens Teixeira is a Bachelor in Law but her career has been made in corporate business with a range of international companies.
She started with ITT – International Telephone and Telegraph, the Lisbon subsidiary of the American giant in the field of communications and TV equipment. Later, she moved into the pharmaceutical industry where she spent the most significant part of her professional life, over 14 years.
She experienced life in a wide range of sales, marketing and product management roles with the likes of: Gist Brocades, Smith Kline & French, Lederle, American Cyanamid and Wyeth.
She left the pharmaceutical sector to found her own company – Mundiconvenius – in 1995 with the primary aim of organising the 6th European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology (EADV) Congress, the first in Portugal.
More recently, Mundiconvenius organised the 20th EADV Congress in Lisbon, in October 2011. It attracted 8,008 participants and 2.215 exhibitors and was universally acknowledged to be one of the most successful ever.
