At the ECOO General Assembly, held Sunday 13 October 2024, in Hamburg, Germany, Gabriëlle Janssen (The Netherlands) took over the Presidency of ECOO from Matjaž Mihelčič (Slovenia).
In her introductory address to ECOO members, Gabriëlle expressed how honoured she was to be ECOO’s new President. She offered her heartfelt congratulations to all the candidates who took part in these elections. In particular she expressed her gratitude to Matjaž for his outstanding presidency, a highlight of which was ECOO’s participation in the Horizon I-SCREEN project.
Gabriëlle concluded by saying “Let us channel our energy into a future where harmonised eye care standards enable us to meet the growing demand for eye health services across Europe.”
ECOO holds elections every two years for positions on its Executive Committee. Following today’s elections, Dr Sylwia Kropacz-Sobkowiak (Poland) is the new President-elect, Peter Gumpelmayer was re-elected Treasurer, Per Michael Larsen returns to the Executive Committee as Chair of the Public Affairs and Economics sub-Committee and Ignacio José Costa Gonzalez (Spain) is newly appointed to the Executive Committee as Chair of the Professional Services sub-committee.
In addition to these newly elected posts, Dr Matjaž Mihelčič will remain on the Executive Committee for a further two years as immediate Past President and Prof Julie-Anne Little will continue to represent the European Qualifications Board on the Executive Committee.
Dr Cindy Tromans, immediate past President, who steered ECOO through the difficult times of the Corona virus, has now stepped down.
ECOO delegates also took the opportunity to say farewell to and thank Jesus Garcia Poyatos at the General Assembly. Jesus, who was most recently Chair of the Public Affairs and Economics sub-committee and had previously been ECOO Treasurer, stood down at the elections, following his recent retirement. In a tribute to him, on behalf of the Executive Committee and all ECOO members, Julie-Anne honoured his long standing contribution to ECOO’s work at the General Assembly.
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