This is the time of year when we consider retirements from and elections to our Council. Countries with 30 or more members are entitled to a reserved seat on Council and in October this year, vacancies will arise for the following:

• France: As Marc Senechal will have completed his 2nd and final 3-year term of office.
• Germany: As Frank Tschentscher will have completed his first 3-year term of office but may stand again for election against other candidates.
• Spain: As Vicente Estrada will have completed his first 3-year term of office but may stand again for election against other candidates.

Therefore members from France, Germany and Spain will shortly receive a separate email requesting nominations for candidates from their own country. 

In the meantime, one non-reserved seat vacancy on Council (which may be occupied by any country) will also become available following the appointment of Piya Mukherjee (Denmark) as Vice President in October last year.

Closing date for nominations: 21 July 2018

Information about how to nominate a candidate has been emailed to members. Contact Caroline Taylor, INSOL Europe’s Director of Administration if you have not received your copy of the nomination form.

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Changes Elections Results, Changes and Retirements 

Executive Officers: At the close of the Warsaw Congress this month, Steffen Koch (Germany) stepped down as President to become Immediate Past President, Radu Lotrean (Romania) became the new President, Alastair Beveridge (UK)  became the new Deputy President and Piya Mukherjee (Denmark) was elected by Council as incoming Vice President.
 
After many years of excellent service as Council Member, past President, INSOL Europe’s representative on the INSOL International Board and more recently as Treasurer, Jim Luby (Ireland) stepped down from Council and was succeeded as Treasurer by Chris Laughton (UK).
 
Council: There were also several changes to the structure of Council. As a reminder, countries with 30 or more members are entitled to a reserved seat on Council and the following situation arose this year:

• A vacancy became available for the UK  reserved seat following the appointment of Alastair Beveridge  as Vice President last year. 
• In addition, the reserved seat for Italy became available when Antonio Tullio stepped down following his first  3 year term of office.

 
Therefore, nominations from members in the UK and Italy were invited for candidates from their own country. Following the nomination and election process, Frances Coulson was duly elected to the UK reserved seat and Giorgio Corno to the reserved seat for Italy, both having received the highest number of votes.

One non-reserved seat vacancy on Council also became available (which may be occupied by any country) as Martine Gerber (Luxembourg)  completed her maximum of 2 x  3 year terms of office. 4 nominations were eventually received and following a vote amongst the membership, the successful candidate was Rita Gismondi (Italy).  
 
Each year, Council may co-opt or re co-opt  a maximum of 8 members to Council and this year the following members were appointed: Sabina Schellenberg (Switzerland), Michael Veder (Netherlands), Catherine Ottaway (France), Ernst Giese (Czech Republic), Robert van Galen (Netherlands) Wolf Waschkuhn (UK), Alberto Nunez-Lagos (Spain)  and Evert Verwey (Netherlands).
 
Following many years of excellent service as Council Member for France,  Past President, co-chair of EECC and in more recent years co-opted member of Council, Marc André (France) stepped down from Council. 

Finally, Honorary Membership for outstanding meritorious service on behalf of the Association was awarded to Robert van Galen (Netherlands).

Members of the new Council at the Annual Congress in Warsaw*

From left to right standing: Robert van Galen (Neths), Caroline Taylor (UK), Marcel Groenewegen (Neths), Pawel Kuglarz (Poland), Frank Tschentscher (Germany), Rita Gismondi (Italy), Steffen Koch (Germany), Chris Laughton (UK), Marc Andre (France), Frances Coulson (UK), Giorgio Cornu (Italy), Alastair Beveridge (UK), Vicente Estrade (Spain), Thomas Bauer (Switzerland).
 
From left to right seated: Alice van der Schee (Neths), Sabina Schellenberg (Switzerland), Hans Renman (Sweden), Simona Milos (Romania), Wolf Waschkuhn (UK), Catherine Ottaway (France), Piya Mukherjee (Denmark), Radu Lotrean (Romania).

*Other members present: Marc Udink (Neths), Neil Cooper (UK), Jim Luby (Ireland),  Susanne Fruhstorfer (Austria) , Alberto Nunez-Lagos (Spain) and Marc Senechal (France).

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Changes to the executive officers, council retirements & results of the 2016 council elections

At the close of the Lisbon Congress this month, Alberto Nunez-Lagos (Spain) stepped down as President to become Immediate Past President, Steffen Koch (Germany) became the new President, Radu Lotrean (Romania) became the new Deputy President and Alastair Beveridge (UK) was elected by Council as the incoming Vice President. Jim Luby (Ireland) remained on for a further 1 year as Treasurer. 
 
There were also several changes to the structure of Council. As a reminder, countries with 30 or more members are entitled to a reserved seat on Council and the following situation arose this year.

• A vacancy became available for the Romanian reserved seat following the appointment of Radu Lotrean as Vice President last year. 
• Austria, having reached the required number of members was also entitled to a reserved seat on Council. 
• In addition, the reserved seats for Ireland and Sweden became available when William Day (Ireland) and Niklas Korling (Sweden) completed their second 3 year term in office.  
• So too did the reserved seats for the Netherlands and Switzerland although both Marcel Groenewegen (Neths) and Thomas Bauer (Switzerland) had only completed one 3 year term in office and agreed to stand again for election for a further 3 years.

Therefore, nominations from members in Romania, Austria, Ireland, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland were invited for candidates from their own country. Following the nomination and election process, Marcel Groenewegen and Thomas Bauer were uncontested and remained on Council for a further 3  years. Candidates Susanne Fruhstorfer (Austria), Barry Cahir (Ireland) and Simona-Maria Milos (Romania) were uncontested and duly elected to Council. However as 2 nominations had been received for Sweden, a vote took place amongst the Swedish membership and Hans Renman was duly elected having received the highest number of votes.

Two non-reserved seat vacancies on Council also became available (which may be occupied by any country) as Rocco Mulder (The Netherlands) and David Rubin (United Kingdom) also completed their first 3 year term in office. Both were eligible to stand again for re-election against other nominations although due to other commitments, Rocco Mulder opted out. 4 nominations were eventually received and following a vote amongst the membership, the two successful candidates were Alice van der Schee (Netherlands) and David Rubin (UK).  
 
Additionally, Carlos Mack (Italy) and Nigel Davies (UK) stepped down as co-opted members of Council and so too did Jim Luby (Ireland) since his appointment as Treasurer in the previous year. On the recommendation of the Executive Board, Ernst Giese (Czech Rep) and Robert Van Galen (Neths) were co-opted to Council for an initial one year term and previously co-opted members, being Marc Andre (France), Chris Laughton (UK), Sabina Schellenberg (Switzerland), Michael Veder (Netherlands) and Catherine Ottaway (France) were also reappointed for a further one year term.

Finally, Honorary Membership for outstanding meritorious service on behalf of the Association was awarded to Catherine Ottaway (France) and David Rubin (UK).