Fedima Appoints New President, Vice-President, and Treasurer for 3-year Mandate
The Board of Fedima, the Federation of European Manufacturers and Suppliers of Ingredients to the Bakery, Confectionery and Patisserie Industries, appointed the Association’s President, Vice-President, and Treasurer during the first gathering of the recently elected Board.
The new Board leadership includes Thomas Lesaffre of Lesaffre as President, Juan Carlos Puente of Zeelandia as Vice-President, and Carl Horrobin of ABIM as Treasurer. The leadership is responsible for coordinating the activities and budget of the Association, and their renewable mandate matches the 3 years of the Board’s mandate.
Thomas Lesaffre, spoke on his appointment as President of Fedima: “I am delighted to take on the role of President after participating in Fedima for several years as the Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee and as a Board member. Fedima must defend our industry by working with institutions and stakeholders along the value chain, all whilst supporting and informing customers and consumers, and guaranteeing the safety and sustainability of products. Our members are a crucial part of this; when working alone we might go faster, but by working together we can go further.”
Representing 13 member associations across Europe, Fedima aims to support and grow the baked goods sector by sharing its positions and priorities at EU level, contributing to policy discussions of relevance for the sector. The new Board, elected at the General Assembly in Sevilla (Spain), also agreed on the next host city for the next General Assembly: Istanbul, Turkey.
Juan-Carlos Puente commented on his new role as Vice-President: “Having worked in this sector across several European countries I can attest that a federation such as Fedima, which represents the interests of 13 national association members, is crucial to develop common approaches which can allow us to achieve common goals. Indeed, by presenting our unified views to stakeholders, we can help shape the regulatory and legislative landscape to enable business to thrive and remain resilient in the future”.
Carl Horrobin, newly appointment Treasurer, added “I’m looking forward to contributing to the functioning and future of Fedima in my new role. A Treasurer must have a wide understanding of an organisation’s priorities and therefore must be connected to all the moving parts and activities. In my advisory capacity to the Board, I will help guide resource allocation in Fedima’s work so that we can collectively achieve our mission. I am very much looking forward to working alongside the Board to achieve this.”
The Board thanked the previous leadership for their guidance over the past years, in particular Enric Valls for his dedication to Fedima as Vice President for 12 years, Johan Sanders in his capacity as Fedima President for 6 years, and Wolfgang Mayer in his role as Treasurer for 3 years.