The EFA Board is the EFA body truly empowering the organisation to advocate change for all people with allergy and airways diseases. Board members are nominated and elected by the EFA members community in a democratic and transparent process. In 2023, EFA the community elected board members covering all our disease areas.
End of April 2023, EFA President Carla Jones (Allergy UK) had served the maximum time of six years in EFA Board. Her legacy is to have instituted a multiannual planning approach for EFA and started an organisational development process to strengthen EFA’s capacity and effectiveness to support and make the European allergy, atopic eczema, asthma, and COPD patient organisations community thrive. Thank you, Carla, your presidency took us through the hard time transitioning and transforming from COVID-19 digital advocacy back to the new reality of online, offline and hybrid connection. She steered the Board firmly, with a smile and sense of humour and always listening and drawing clear decisions. Working as a CEO of Allergy UK, she was also a great mentor to the EFA Director.
Marcia Podestà (Food Allergy Italia), was re-elected from Vice-President to new EFA President. In 2023, Marcia directed with the new board a re-treat on improving EFA, to mirror EFA office development process into effective EFA, who builds advocacy with the community.
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Exiting EFA Board 2022-2023 |
Elected EFA Board 2023-2024 |
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Carla Jones (Allergy UK), President |
Marcia Podestà (Food Allergy Italia), President |
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Marcia Podestà (Food Allergy Italia), Vice President |
Armando Ruiz (Spanish Federation of Allergy and Respiratory Patients Associations, FENAER), Vice President |
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Fríða Rún Þórðardóttir (Asthma and Allery Association Iceland), Board Secretary |
Fríða Rún Þórðardóttir (Asthma and Allery Association Iceland), Board Secretary |
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Yvonne Spies (Dutch Lung Foundation), Treasurer |
Celine Demoulin Céline Demoulin (French Allergy Prevention Association, AFPRAL), Treasurer |
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Armando Ruiz (Spanish Federation of Allergy and Respiratory Patients Associations, FENAER), Board Member |
Christine Strous (Dutch Lung Foundation), Board Member |
Marcia Podestà
President
Armando Ruiz
Vice-President
Fríða Rún Þórðardóttir
Secretary
Christine Strous
Board Member
Celine Demoulin
EFA Treasurer
The 2023 incoming Board has skills in law, marketing, organisational management, partnerships, mobilization, volunteering, and experience in heterogeneous national patients’ associations, all assets to EFA community. All of them know what it is to be a patient or a carer in our diseases.
In 2023, the new Board agreed new insurance policies for EFA, an association where people representing EFA will operate with safe and secure conditions, including civil responsibility and personal liabilities, foreseen by the new European regulations.
The new Board put focus on EFA community, improving our work, supporting members participation in joint actions through grants, which benefited 16 members in 2023. The Board also emphasized the need to translate new EFA project tools to enable national advocacy and patient education which, among others, led to 15 translations in 2023. The Board is aware, and committed, in serving the interest of East, and wider Europe in our action.
In 2023, EFA Board held six meetings (one in person) to steer and approve our governance, strategy, planning, finances, mandates and for critical feedback and decisions. The Board leads (President and Vice-president) held weekly meetings with the Director to steer ongoing issues requiring high-level input. The Board decided on special board leads among them based on their expertise in EFA’s objectives on care, prevention and inform, and geographical area they know best.
