26/03/20
tekom Europe Announces Its Newly Elected Executive Board
On March 20, tekom Europe delegates, guests from 16 countries, gathered for a virtual assembly of delegates – the highest decision-making body of tekom Europe. The full-day assembly, which was supposed to take place in Prague, has been replaced by a virtual one, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The necessary resolutions and elections were carried out by electronic means.
The main items on the agenda for the assembly of delegates (AoD) were the election of the new executive board, the election of cash auditors, and the election of arbitration tribunal members.
Furthermore, the AoD received activity reports from the advisory boards for professional development and training and legislation and standards. Last but not least, the joint working group "we are tekom" was introduced.
Elections
The Executive Board is responsible for organizing the association's activities and representing the association. It consists of four persons: the chairperson, the deputy chairperson, the treasurer, and the secretary. They meet at least quarterly in web sessions and once a year in person together with staff members from the head office to prepare the annual budget planning, to discuss goals and strategy for the upcoming year, and to propose respective resolutions to the AoD.
We would like to thank the members of the former Executive Board – Isabelle Fleury (Chairperson), Martin Rieder (Treasurer), and Holger Thater (Secretary), and welcome the members of the new executive board:
Tiziana Sicilia, former tekom Europe Executive Board Deputy Chairperson, has been elected Chairperson. She is also the president of tekom Europe corporate member COM&TEC Italy.
Magali Baumgartner has been elected Deputy Chairperson. Magali is not only the delegate for tekom Deutschland but also a member of the extended board of tekom Deutschland, representing the interests of the manufacturing industry.
Gary Manders is a member of the newly founded country organization tekom Sweden and now also the new Treasurer of tekom Europe.
Josef Kubovsky, as a delegate for 3 years, represented the interests of all members without a tekom Europe country organization in their countries. He is still a substitute delegate for these members and now has the Secretary position in the new executive board.
The newly elected cash auditors are Armin Burry, representative of tekom Deutschland Stuttgart regional group, and Ezriel Yellin, tekom Israel substitute delegate and member of the Initiative Committee of tekom Israel.
The newly elected members of the arbitration tribunal are Ágnes Czinkóczki, delegate and member of the Initiative Committee of tekom Magyarország, Franz Steiner, president and delegate of tekom Österreich, and Ezriel Yelling, tekom Israel substitute delegate and member of the Initiative Committee of tekom Israel.
Congratulations to all newly elected members!
Report of the Advisory Boards for Professional Development and Training and Legislation and Standards
The task of the advisory board for professional training and development is to make the profession of technical writer better known and to foster professionalization at the European level, in line with the objectives of the association. The advisory board has set various strategic goals, which were presented by Daniela Straub, in charge of Education and Training, Certification, Studies and Surveys at tekom Europe:
- To arouse general interest in technical communication, to exchange knowledge and experience, and especially to motivate others to take up this profession
- To increase the visibility and awareness of technical communication
- To bridge the gap between technical communication and related areas
- To continue to work actively on TecCOMFrame
Claudia Klumpp, in charge of Standards and Data Protection at tekom Europe, presented the activities of the advisory board for legislation and standards. Besides participating in various standardization projects, such as IEC/IEEE 82079-1, ISO 20607 and the revision of ISO/IEC 26514, members of the advisory board participated in the work on a joint position paper regarding the provision of instructions in digital form. The position paper is related to the revision of the machinery directive and was prepared by a working group with representatives from different industrial associations. It will be published soon on the tekom Europe website.
Furthermore, "we are tekom", a joint working group of tekom Europe and tekom Deutschland, was introduced. The working group will work on tekom’s image, how to meet the expectations of tekom members, and how we can improve communication between the organization and its current and potential members.
We would like to thank all delegates and members of the initiative committees for their dedication to technical communication and their volunteer work within tekom Europe. The next assembly of delegates takes place in July 2020.