Fecc General Assembly Highlights
On Thursday 20 May, Fecc hosted its annual general assembly via a digital format, following the cancellation of our annual congress due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions.
The event kickstarted with a “fireside chat” from Fecc President, Neville Prior, and Fecc Vice President, Frank Schneider, moderated by Katrina Sichel. The aim was to take an informal overview of challenges facing the industry, how to move forward in the post-pandemic era, and to mitigate the impact of climate change by adopting the necessary changes needed. The event also sought ways to bring on board and inspire a new, younger, and more diverse generation to lead the industry. Indeed, some of the questions Katrina had for Neville and Frank included what the future of chemical distribution will look like, and what they personally envision for its future.
This discussion gave plenty of food for thought and an opportunity to assess ways to improve, as well as set new goals for the future. It was also a moment to say thank you to Frank, who had come to the end of his term as vice-President for Fecc. In addition, we were delighted to have Katrina on board again, following the success of our first of two training sessions, which we held back in April, on how to moderate online events, and her excellent moderation of the last Fecc Annual Congress in Sitges in June 2019.
The fireside chat was swiftly followed by the general assembly plenary, where several topics were discussed including the (re-)election of the Board, Fecc’s financials, and highlighting Fecc’s achievements from 2019 to now, in light of a new secretariat.
A warm welcome to our incoming new Fecc Board members, who have been elected during the General Assembly:
- Richard Gilkes, CBA
- Miiko Pasanen, Nordic Countries Association
- Christian Westphal, VCH
- Lars Wallstein, IMCD
and big thanks to the outgoing Board members Frank Schneider (IMCD, also long-standing Vice-President of Fecc) and Hans Mengel (for the Nordic national associations). Frank Schneider´s successor in his role as Vice-President will be Lars Wallstein (IMCD) and the new Treasurer is Oliver Fox (ASSiCC).
Also congratulations to the re-elected Board members:
- Neville Prior, Cornelius Group & Fecc President
- Ludovico Balbo, Eigenmann & Veronelli
- Peter Bigler, Omya
- Andrea Modina, Ravago
- Nick Powell, Univar
- César Villalba, AECQ
- Hervé Lavollée, UFCC
After the plenary, and to round the day off, Fecc was delighted to invite a special guest, Lord Digby Jones, to present a very entertaining "State of the World" speech with an overview of the manyfold current challenges to master including Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, and environmental issues. Lord Jones’ attendance was met with great success, and attendees were particularly delighted to have an inspiring and motivational speech from a notable expert with a lifetime career in the business and political world.
Fecc would like to thank every company member and national association for attending the events, and for all their active contributions. We hope you enjoyed them as we did, and cross our fingers that the next General Assembly can take place face-to-face!
We would also like to thank CheManager for summarising the event on their LinkedIn page, which you can read here.
