From the European Union Affairs Committee (EAC)

Mr. Dirk P. Tirez from bpost has been appointed as Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee (EAC) replacing Joost Vantomme also from bpost who has taken up a new challenge as of last September.  Dirk is Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of bpost responsible for the corporate, legal, regulatory and strategic departments of bpost. He has been with bpost now for 10 years.  Dirk was president of the European Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, and is currently Chairman of the Legal Committee of the Belgian Employers Federation and a member of the board of directors of Women on Board. He is multilingual and the author of numerous publications in the area of European securities laws and regulations.  Prior to bpost, Dirk has held several positions including as member of the Executive Committee, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Easdaq, (which later became NASDAQ Europe, a subsidiary of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.) and as counsel to the Office of Mr. Philippe Maystadt, the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Foreign Trade.  He was also associated with international leading law firms (Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Covington & Burling) and worked both in New York and Brussels, as an attorney admitted to the New York and the Brussels Bars.

Mr. Giovanni Brardinoni was appointed the Chair of a new working group, the E-Identification Working Group.  Giovanni is familiar to PostEurop community as Vice-Chair of the Advanced Electronic Forum (AES Forum) Working Group. Giovanni is Head of Standards and International Projects at Postecom. Having begun his career at Poste Italiane in 1982, Giovanni is a visionary “evangelist” of innovation, who has played a major role in the most innovative technological projects in recent years in Poste Italiane.  Beyond Poste Italiane, Giovanni was a former Chairman of the Committee 4 “Standards and Technologies” in the last UPU - POC work cycle and he was recently appointed as Chairman of the Telematics Cooperative and Co-Chairman of the committee 4 “e-Services” for the current UPU - POC work cycle.

From the UPU and Restricted Unions Affairs Committee (UAC)

Mr. Jean-Pierre Auroi from Swiss Post has been appointed Chair of the Parcels Working Group.  Jean-Pierre began his career with the Post in 1974.  In 1984, he joined the international postal services unit at Swiss Post. His experience as Product Manager and then Senior Adviser allowed him to participate actively in the working groups of PostEurop, of the POC, as well as in the UPU Congress in Bucharest, Geneva and Doha. He also had the privilege to be involved in the implementation of the EPG project, of which he was a member of the Steering Committee until 2012.

Convinced of the importance of an open and constructive international cooperation, he is committed to actively support projects that can benefit both the postal community and our customers.  And those are the goals he intends to pursue and develop with the members of the PostEurop Parcel Working Group.

From the Market Activities Circle (MAC)

Dr. Oliver Kaliski from Österreichische Post has been appointed the new Vice-Chair of the Market Activity Circle.  Oliver is Head of International Relations and is responsible for managing and coordinating activities and relations with international organisations.  Prior to joining Österreichische Post, Oliver held various positions in the Telecommunication sector including as Senior Adviser in Regulatory and European Affairs for Telekom Austria Group as well as Mobilkom Austria group.  In the earlier part of his career, Oliver worked in the area of research and his role included development and project management of research projects.  Oliver has also participated and lectured in various national and international congresses, seminars and workshops.

Mrs. Anita Häggblom from Ǻland Post is the new Chair of the Stamps and Philately Working Group.  Anita is the Director for Åland Post Stamps for nearly 30 years.  Her responsibilities included all aspects of the stamp business, planning and producing the stamps and other collectable, information, marketing and sale of the stamps to customers around the world.  Anita has been an active member of the Stamps and Philately steering committee at PostEurop since 2010.  She is also one of the founders of Sepac (Small European Postal Administration co-operation) and was their Chair in 1999.  Recently, Anita became a member of the WADP Steering Group.

From the Corporate Social Responsibility Circle (CSR-C)

Ms. Kalina Toteva from the Bulgarian Post was appointed as co Vice-Chair of the CSR Activity Circle.  Kalina joined Bulgarian Post’s team in January, 2011, and is currently head of the Project Management sector at the International Relations and Project Management department.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Economic Relations from the University of National and World Economy in Bulgaria and a master’s degree in International Business and Finance from the University of Reading in England.  Kalina has worked on a number of training-related projects, among which the Changing Post project, an internal project for improving customer service targeted at front office employees and others. She is also responsible for the company’s relations with PostEurop and the UPU.

Let us welcome all our new Chairs and Vice-Chairs to their new roles and wish them success.

Sincerely,

Botond Szebeny
Secretary General