New officers elected to the Council at Jerusalem 2023

In the Picture (L to R): Nicola Testai (CEO, OIC Group and President, Federcongressi&eventi) and Sissi Lygnou (CEO, AFEA and President, HAPCO & DES)

IAPCO 2023 was also the occasion for the elections of one returning Council officer and one new one for the available vacancies. IAPCO members present at the AM&GA in Jerusalem, as well as many joining online, voted through the AM&GA App and ballots to re-elect Sissi Lygnou, CEO of AFEA Travel Congress Services and elect Nicola Testai, CEO of OIC Group. In addition to leading AFEA, Sissi is the President of HAPCO & DES, an association representing meeting professionals in Greece. As a re-elected Council officer, Sissi will continue her role as the chair of IAPCO’s newly formed Advocacy committee and the Marketing committee.

I feel extremely grateful to our members for their support, and I’m honoured and happy to be able to continue with my mandate as Council Officer for the period 2023-2025. Contributing to IAPCO and the development of our global Meetings Community is of high value to me. In this respect, I will continue doing my best with passion and in collaboration with my fellow colleagues, with the aim to raise IAPCO's profile and to advocate its key role in our Industry.

New to the IAPCO council, Nicola has been the head for 10 years of OIC Group, one of the first PCOs in Italy. With an active role in the international association world, Nicola is also the Vice-President and PCO representative of Federcongressi&eventi, the first-level national association which represents both public and private companies that carry out activities connected to congresses.

Nicola said on his election to the Council:

I am honoured to be part of this important international organisation, and I shall try to contribute in the best possible way to fulfil IAPCO’s objectives, along with my fellow Council members. In my role as the Council Officer, representing IAPCO, I will work to prove the resilience of the events industry, independently from the unstable economic period that we’ve been experiencing for a while across the world.