Following the untimely death of Holger Bismann, Managing Director of Patagonia Europe and President of the European Outdoor Conservation Association (EOCA) last autumn, the association is pleased to announce two new leaders who have agreed to steer the association until the Annual Assembly in July. At the Annual Assembly, there will be a formal discussion followed by a vote to approve the changes.
John Jansen, Managing Director and Head of Keen EMEA will take the role of Acting President for EOCA and work alongside Nick Brown, Owner and Manager of Nikwax, who will continue in his role as Vice President and advise on strategy. The other board members of EOCA remain as Jan Lorch, Sales & Marketing Director of Vaude, Peter Waeber, CEO of bluesign, Mark Held, General Secretary of the EOG and Andrea Tomasini, Interim General Manager of Patagonia Europe.
John and Nick have worked together on the EOCA board for the past 2 years and are looking forward to the challenges ahead. “EOCA is at a very interesting stage,” said John, ”By this July it will have raised its first €1 million for conservation projects since its inception just 6 years ago. That is massive growth and demonstrates what can be achieved by working together. With over 70 members currently, we need to look at ways of growing the association in a sustainable and meaningful way for the industry.” Nick agrees: “These are very exciting times for an organisation that is the only one of its kind in the European outdoor industry. But the industry itself is huge, and we really need to engage as much of it as possible – there is so much more that needs to be done to support and protect the great outdoors that we all enjoy”.
