New President of the Architects' Council of Europe for 2010-2011 takes up office
Brussels, 7th January 2010: Selma Harrington from Ireland was elected President of the Architects' Council of Europe (ACE) for the period 2010-2011 during the Second General Assembly of the ACE at the end of 2009 and she took up office on the 1st January 2010 for a two year period. She will Chair the First Executive Board meeting in 2010 on the 22nd and 23rd January at which the work priorities for the year will be decided together with the roles and responsibilities of Board members.
Selma Harrington was born and educated in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. She has practised architecture in Ireland, Central Europe, Western Europe, Africa and South-East Asia, currently working on a self-employed basis to permit her to undertake consultancy and lecturing duties alongside her work as an architect.
In addition to her professional competences as an architect, Selma Harrington brings significant experience of representative associations to her new post. She has served, among other roles, as Secretary General of the European Council of Interior Architects from 2004 to 2008, President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland in 2003 and Honorary Treasurer of the Institute for Design and Disability in Ireland in 2001.
The policy platform on which she ran for President of the ACE can be summed up in the slogan Review, Resource, Re-imagine and she has promised the Member Organisations of the ACE that she will pursue this policy during her two years so as to further strengthen the ACE and the position of architecture and architects in European policies and society.
Note to Editors:
The Executive Board of the ACE consists of 11 members composed of 6 elected persons (including the President) and 5 persons nominated by the Member Organisations following a pre-determined order of rotation that reflects the rotation within the European Council. No country can have more than one person serving on the Executive Board at any time, thus ensuring good representativity of the Member Organisations and countries at all times.
Members of the Board serve for a two-year period with non-concurrent mandates between the elected and nominated Board members in order to ensure continuity of knowledge and experience on the Executive Board.
The Members of the Executive Board for 2010 will be:
President: Selma Harrington (IE)
Members: Dalibor Borak (CZ), Lionel Dunet (FR), David Falla (UK), Wolfgang Haack (DE), Christian Lerche (DK), Jos Leyssens (BE), Georg Pendl (AT), Vladimir Petrovic (HR), Eva Tetenyi (HU) and Serban Tiganas (RO).
The specific roles within the Executive Board in 2010 will be assigned and/or confirmed at the First Executive Board meeting later this month..
