New GWW Board elected with a clear majority

On 20 June, an extraordinary general meeting of the Gesamtverband Werbeartikel-Wirtschaft e. V. (GWW) took place at the Nassauer Hof in Wiesbaden. The focus was on the election of the new board after four of five board members had resigned in the spring. For the first time, there was a block election between two teams. The 219 members present or represented were entitled to vote. With 125 votes in favour, the team “Miteinander zukunftsfähig” (Frank Jansen, Elke Bobek, Ralf Hesse, Ralf Uwe Schneider, Dirk Winterhoff) won the necessary majority. The team “Gemeinsam weiter wachsen” (Steven Baumgaertner, Judith Fröhlich, Petra Lassahn, Ronald Eckert, Tobias Köckert) received 79 votes. 10 members abstained from voting. Frank Jansen as Chair will lead the GWW together with Elke Bobek, Ralf Hesse, Ralf Uwe Schneider, and Dirk Winterhoff. The election was preceded by a lively discussion with numerous questions from the floor to the candidates of the respective teams. The newly elected executive board attaches great importance to the concept of “with each other” – within the team and above all with a view to the entire association and its members. The quintet had already clearly formulated this approach in its election programme: “We stand for more togetherness, an open, fair and honest exchange and unconditional transparency. Every member has a voice that deserves to be heard.” This was reiterated by the five board members that they were not the sole decision-makers, but rather the executors of the members’ will. In a first statement, the newly elected Chairman of the GWW, Frank Jansen, emphasised that he accepted the election with humility. It is now a matter of taking on the challenges. The new board does not want to and will not take much time. In just a few days, the team will begin its work with commitment. (You can read a detailed report in the July issue of the PSI Journal).

Photo: The newly elected GWW Board (from left to right): Ralf Uwe Schneider, Ralf Hesse, Elke Bobek, Dirk Winterhoff, Frank Jansen.