2019 – 2023, these are the years covered by my mandate as EUEW President. Feels like they went by in a heartbeat. Nonetheless, my experience leading EUEW through various challenges and triumphs over the past four years has been truly great. Despite facing unprecedented obstacles, I always endeavoured to make the most of the situation and turn challenges into opportunities.
I am proud to say that the feedback received from EUEW members and industry peers alike has been overwhelmingly positive, giving me confidence that the organization is stronger and more successful than when I first took the helm in 2019. Rather than dwell on past difficulties, I prefer to focus on the priorities that guided my mandate.
At the heart of my vision was EUEW becoming an essential part of its ecosystem. Now EUEW has constant exchanges and collaboration with organizations such as EuroCommerce, CECAPI, EuropeOn, LightingEurope, Europacable and ETIM.
I believed that a significant benefit the EUEW could offer its members was to stay informed about European legislation of general and specific interest for electrical wholesalers and to share real-time updates. This is how the Advocacy Calls initiative was born, now entering its third year. Today, Bernd Gruner is no longer alone in this project. He is working with experts from three countries who provide insights, select relevant topics, and offer translated versions of European legislation for electrical wholesalers.
I imagined the EUEW Convention as a strategic event that would bring together decision-makers representing electrical wholesalers, suppliers, peers, and partners. This vision was inspired by general trends in the European market for electrical wholesalers, installers, HVAC, and others working closer together to amplify their voices at the European Commission and in relation to other institutions. Today, the EUEW Convention is one of the most relevant events in the industry and the broader ecosystem, attracting high-level representation from companies, corporations, federations, groups and peer organizations.
With today’s accelerated pace and expectations for almost instant results, there was no more room for delays and complicated decision-making mechanisms for an organization that wants to stay ahead. Working together with the other members of the EUEW Presidium, we proposed and the EUEW General Assembly appointed a new Board of Directors, with less members, no longer equal to the number of EUEW members, which made decision making more efficient and timely. The new EUEW Board of Directors is very involved and a strong engine moving the organization forward. We have each and all members of the Board to thank for initiating more projects and for moving forward at the right pace to correspond to the expectations of our members.
EUEW Advisory Council members are also stepping up even more than before, proposing discussions, reactions, and joint positions on topics relevant for the electrical wholesalers and challenging EUEW to move one step further from advocacy to lobbying.
My end goal was to hand over a stronger EUEW organization than the one I inherited, both in terms of its position in the industry and in terms of financial stability to be able to move forward with its current projects and with new ones. Working closely with the EUEW Board of Directors and with the invaluable support of the Advisory Council, we began 2023 with a more substantial budget that all members were happy to contribute to, given the increased benefits they are receiving. This enables EUEW to propose and implement more projects, further increasing the benefits offered to its members for now and in the future.