AIPH elects new president... Bernard Oosterom

27 October 2015

The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) has elected Bernard Oosterom as its new President. The announcement is made following the 67th Annual Congress held in Stresa, Italy, last week.

As a potted plant grower and board member of several organisations within the ornamental sector, Bernard Oosterom, from The Netherlands, has been involved in international cooperation across the horticultural industry for many years.

He is Chairman of the Dutch Council for Cooperatives (NCR), Chairman of the Dutch Flower Auctions Association (VBN), Chairman of the Supervisory Board of FloraHolland and has been Vice-President of AIPH and Chairman of the AIPH Novelty Protection Committee for the last three years. His past roles include being a Board Member of the Flower Council in Holland (BBH).

Commenting on his election Bernard Oosterom said, “AIPH is and wants to be an organisation of and for growers and growers associations. From that perspective I’m honored to be the next president of AIPH. Together with our staff and all of you involved I’m sure that we can move AIPH in the right direction in the coming years.”

Amongst his aims for AIPH are to make it a global resource for promoting Green Cities, promoting international horticultural exhibitions, collating and disseminating data and information on the international ornamental horticultural industry, and further developing the association’s valuable network.

He added, “I will do my utmost to serve AIPH and help growers worldwide to strengthen their businesses and their added value to the world.”

Bernard Oosterom replaces Vic Krahn from Canada who has served as President since 2012. Commenting on Vic Krahn’s past leadership he said, “On behalf of all our members and myself I’d like to express our thanks for your inspiring leadership, inspiration, commitment and of course friendship.”

Vic Krahn was presented with the prestigious AIPH Gold Medal in recognition for his services to AIPH over many years.

During the Congress Tim Edwards from the United Kingdom, was elected as the second AIPH Vice-President alongside Professor Qixiang Zhang from China.  Also Gijs Kok, Director of Corporate Affairs at FloraHolland in The Netherlands, has joined the AIPH Board as a representative of his region.

For full details of the AIPH Board see http://aiph.org/about-aiph/meet-the-team/.