EAES Annual Report 2019

17 Word from the Internal Auditor Word from the Internal Auditor Dear members, In this ”post-strategic plan” era of our fantastic association it is my pleasure as internal auditor to report my findings over the year. 2019 will go to my history book as one the most vibrant. A great number of scientific, clinical and educational projects have been launched, perfectly in line with all the intentions in our vision. The implementation of our new strategic plan has truly been beneficial in several ways. Most importantly and obvious is the clear focus on our target groups as well as on identified initiatives with a detailed action plan. Moreover, the necessary simplification of the structure of the entire association has led to a more resource efficient running of our business. In addition, as a result of the risk analysis made we have also reduced the number of companies to one, namely the Support BV, which is handling all the member specific issues as well as the commercial part of the show. Furthermore, The new model with an Executive Director running the commercial part of our organisation and not only report to but also act as a full member of the executive board has proven to be a clear success. The simplified structure with clear roles and responsi- bilities for all the staff in the office is of course a contributing factor but the main success factor, according to my perception, is the perfect recruit- ment of Arjan Appel as the Executive Director. Fuelled with his experience and personality the office seems to have reached a new level of performance, by honing everyone’s skills, and employee happiness clearly follows. Leadership from the executive board with a clear annual plan from each officer in the board together with improved project management support from the office and regular follow up at every board meeting has immensely improved the success rate of all new initiatives. Furthermore, from a compliance perspective the simplified and better structured organisation has led to a much better governance. We are now 4 years past the initial starting point of our new strategic journey. A task that really has been challenging for a group of part time leaders as we all are in the executive board. The project would probably have moved at a greater speed with full time involvement but the quality of the outcome is really fantastic considering the conditions. All the changes have been done with no interruption in all the ongoing duties which to me mimics the fuelling of a jet plane at 30 000 feet. The robustness of the implementation seem to be evident since it has been carried on over three presidencies, signalling long term survival. The modernisation of all our offers and the new structure of the organisation require an update of the bylaws. A revised version will be presented next summer at the General Assembly for approval. Finally, with a close look in the EAES crystal ball, our orbuculum, I predict a prosperous year to come with even stronger focus on female surgeons, a continuous expansion to all the corners of the world and an impact on environment based on our Go Green program. Gunnar Ahlberg , Internal auditor