The ERA Board announces elections for vacant positions in the ERA Board.

Following the ERA Constitution, articles 10 (point 5) and 11, as well as Bylaw 4 Rules for Candidacy and Election for ERA Bodies, the ERA Board announces elections for vacant positions in the ERA Board.

In October 2025, at our General Meeting in Mâcon, ERA will have to hold regular elections for the post of the President and 2^nd Vice-President, the Treasurer as well as one Assessor.

First, the recent President, Boris Mićić, cannot stand for another mandate as he has held the position already for two consecutive periods. The 2^nd Vice-President Sophie Chipon will not stand candidate for a second period. The Treasurer Steen Kobberø-Hansen will stand candidate for a second term of office.

Due to the decision of the 3^rd Vice-President Angelo Michaele Latorre and the 1^st Assessor Asnāte Ziemele to resign for private reasons, theses posts will need to be newly elected out of term. As already happened in the case of the current Treasurer, these posts will be limited to a two years period of office to keep the rotation principle laid out in the statutes of ERA.

It always has been a principle in ERA to look for a candidate for President of the organization who already has had experience in the board and “knows the drill”. When the call for elections was distributed on April 28^thno such candidate was in sight.

The ERA board held its physical board meeting in Latvia on May 21 and 22. In this meeting the board decided to ask the actual 1^st Vice-President Gerhard Ermischer to stand as candidate for President of ERA in October 2025, although his mandate would only expire in 2027. In addition the 2^nd Assessor Rúben Jordão agreed to stand as candidate for the post of 3^rd Vice-President for the remaining period of two years.

As a result, the posts of the 1^st Vice-President and the 2^nd Assessor will become vacant.

The application period:

25 May – 25 August 2025

Vacant positions:

President (4 years) Gerhard Ermischer (ERA Board candidate)
1^st Vice-President (2 years) vacant
2^nd Vice-President (4 years) vacant
3^rd Vice-President (2 years) Rúben Jordão (ERA Board candidate)
Treasurer (4 years) Steen Kobberø-Hansen (ERA Board candidate)
1^st Assessor (2 years) vacant
2^nd Assessor (4 years) vacant

The person nominated by the ERA Board does not mean that nobody else can be elected to the same position.

Conditions for candidacy:

1. Conditions for the ERA President

The President’s roles and responsibilities can be categorized into these key areas:

Provide leadership
Ensure the ERA Board functions well
Ensure ERA is effectively managed
Represent ERA effectively
Ensure the ERA office functions well and keep a close cooperation to staff
Provide support and supervision to working groups

Essential Criteria

The ideal candidate for the ERA President position will possess the following qualifications and characteristics:

Experience in hiking development.
Commitment to ERA mission.
Visionary and strategic leadership.
Excellent public speaking communication skills in at least one of the languages – English, German and/or French.
Dynamic leadership and engagement.
Network building at national level and/or the EU and pan-European level.
Strong interpersonal skills.
Effective time management.
Motivation and encouragement skills.

2. Conditions for the ERA Board members:

Essential Criteria

To be valuable as ERA Board members:

Be committed volunteers and be willing to invest time and energy into the development and management of ERA.
Be willing and able to lead working groups on key topics and/or the ERA projects.
Be a passionate and committed advocate for hiking.
Be a productive team member.
Be efficient in communications.
Have a strong sense of ethics and empathy, and committed to high standards.
Be committed to European values including among others sustainability, integrity, inclusion and equality.
Be able to attend 3 physical Board meetings and the General Assembly throughout the year. In some cases, virtual extraordinary meetings could be organised.
Have a good working knowledge of English, German or French. which are the official languages for ERA. (For organisational and logistical reasons, the Board prefers English to be the main language used at meetings and for internal Board communication.)

Elections:

The 4 October 2025, ERA General Meeting in Mâcon, France

Conditions for the applications:

The candidacy can be submitted by the full and associated ERA members on their official letterhead, including the candidate’s biography, signed by the candidate.

Please send the candidacies before the 25 August 2025 to the ERA office:
secretariat@era-ewv-ferp.com.