Gonzalo Perez Constanzó, Managing Director of Kenes Latin America, has been elected President of the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO), effective as of February 19, 2012.

In the general assembly of IAPCO held in Paris on February 19, 2012, Gonzalo Perez Constanzó was elected as the New President of IAPCO. Gonzalo has been an active member of the IAPCO board for quite some time while his career also include stints as a Board member of ICCA representing PCOs, as Chairman of the ICCA’s Latin American Chapter and Secretary of the Welcome Argentina Foundation. An enthusiast of his profession, Gonzalo is a much sought after speaker at the IAPCO Annual Wolfsberg Seminar and on other industry teaching activities.

Gonzalo brings a wealth of congress organisation experience to his new role. A Buenos Aires native, Gonzalo began his professional career with Congresos Internacionales, where he worked for over a decade. Gonzalo then joined the World Bank in Washington, DC, where he was involved with the Annual Assembly (over 10,000 participants) as well as other World Bank-related meetings around the world. Next, Gonzalo joined Tilesa OPC in 2008, where he would go on to become Director of Operations of the newly formed Tilesa Kenes Spain (TKS). In 2011, Gonzalo was appointed Managing Director of Kenes Latin America and is currently responsible for the development of this rapidly growing Kenes Group subsidiary company.    

As president of IAPCO and at the same time Managing Director of Kenes Latin America, Gonzalo will be travelling quite a bit and will thus be able to contribute substantially to the continued development of IAPCO and the congress organising industry worldwide – with a special focus onLatin America. When not taking trains, planes or automobiles, you’ll find Gonzalo residing at the main office of Kenes Latin America, located in Santiago de Chile.

Please view Gonzalo’s video message, where he outlines his aims and ambitions as incoming IAPCO President.

For further information about IAPCO: http://www.iapco.org/

For further information about Kenes Group: www.kenes.com

You can also refer any questions to Quirine Laman Trip, Group director BD at qlamantrip@kenes.com

On February 1, 2012, Luc Hendrickx joined Kenes Group as Chief Operating Officer (COO), Global Operations. Luc will also serve as member of the Executive Board. Luc will be responsible for the operational development of the regional and national offices (Kenes Asia, Kenes India, Kenes Turkey, Kenes UK, Tilesa-Kenes Spain, JZ Kenes Brazil and Kenes Latin America) and for corporate governance. Luc’s joining is the highpoint of a long and fruitful professional friendship between him and Kenes – dating back to the early 1980s.

Luc is a congress management professional with unparalleled experience and expertise.  Over the last two decades, Luc served in two of the most respected international medical scientific societies. He led the in-house strategic development and operations of the European Cancer Conference (ECCO) and the World Diabetes Congress. Luc was also Executive Director of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), where he was responsible for governance.

Luc is also the founding President of the Board of the Association & Conference Forum     (AC Forum), an international network of association and congress executives.

By bringing Luc into the Kenes Group family, the company is ensuring that the promise to its clients, to deliver top level congress management support, is delivered – anywhere, anytime. 

The high standards expected from committees, speakers and delegates means that Kenes must be diligent in following through on its promise to be the most effective way to build and maintain medical scientific knowledge and professional networks.

When Luc is not travelling for Kenes, he will be working from Antwerp, Belgium.

See Luc’s video message .

Kenes  in  2011: A Summary

In 2011, Kenes International welcomed eight new long term clients and two current clients decided to extend their contracts with the company.

Long term clients have chosen to continue their relationships with Kenes because they understand that it’s the best way to build and develop their congresses and associations.

Still, due to a variety of developments, two long-standing clients of Kenes International will be parting ways with the company: 1) EFNS will be ending its association with Kenes International as a result of the merger of two societies; 2) EASL awarded a one- year contract for 2014 to a colleague PCO.

Kenes Group subsidiary companies were contracted in 2011 by some 60 clients for congress management in their respective countries and regions.

For a full list please visit our website on www.kenes.com

Present Kenes Group Structure

Kenes Group has 46 years experience in organising medical and scientific conferences. Today, Kenes has 15 offices, with three Kenes International offices in Geneva, Tel Aviv and Amsterdam, regional offices in Asia and Latin America and seven national offices in Brazil, Germany, India, Israel, Spain, Turkey and the UK.

Kenes hosted approximately 115,000 conference attendees in 2011, has 108 long term clients and offers association management services to 28 medical and scientific organizations, which serve 29,160 members.

In 2011, Kenes organised 2857 conferences in 104 countries.

From Santiago to Bangkok, over 400 staff members from a rich and diverse variety of cultures and backgrounds work for Kenes.

An Update on Who is Who in Kenes  Management

Kenes Group:  Dan Rivlin, Avi Rosner, Luc Hendrickx, Quirine Laman Trip

Kenes  Associations Worldwide: Isabella Mortara -Kenes Education: Keith Foley

Kenes Asia: Marcel Ewals -  Kenes Latin America: Gonzalo P. Constanzó,

JZ Kenes Brazil:  Juarez de Carvalho Filho - Kenes India: Ritu Saigal

Interplan:  Bruno Lichtinger, Markus Preussner - Kenes Turkey:  Sadik Caglar

 Kenes UK:  Michael Foreman - Tilesa Kenes Spain:  Carlos R. De Sebastian

For further information please contact:
Quirine Laman Trip, Kenes Group Director Business Development  
T direct: +31 651432856,Email: qlamantrip@kenes.com 
Site: www.kenes.com

Effective January 1, 2012, Kenes Associations Worldwide (KAW) will serve as the secretariat for the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM). In related news, Kenes International was appointed as Core PCO, beginning in 2016, for the ISPRM World Congresses - held every two years.

Founded in 1999, ISPRM is an international organisation comprised of over 600 physical and rehabilitation medical professionals, as well as 20 national societies dedicated to the optimal care and quality of life of patients with disabilities. ISPRM was closely involved with the WHO (World Health Organisation) in initiating and developing the World Health Assembly Resolution. ISPRM continues its active collaboration with the WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation (DAR) team, which is tasked with disability and rehabilitation classification, terminology and standards. 

Furthermore, ISPRM features numerous educational activities, including online educational tools.

Kenes Group is looking forward to working closely with ISPRM in an effort to grow the society’s global membership, strengthen its outreach and enhance its leadership position within the world of physical rehabilitation medicine and rehabilitation sciences.

December 3, 2011 - The newly formed Asian Australasian Federation of Pain Societies (AAFPS) has appointed Kenes Asia as Core PCO and Association Manager. The umbrella organisation AAFPS seeks to establish a pan-Asian network for pain management education that reaches beyond anesthesiology. The next congress has been scheduled to take place in Taiwan in March 2013, in collaboration with the Taiwan Pain Society.

It was announced today, 1.12.2011, that London-based Kenes UK was successful in its bid to host the World Endourology Congress in 2015. In 2010, Kenes UK won the opportunity to assist the UK host committee in its efforts to win the bid. Since then, the Kenes UK BD team of Rachel Frankel, Amy Dudden and Michael Foreman have been working very closely with the committee on every aspect related to the bid.

The World Endourology Congress is expected to attract approximately 1500 surgeons to London.  

The Roslin Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh, is the world’s largest research and teaching institution dedicated to animal science and its application to human and veterinary medicine. On the evening of August 31, the Institute’s spectacular new building set the scene for a welcome reception for Edinburgh’s 60+ ambassadors  - most from scientific disciplines.  This was a unique opportunity to introduce Kenes UK to the luminaries of Edinburgh’s medical and scientific communities.

Kenes UK Managing Director Michael Foreman gave an informal talk which sparked real interest and a range of questions from the lively crowd.

The evening was highlighted by an unexpected, heartfelt endorsement from Professor Joe Goldblatt, Executive Director of the International Centre for the Study of Planned Events at Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh) and a colleague of Kenes founder Gideon Rivlin.

“For over two decades I have known and admired the Kenes organization.  The founder of this internationally well respected industry leader wrote the first textbook in the field of organizing scientific and medical conferences and exhibitions.  In my opinion, the Kenes team  are world leaders in this field and they carry my highest recommendation. “-Professor Joe Goldblatt, FRSA

Kenes Group company INTERPLAN has been selected as PCO for the 5th German Atherosclerosis Congress which will take place in December 2012 in Munich.

The congress will be jointly organised by the Lipid Liga and the German Atherosclerosis Society, which will also celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012.

For more information visit www.atherosklerosekongress.de

For more information about INTERPLAN visit www.interplan.de

Geneva | 29 October 2011 –  There are 15 million people who have a stroke each year.  Every other second, an adult or a child, a man or a woman, old or young, suffers a stroke. In fact, every six seconds, someone somewhere will die from a stroke.  Stroke claims the lives of nearly six million people each year.  It is the second leading cause of death for people above the age of 60, and the fifth for people aged 15 to 59. Stroke is the principal cause of long-term disability irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity or country. It is responsible for more deaths annually than those attributed to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together. “The global burden of stroke has reached epidemic proportions and the situation will not improve until strong actions are taken” WSO president Bo Norrving passionately implores. 

The World Stroke Organization (SO) stands in solidarity with patients, stroke survivors and their loved ones, most especially today – World Stroke Day.

The international body is asking its members around the world to exert pressure on their governments to enact targeted policies that would put the fight against stroke higher-up on national public health agendas.  As Prof. Norrving explains “recent stroke facts remain grim: there are few signs pointing to a decline in the incidence of strokes. Stroke risk facts remain undermanaged globally.” 

In the second year of its “1 in 6” campaign, the WSO is intensifying its efforts on educating and raising the consciousness of the general public about stroke. The theme “1 in 6” was aptly selected by WSO leadership to reflect the reality that one in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime.  The key messages of the campaign are simple:  

• Stroke can be prevented
• Stroke can be treated
• Stroke can be managed in the long-term

As Prof. Norrving underscores “these messages may sound simple, but they are powerful.  We need to use this powerful simplicity to improve public health for stroke.”  

With a single-minded purpose of eliminating stroke, WSO leaders this year, have proactively been lobbying key opinion leaders, heads of state, and health policy experts to pay closer attention to the disease. WSO was invited and participated at several landmark events in 2011 including the first Russian Ministerial Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) and Healthy Lifestyles in Moscow, the historic United Nations High Level Meeting on NCD Prevention and Control in New York, and recently this month, the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health, held in Rio de Janeiro. 

“In 2011, three-quarters of all individuals that have suffered from a stroke live in resource-constrained countries where health systems are already challenged to the limit” says Prof. Markku Kaste, the chair of the Campaign. “We must act now before it is too late”, he adds. 

More information about the World Stroke Campaign at www.worldstrokecampaign.org

________________________________________

About the World Stroke Organization – The World Stroke Organization (WSO) was established in October 2006. Its mission is to provide access to stroke care, promote research and knowledge by (1) promoting prevention and care for persons with stroke and vascular dementia; (2) fostering the best standards of practice; (3) educating, in collaboration with other international, public, and private organizations; and (4) facilitating clinical research. With individual and organizational members worldwide, WSO is the global voice for stroke. WSO is an international NGO in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO).

The World Stroke Congress will next take place in October 2012 and will be held in Brasilia, Brazil.

_______________________

Contact

Jose Julio Divino, MPH

Campaigns and Communications

World Stroke Organization

Tel       +41 22 906 9123

Mobile +44 77000 86235

Email   campaigns@world-stroke.org

In addition, Kenes Group will present their latest Meeting Architecture solutions as well as Kenes Education ─ the most recent addition to Kenes Group’s subsidiaries and services which was established to develop additional cutting edge methods and systems to serve clients.
 
The audience will also be updated on the company’s new offices, expansion and last year’s corporate social responsibility activities.
 
During IMEX, Kenes will be hosting three social cocktail events at its booth (# E220) focusing on:

• Kenes in Europe, on Tuesday 24th May at 16:30 - 17:30
• Kenes in Asia, on Wednesday 25th May at 16:30 - 17:30
• Kenes in Latin America, on Thursday 26th May at 16:00 - 17:00
 
Representatives of medical associations and all those with an interest are welcome to visit the Kenes Group at booth # E 220, and to meet with Kenes executives from our subsidiaries worldwide. They will share with you their expertise and inspiration and explain how the Kenes approach of integrated professional association and state-of-the-art congress management solutions increase Kenes clients’ share in an ever-growing and competitive medical association environment to the satisfaction of their members and stakeholders.
 

ABOUT KENES GROUP

Since its establishment in 1965, the Kenes Group has organised over 3,000 congresses worldwide, attracts around 110,000 attendees per year, and serves 56 long-term global, European, Asian and Latin American clients as Core PCO as well as a substantial number of national clients. Kenes also provides Association Management & Consultancy services from Geneva to 16 medical organisations with a combined 15,000 membership. National Kenes offices provide similar services to local organisations and are supported by the knowledge, methods of work and back office systems developed centrally.
 

For further information please contact:
Quirine Laman Trip
Group Director Business Development 
 
T direct: +31 651432856
Email: qlamantrip@kenes.com
Site: www.kenes.com