COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- The General Assembly of the European Furniture Industries Confederation (EFIC) was held on Nov. 30, 2011 in Copenhagen. Austria was welcomed as a new member and will take over the chairmanship in the forthcoming years: Markus Wiesner was elected unanimously as the new Chairman of the EFIC. He will take over from Fernando Rolin from Portugal who implemented substantial improvements in the confederation’s structure over the past two years. The term of office for the new Chairmain will be from 2012 until 2015.

Markus Wiesner is executive partner at Wiesner-Hager, a company with its head office located in Altheim, Austria. Wiesner-Hager is an international expert in the field of office architecture with 353 employees. Founded in 1849 as a carpentry business, Wiesner-Hager began the production of seating furniture in 1921. In the following years the product range was extended into various areas, such as theatre, restaurant and domestic furniture. In the 1950s a new field of business evolved - contract seating. By the end of the 1980s Wiesner-Hager mainly focused on office and contract furniture solutions. Today, Wiesner-Hager with its comprehensive product range in all fields of office architecture is one of the most renowned manufacturers in all of Europe and is the market leader in office chairs and contract furniture in Austria.

In his inaugural address Wiesner thanked his predecessor Fernando Rolin for his commitment to date. His efforts further strengthened EFIC’s structure as well as the confederation’s work. The roadmap for the upcoming years is based on these efforts and provides an important basis for the new Chairman to establish further priorities for the European furniture industry’s representation of interests and actively shape and improve the framework conditions for international competitiveness.

Source: European Furniture Industries Confederation