BFS IOA - Letter from Chairman - April 2007 

Dear BFS-member,

A few weeks ago we had the BFS IOA Annual General Meeting for 2007 in the nice town of Antwerp in Belgium. The meeting was attended by about 50 of our members, both Operators and Suppliers. There were a lot of interesting presentations and discussions during the meeting. Many of them had connection to one of the most important roles of the BFS IOA - to better understand the regulations from the authorities for aseptic processing with the BFS technique, and be able to influence in what direction it will go in the future. During the meeting it was also decided to publish the Points to Consider document. Our Technical Officer, Eric Dewhurst, will make some minor adjustments and then the document will be sent out for final review.

tWe also have some changes in the board as a result of the voting procedure at the AGM. I am personally very honoured to been given the trust to lead the BFS IOA as the new chairman. For those of you that didn't have the opportunity to attend the meeting, let me give you a short presentation. My name is Peter Åkerman, and I have been working with BFS from different positions for almost 25 years. My current position is Senior Adviser at AstraZeneca Sweden Operations, Liquid Production. Earlier I have had positions in Process Development, been a Validation Manager, Production Manager and Director of Engineering. I have also worked close to the former chairman, Anders Löfgren, which will facilitate a smooth transition.

I will also take the opportunity to thank Anders for the excellent work he have done and all the achievements he have made together with the board during the last seven years. It will of course be a great challenge to take over the lead of the organisation after Anders, but I will do my very best to try to continue the work in progress.

In this respect I am happy to have a very experienced and competent board to work together with. Another result of the voting procedure was that Daniel Osterby, Business Unit Director Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services at Cardinal Health in Woodstock was appointed to be a new board member. This is an extension of the board, and will facilitate many of the US activities for the BFS IOA. I want to welcome Daniel to the board, and I am looking forward to Daniel bringing in new experience in the board.

I am also pleased to announce that Dr. Martin Haerer from Holopack, Germany, will stay for another two years term as Officer for Training and Education.

Finally, we are now working with the final arrangements for the BFS IOA USA Conference in Chicago on the 6-7th of June. You will find more information about the program and site tour on BFS IOA website. I want to welcome you all to Chicago, and I am looking forward to meet there.

Kind Regards,

Peter Åkerman
Chairman of the Board, BFS IOA