The Great Spa Towns of Europe Association has appointed Chiara Ronchini as the new Secretary General, to take over the post from Paul Simons, the current Secretary General. She will start in post on 13 February 2023.
Chiara joins the Great Spa Towns of Europe from Historic Environment Scotland where she has worked since 2014, most recently, since 2020 as their Policy Manager. Chiara brings a wealth of experience in World Heritage matters, both practical and academic to this post as well as enthusiasm and inspiration – something which impressed the interview panel of all eleven Mayors of the towns which comprise the Great Spa Towns of Europe.
Speaking from Baden bei Wien, Mayor Stefan Szirucsek, Chair of The Great Spa Towns of Europe Association said: “On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to welcome Chiara as the new Secretary General of the Great Spa Towns of Europe Association in February. She was an outstanding candidate at interview, in a very strong field of applications. We are looking forward to working with her, and tapping into her expertise in the many areas which are essential to the future management of the site – from local capacity building and interaction with citizens to attracting funding, and from World Heritage Site management to team leadership, these are qualities that we will be drawing on as our World Heritage Site develops."
"I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who applied for this role – it was a challenge to shortlist candidates from such a diverse, impressive and global field. We are all looking forward to working with Chiara and wish her all the best in her future role.”
Paul Simons, the current Secretary General, said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to work on this incredible project since its inception in 2010. In recent years, as Secretary General I have worked with many distinguished politicians and experts at local, national and European levels. I sincerely thank them for placing their trust in me and it is an experience that I will not forget in a hurry!"
"My task has varied considerably over the years, developing the project from an idea to writing the nomination documents and achieving the successful inscription. I now feel confident to hand over the reins to Chiara, to manage this complex, unusual and unique world heritage site into the future. In this, the 50th anniversary year of the World Heritage Convention, I am looking forward to new challenges and will stay in touch with the many friends and colleagues that I have worked with on this very special project.”
Chiara Ronchini said: “Joining the Great Spa Towns of Europe at this time is a great honour. I’m very excited to get to know all eleven spa towns and the teams that work there – it’s going to be an amazing challenge and an adventure too!"
"I look forward to working with all the partners and state parties to build on the fantastic work to date. The GSTE are an incredible UNESCO World Heritage site, not just for their unique architecture and urban planning, but also for the social, medical and artistic ideas that originated there and that were exported all over the world. This uniqueness creates so many opportunities to bring the GSTE and European Spa Culture to the fore in Europe and beyond. I’m really looking forward to harnessing these opportunities in collaboration with colleagues, partners, and our local and global communities.”
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