CEO and staff changes

Jo Groves, Chief Executive Officer, leaves IAPO

We say a fond farewell and thank you to Jo Groves, IAPO’s Chief Executive Officer, who is leaving IAPO after ten years to pursue other opportunities in her life. Jo came to IAPO in 2004 as the Policy and External Affairs Director, when the organization had only two staff, and became CEO in 2007.

She has overseen the growth of IAPO and leaves the organization at its strongest, with almost 250 members in over 60 countries, supported by a dedicated team and Board. As well as leading the team, Jo has been in demand as a speaker and contributor on IAPO’s behalf to a large number of international meetings, think tanks and symposia.

KP Tsang, IAPO’s Chair said:

"Jo's great contribution to IAPO over the past decade is engraved in the history of the global patients’ movement in the 21st century". 

Stephen McMahon arrives as interim CEO

We are pleased to announce Stephen McMahon as the interim Chief Executive Officer of IAPO. Stephen is the co-founder and Director of the Irish Patients Association, a cross-disease patient advocacy body which upholds patient-centred care. 

He and the Association recently launched 'The Pact for Patients Safety', a Pact with 21 founding signatories promoting material and procedural commitments, at the European Parliament in October 2014.

Stephen's wide experience includes policy-making, standard-setting, regulation, education and research. He has also worked in the private sector with a multi-national oil company for 30 years in areas such as procurement, operations, finance and marketing.

For more about the recruitment of a permanent CEO, see here.

Linda Craig, Operations Director, departs IAPO

We also say goodbye to our Operations Director Linda Craig, who has worked with us for the past 18 months.

Linda has been responsible for driving organizational development, overseeing the implementation of a new strategic plan, managing the IAPO budget and drawing up policies and procedures. She has been an crucial member of the team and will be missed.

We wish both Jo and Linda the best for the future and welcome Stephen to IAPO.