Franco Azzopardi was elected President of the Malta Institute of Accountants following the Institute's Annual General Meeting held on 16 July.
Mr Azzopardi is taking over from outgoing President Maria Micallef who served her two-year term as the Institute's President between July 2013 and 2015.
The AGM elected a new Council for the Institute. Franco Azzopardi, Etienne Borg Cardona, Simon Flynn, Maria Micallef, Noel Mizzi, William Spiteri Bailey and Franz R. Wirth were elected for the term 2015 - 2017.
These joined the other seven Council Members elected at the 2014 Annual General Meeting: Fabio Axisa, Christopher Balzan, David Delicata, Anthony Doublet, Hilary Galea-Lauri, Ivan Grixti and Stephen Paris.
Franz Wirth returns to Council after a one-year absence and Noel Mizzi has been elected for the first time.
Maria Micallef thanked outgoing Council Members, Anthony Zarb and Kevin Mahoney for their dedication and contribution towards the Institute and the local profession. Mr Zarb is KPMG's Managing Partner and a former MIA President. He retires from Council after having served for 24 years. Mr Mahoney is the Managing Partner of Mahoney & Co and served on Council for 13 years in representation of Small and Medium-sized Practitioners.
At the first meeting of the new Council, Franco Azzopardi was elected President, William Spiteri Bailey Vice-president, Fabio Axisa as Secretary and David Delicata as Treasurer.
New CEO for the Malta Institute of Accountants
Former Technical Director, Mark Abela has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Malta Institute of Accountants with effect from 1 July 2015.
A Certified Public Accountant, Mark joined the MIA in 2012, as Technical Director. Previously, he enjoyed work experiences in audit and assurance with PricewaterhouseCoopers, in financial management with the Maltese Ministry of Finance, in IFRS Endorsement with the European Financial Reporting and Advisory Group in Brussels and in Enterprise Risk Services with Deloitte Malta. Mark holds a Bachelor's degree in Accountancy and a Masters Degree in Financial Services from the University of Malta.
The CEO's role was created following changes to the MIA Statute made at the 2014 AGM. He is responsible for the implementation and execution of the strategies, decisions taken and policies set by the Council of the Institute and as such it is considered as vital by the Council to enable the Institute to meet its current and future challenges.