David El Sayegh elected as the new President of GESAC

23 May 2024 - Press release

GESAC General Assembly also elects its new Board for 2024-2026 mandate.

 

GESAC, the European Grouping of Authors' Societies (CMOs) gathering 32 authors' societies from the European Union, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, and representing as such more than one million authors nd rightholders from all artistic fields, including music, audiovisual, visual arts, literacy, held the elections for its Board and the President for the 2024-2026 mandate, at its statutory General Meeting.

Mr David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of SACEM (France) is elected as the President of GESAC and will chair the GESAC Board. Mr Gernot Graninger, CEO of AKM/Austromechana (Austria), Mr Victor Finn, CEO of IMRO (Ireland), and Mr András Zsinger, CEO of Artisjus (Hungary) are elected as the Vice-Presidents and Mrs Cristina Perpiñá-Robert Navarro, CEO of SGAE (Spain), Mrs Laura Baškevičienė, CEO of Latga (Lithuania), Mr Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA (Germany), Mr Risto Salminen, CEO of TEOSTO (Finland) and Mr José Jorge Letria, President of SPA (Portugal) are elected as members of the Board.

David El Sayegh said: "I am thrilled to take over the Presidency of GESAC following the successful tenure of Gernot Graninger over the last two and a half years, and most thankful to GESAC members for the trust and confidence they have placed in me. I would like to congratulate Gernot for his outstanding job as the President, and very much count on his continuous contribution to GESAC as a Vice-President of the Board. Together with the elected Board members and the three Vice-Presidents, I look forward to starting this close cooperation with Adriana Moscoso del Prado, as the new General Manager, and Burak Özgen as Deputy General Manager, to serve the interests of GESAC members and the authors they represent in the best possible way. Huge opportunities and challenges lie ahead of us in an ever-changing digital content market. Our duty is first and foremost to ensure that authors' rights get the protection they need and European culture continues to flourish regardless of the technology and the business model. For this, we very much rely on the commitment and dedication of EU policy-makers to uphold European rules and values."

Gernot Graninger said: "It has been both a pleasure and a privilege for me to serve as the President of GESAC for the past mandate, during which we dealt with a number of issues that impact authors and composers across Europe. I am happy to pass the baton to David for the Presidency and looking forward to continuing to contribute to GESAC's essential mission for authors and their societies at EU level, as a Vice-President of the Board during the next mandate."