Welcome and opening of the EuroVelo & Cycling Tourism Conference 2024
📆 Tuesday 24 September
🕑 09:00-09:15
📍 Main hall, Tinghallen
Ulrik Wilbek 🇩🇰
Mayor of Viborg
Mr. Ulrik Wilbek is the Mayor of Viborg Municipality and has been in office since 2018. He was also a member of Viborg City Council from 1998 – 2001. In addition to his mayoral duties, he is a member of the board of Local Government Denmark and also the chairman of Local Government Denmark’s Social Affairs Committee. Before entering into politics, Ulrik Wilbek was a successful handball coach winning international tournament medals with both the Danish women’s and men’s national teams - Olympics, World Cup and European Cup. Following his coaching career, he served as Sports Director at the Danish Handball Federation from 2012 to 2016. Parallel to his handball career, Ulrik Wilbek worked as a professional speaker specialised in management and workplace co-operation, and he has also written several books about management, coaching and motivation.
Pia Lange Christensen 🇩🇰
CEO
VisitAarhus
Pia Lange Christensen has been the CEO of VisitAarhus since 2019. Since then she has been leading Denmarks largest DMO outside the capital. VisitAarhus is responsible for marketing and developing tourism in the Aarhus Region. In addition to her role as CEO, Pia Lange Christensen holds several board positions – she is a board member os VisitDenmark, Chairman of MeetDenmark and a boardmember of Danske Destinationer (Danish Destinations) and Dansk Storbyturisme. Besides her degree in journalism, Pia Lange Christensen also has a diploma in management from Aarhus University and graduated a High Performance Leadership Programme from Oxford University.
Henk Swarttouw
President
European Cyclists' Federation
Henk Swarttouw has been a professional diplomat in the Dutch foreign service for 30+ years, working in the US, France, the UK, Finland and, of course, the Netherlands. Henk served as Dutch ambassador to Finland from 2012 to 2015 and as Dutch ambassador to Denmark from 2015 to 2019. Until leaving the Foreign Service in the summer of 2020, Henk worked as Dutch ambassador for International Organisations. He is now an independent advisor on sustainability and international cooperation. Henk has been cycling to school and to work for over 50 years. Since his arrival in Finland in 2012, he has been actively engaging in cycling diplomacy. Henk initially joined the ECF board as Vice-President in 2019, putting his international experience and diplomatic skills at the disposal of ECF and its members. In April 2024, he was re-elected President of ECF.