About EFQM

EFQM has helped 50,000 organisations perform better over 30 years. By using its world-leading methodologies and the EFQM Model and Technology backed up by best practice, organisations can focus improvement on their priorities, their purpose, and their people.

Through our integrated and carefully designed portfolio of training and services, we work side by side with leaders to better equip their teams as they manage excellence, cultural change and transformation. Our aim is to help organisations deliver positive performance and meaningful benefits for all of their key stakeholders and society as a whole.

  • Overview
  • Governance
  • Team
  • History

Overview

Acknowledged by leaders as a key partner to success, EFQM is an organisation that is known for being curious and excited. As different organisations battle with change and transformation on different fronts, we understand what is important, helping them to articulate a clearly understood purpose and nurture a valuable and rewarding culture.

Through our integrated and carefully designed portfolio of products and services, we work side by side with leaders as they manage cultural change and digital transformation to deliver positive performance and meaningful benefits for all their key stakeholders.

Why we do it?

And by becoming a successful partner to organisations around the world (helping land effective change, manage transformation and deliver performance improvement), we can deliver our own ambition – to build a better future for people, for communities and for organisations themselves.

How we do it?

  • Instil a culture of improvement by helping to assess and implement plans and strategies; discover and create good practices; develop their people.
  • Distil insights, knowledge, data and content that will help organisations to achieve and sustain outstanding levels of performance
  • Identify good practices and know what good looks like – helping our network to deploy and refine this data, making it fit for purpose within their own organisation and culture
  • Share our rapidly developing knowledge base, networking opportunities and experiences, using this learning to generate new, innovative approaches
  • Encourage organisations to seek external recognition using our rigorous assessment process.

Our special traits

Collaborative

EFQM is a collaborative community – facilitating conversations to create a network of empowered individuals, organisations and partnerships that generate mutual benefit for all.

Trustworthy

We act in your interests, with no hidden agenda. We are open and transparent, creating trust and acting with integrity in all that we do. We are committed to doing our best for our members, customers and the people we employ.

Independent

Independent of any EU institution or political movement, we adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goals as a shared blueprint to focus on improvement and making citizen’s lives better. We have a sound governance framework, accountable to our Members and any profit we generate is reinvested into our portfolio.

Empowering

Everything we do is designed to equip organisations to manage with contemporary and challenging good practice reference points. As such, we inspire individuals and organisations alike to advance through innovative thinking, learning and development.

Inclusive

Through a unique mix of product, technology, people and networks, we are committed to creating and promoting a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive – constantly pushing the boundaries, seeking out megatrends and always looking forward to what’s next.

Intro Video

Join our mailing list

Receive our monthly newsletter, quarterly magazine, and much more!

We will always respect your privacy.

Governance

ABOUT OUR GOVERNANCE

EFQM is a not for profit, membership Foundation. In addition to the EFQM Management Team based in Brussels, a Board of Directors oversees EFQM’s operations. It is supported by a Strategy Committee, a Finance and Audit Committee and a Nomination and HR Committee.

The EFQM BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ role is to ensure that EFQM’s strategy and its implementation are aligned with the mission of the Foundation, taking into account the views and expectations of all stakeholder groups. Directors are elected for a two-year period. They elect one of them to Chair the Board.

CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Dr Paul G.K. Little CBE

Dr Paul G.K. Little CBE

CITY OF GLASGOW COLLEGE

Principal & CEO, Chairman EFQM Board of Directors

UNITED KINGDOM

Paul is at the helm of Scotland’s leading college and is responsible for developing a new £228M world class twin campus in the heart of Glasgow’s Learning Quarter and along the River Clyde. Paul has successfully led and transformed five UK colleges and has earned a national reputation as one of the education sector’s leading reformers. He has studied with leading European business schools and is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. As a qualified yacht skipper, Paul served as a HM Coastguard Officer for 30 years and completed tours of duty with the US Coastguard.

Sophie Bechu

Sophie Bechu

Retired

Chief Operating Officer (Retired)

THE NETHERLANDS

Sophie retired from Philips in 2023 after spending 6 years as Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations. Sophie has extensive experience in operations, service delivery, procurement, supply chain, quality, engineering and strategic outsourcing. She has international experience working in Europe, Hong Kong, India and the USA. Sophie holds a degree in Engineering from the Ecole Superieure d’Electricite, Paris, France.

Waleed Salman

Waleed Salman

DUBAI ELECTRICITY AND WATER AUTHORITY

EVP Business Development and Excellence

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dr Waleed Salman, EVP Business Development and Excellence at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, has been appointed to the EFQM Board. Dr Salman has gained more than two decades of experience in the Energy Sector, specifically Electricity and Water. His career began in the UAE at the Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) in 1992 as an Electrical Engineer. After many years of development, in 2007, he became Deputy General Manager for Technical Affairs in FEWA; furthermore, he was assigned by UAE Electricity Interconnection High Committee to handle the Emirates National Grid Project. This project interconnected all UAE Electrical networks into one single grid and was successfully completed in 2008. In 2009, he was assigned as a member of the Supreme Council of Energy of Dubai - a council that undertakes all Energy activities for the Emirate of Dubai. Dr Salman has been instrumental in DEWA’s world-leading excellence initiatives and brings world-leading utilities experience to the board.

Elodie Buronfosse

Elodie Buronfosse

South East France, Keolis Groupe

Director Finance and Administration

FRANCE

Elodie Buronfosse is a senior finance executive, from the French global transport group, Keolis, to the Board of EFQM. Elodie is a passionate advocate of EFQM and will provide insight into the global transport industry and also lend her financial and transformation expertise to the Board Finance Committee. After receiving her masters from ICN Business School, Elodie joined PwC, first in Paris, then in Lyon, where her clients represented a range of major French and International private and public organisations. In 2014, Elodie joined Keolis Lyon that operates the public transport network of Lyon (2nd largest public transport network in France – 4500 employees). Her initial role was to work on the tender offer process that led to the renewal of the 6 years and 2.5 billion euros public service partnership contract, before becoming deputy CFO of the company in 2016. In October 2019, Elodie was appointed CFO South East, France at Keolis Groupe – a division of around 40 transportation businesses stretching from Burgundy to the Riviera.

Robert Engelhorn

Robert Engelhorn

BMW GROUP

President and CEO BMW Manufacturing US

GERMANY

Robert is CEO and President of Manufacturing at the BMW US Plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, which employs 11,000 people on an 8 million square foot campus. Before this role, Robert was head of manufacturing at BMW Munich. From 2014 to 2018, he worked in China and was responsible for production and purchasing in the joint venture with Brilliance Automotive. In this role, he also managed two vehicle plants and one engine plant of the BMW Group in Dadong and Tiexi, respectively.

Hans Kostwein

Hans Kostwein

KOSTWEIN GROUP

Managing Director

AUSTRIA

After having completed the studies of industrial engineering and management at the Technichal University of Graz, Hans started his career in the family business Kostwein Maschinenbau KG. Today, he is managing director of the Kostwein Group which incorporates 4 sites in Carinthia (Austria), one site in Croatia (founded in 2001) and one site in India (founded in 2010). In 2014, he was nominated to become a member of the EFQM-Board where he represents the small and medium enterprises of the machine industry.

Christoph Pietsch

Christoph Pietsch

ROBERT BOSCH GMBH

Senior Vice President Corporate Quality Management

GERMANY

Christoph Pietsch was appointed in 2015 as Senior Vice President Field Quality Board, and in 2022, in addition, to Senior Vice President Corporate Quality Management for the entire Robert Bosch GmbH. He started his career at Robert Bosch in 1995 as a Manufacturing Trainee in Blaichach and has worked in Germany, Japan and France in Manufacturing, Manufacturing Planning, and Special Machinery Construction and Development. From 2008 - to 2011, he was Vice President for the Bosch Production System before taking over a Vice President position in Quality Management. He studied mechanical engineering at the TU Braunschweig.

Nieves Segovia Bonet

Nieves Segovia Bonet

SEK EDUCATION GROUP

President

SPAIN

Educator and expert in learning innovation, Nieves Segovia is President of SEK Education Group, comprising of University Camilo José Cela and SEK International Schools. SEK was founded in 1892. The group currently has nine schools in Spain, France, Ireland and Qatar, as well as UCJC University in Madrid, with over 15,000 students. Nieves Segovia sits on the Education Advisory Board of the Spanish Ministry of Education. She chairs the Felipe Segovia Foundation and is a member of the board of trustees of Fundación Europea Sociedad y Educación, and Fundación Transforma España. She is Vice-Chair of the Global Sports Innovation Center, the Club Excelencia en Gestión and the Edutech Cluster Spain. She is also a member of Ashoka Support Network. She founded and promotes the Global Education Forum, a community of education innovators, and SEK Lab, the first accelerator of Ed Tech start-ups in Spain. In 2017 she launched the UCJC Integra Programme, a university refugee education scheme, which has now been joined by Sphera, a cross-cultural social entrepreneurship hub, and EachTeach, a global refugee teacher training initiative. Among other awards, Nieves Segovia has received the UNICEF Prize for Education in Values and is recognised among the most influential women in education. She is a regular speaker at education forums and writes frequently for the media and specialised magazines. Nieves Segovia is a 2019 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow. Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative is a year-long, cross-disciplinary program designed to prepare experienced leaders to tackle complex social challenges.

Charu Bjuvestig

Charu Bjuvestig

QA Talent

Managing Director

United Kingdom

Charu is a People, Change and Talent executive with over 25 years of management and technology consulting experience selling and delivering large-scale complex Business and IT transformation programs in Financial Services, Consumer Goods, Life Sciences and Telecommunications sectors. She is a People and Talent specialist experienced in organisation change & learning, talent & sustainable workforce strategies, leadership development and culture transformations. Charu is passionate about building and driving high-performance organisations and teams, as well as supporting D&I initiatives within the organisations she supports. She has global leadership experience, having worked and lived across three continents, leading client and internal teams in the US, UK, Switzerland, France, India and Singapore. Charu has an MBA from Loyola University, Chicago and a Masters in History from Madras University, India.

Daniel Augsten

Daniel Augsten

Facelift

Chief Executive Officer

Germany

Daniel is the CEO of Facelift, a prominent tech company based in Germany and an accomplished senior executive with over two decades of experience in the B2B sales and services industry. Before assuming his present position, Daniel was the EMEA Sector Leader for Telco/Media/Digital at Meta/Facebook. Before that, he spent three years as the Managing Director of a division within Bertelsmann (Arvato Bertelsmann). Daniel has also worked internationally, encompassing the Middle East, LATAM, and Asia. In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Daniel actively contributes to the entrepreneurial ecosystem as an independent mentor, collaborating with the WHU Otto-Beisheim School of Management Chair of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Technological Transformation. He is particularly dedicated to supporting startups, leveraging his affiliation with Germany's top business school.

FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE

The FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE meets at least twice a year and assists the Board of Directors on all financial matters. This includes budgeting and review of financial statements which are audited annually by KMPG.

The FINANCE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE Members are:

  • Russell Longmuir – EFQM
  • Geert Opdenbosch – EFQM
  • Elodie Buronfosse – Keolis
  • Charu Bjuvestig – QA Talent
  • Dr Paul G.K. Little CBE – City of Glasgow College

NOMINATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE

The NOMINATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE assist the Board of Directors for the nomination and remuneration of EFQM’s CEO. It meets on an as needed basis. It also assists the CEO on key HR issues if requested.

The NOMINATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE Members are:

  • Dr Paul G.K. Little CBE – City of Glasgow College
  • Hans Kostwein – Kostwein Group
Russell Longmuir - CEO
Russell Longmuir - CEO

“The EFQM Model is our foundation”

A globally-recognised practical framework for organisational change and performance improvement

Available in 17 languages.

Available to buy in our shop

You can try it for FREE, download and share the EFQM Model summary, which covers all the main concepts.

Team

About our team

EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) is a not for profit membership foundation.

For over thirty years, we have shared what works between our member organisations as a way to help them implement their strategies.

Through our network of members comprising private and public organisations of every size and sector, many active around the world, EFQM applies its know-how and extracts outstanding approaches by engaging with executives and front-line managers.

MEET THE TEAM

Russell Longmuir

Russell Longmuir

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Gianluca Mulè

Gianluca Mulè

DEPUTY CEO & CHIEF GROWTH OFFICER

Dr. Geert Opdenbosch

Dr. Geert Opdenbosch

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER & HR DIRECTOR

Isra'a Mobideen

Isra'a Mobideen

MIDDLE EAST REGIONAL DIRECTOR

Iosune Aguirre

Iosune Aguirre

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Vinciane Beauduin

Vinciane Beauduin

GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL SERVICES

Paul Greenwood

Paul Greenwood

GLOBAL HEAD OF MARKETING

Alexis Willems

Alexis Willems

GLOBAL HEAD OF STRATEGIC ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

Agnieszka Cebrat

Agnieszka Cebrat

GLOBAL HEAD OF ASSESSMENT AND RECOGNITION

Samuli Pruikkonen

Samuli Pruikkonen

EFQM MODEL EXPERT

Louise Myall

Louise Myall

GLOBAL HEAD OF MEMBERSHIP

Salman Viralipurath

Salman Viralipurath

UAE ACCOUNT DIRECTOR

Diya Nasereddin

Diya Nasereddin

KSA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Kurt Vandormael

Kurt Vandormael

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT AND ICT MANAGER

Sofie Deroost

Sofie Deroost

ASSISTANT ACCOUNTANT AND TRAINING CO-ORDINATOR

Catalina Martinez

Catalina Martinez

RECOGNITION AND MEMBERSHIP ADMINISTRATOR

Abayan Arunan

Abayan Arunan

BUSINESS ANALYST

David Imiruaye

David Imiruaye

LEARNING ANALYST

EFQM ASSOCIATES

Geoff Carter

Geoff Carter

PRODUCT ADVISOR

Ann Pike

Ann Pike

CHAIR, EFQM SCOTLAND

Jumana Sayyed

Jumana Sayyed

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT EXPERT

Ola Mubaydeen

Ola Mubaydeen

EXCELLENCE ADVISOR

History

The European Foundation for Quality Management, EFQM, was founded in October 1989 when the CEO/Presidents of 67 European companies subscribed to our Policy Document and declared their commitment to achieving EFQM mission and vision.

The Foundation set up a team of experts, from industry and academia, to develop the EFQM Excellence Model, a holistic framework that can be applied to any organisation, regardless of size or sector. This was first used to support the assessment of organisations in the European Quality Award in 1992.

Over the last 30 years, we have seen many changes. The Model has adapted and evolved over time to reflect changes in the global market place.Hundreds of organisations, from both the public and private sector, have participated in the EFQM Excellence Awards, including Robert Bosch, BMW, VW, Xerox, Ricoh, Grundfos, Philips, EDF, as well as small less known organisations.

One thing that has not changed is our objective: to increase the competitiveness and effectiveness of all organisations in a sustainable way. We remain an independent, not-for-profit foundation; committed to supporting our customers in their journey of becoming the best organisation they can be and, in turn, improving their communities and society. Our focus is international, and we have offices in Brussels, London and Dubai and partners from Columbia to China. Our methods and models are translated into more than 30 languages and welcome the opportunity to support all organisations across more than 40 countries.

Our founders

On 15th September 1988, 14 European Business Leaders met with Jacques Delors and signed a “Letter of Intent” to form a European Foundation dedicated to increasing the competitiveness of European businesses.

The 14 CEOs were (pictured from left to right):

  • Umberto Agnelli – Fiat Auto SpA
  • Carlo De Benedetti – Ing. C. Ollivetti & C., SpA
  • Carl Horst Hahn – Volkswagen AG
  • A. Scharp – AB Electrolux
  • Jan F.A. de Soet – Koninklijke Luchvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM)
  • Cornelis Johannes van der Klugt – N.V. Philips’ Gloeilampenfabrieken
  • Serge Dassault – Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation
  • Heini Lippuner – Ciba-Geigy AG
  • Raymond H. Lévy – Régie Nationale des Usines Renault
  • Francis Lorentz – Bull SA
  • Konrad Eckert – Robert Bosch GmbH (attending on behalf of Marcus Bierich)
  • Iain David Thomas Vallance – British Telecommunications plc
  • Fritz Fahrni – Gebr. Sulzer AG
  • R. Morf – Nestlé SA (attending on behalf of Helmut Oswald Maucher)

Trusted by the world’s leading companies