Rafael has been appointed President of EFPI in November 2006. He is the General Manager of Euro Covering, sl. He has extensive knowledge of the parquet industry having worked for over 16 years in the wood sector.
He began his career at Instalpark, sl and Trading park, sl (wood floors distribution) in 1992 as General Manager. Over 7 years he became member of ACIP and FEPM board (Spanish federation of parquet industry).Finally he joined Euro Covering, sl, where he has been General Manager since 2003.
Rafael studied Business Administration and obtained a Master's degree at the E.S.A.D.E. in 1990.

Ruud has been appointed Vice-President of EFPI in November 2005.
He is the Director of Corporate Buying of Fetim B.V.
Ruud has an outstanding knowledge of the parquet industry having worked for over 30 years in the wood sector.
He began his career as a buying importer of tools in Amsterdam, where he worked for six years and joined Fetim B.V. in 1975, where he started as a buyer.
Ruud has been Director of Corporate Buying of Fetim B.V. from 1988 and he is responsible for strategic purchases as well as for managing the wooden flooring business.
Ruud is Dutch and he speaks Dutch, English, German and French.

Valeria has been appointed Secretary General of EFPI in November 2005.
She is a Public Affairs consultant specialised in EU policies and works for Interel Public Relations & Public Affairs, leading the team responsible for managing the EFPI secretariat in Brussels.
Valeria joined Interel in June 2001 as a consultant working primarily on issues regarding EU Competition and Internal Market policies. She now manages the Consumer goods and Services practice which provides public affairs and association management services to a wide range of coalitions and associations.
She acquired several years of experience in Public Affairs from work in the European Commission, where she spent time in the Cabinet of Commissioner Mario Monti. Valeria also previously worked as a consultant with Edelman Public Affairs in Brussels, where she principally worked on EU competition cases and Internal Market-related legislation and extended her experience of EU media relations.
Valeria has a Master's degree in European Political and Administrative studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, and an International Political Science degree. Valeria is an occasional lecturer on EU lobbying at seminars organised by the European Training Centre in Brussels, and a Master on EU affairs.
Valeria is Italian and she speaks Italian, English, French, and has a good working knowledge of Spanish

The European Federation of Parquet Importers (EFPI) is a Brussels-based association of leading European importers of engineered and solid wood floorings. EFPI was set up in June 2005 as a non-for-profit organisation by eight founding members and now counts nine members including EUPARAL (Union of Parquet Importers), an international association of parquet importers and distributors.

European Flooring Market