Director Aviana Bulgarelli left Cedefop on 15 October 2010, the end of her present mandate. Deputy Director Christian Lettmayr has been appointed Acting Director.

In an interview published in Cedefop’s newsletter, Ms Bulgarelli says that she decided to decline the European Commission’s offer of a second five-year term as Director. She will now return to Rome to head ISFOL, the Italian agency for vocational education and training, employment, and social policy.

Speaking at the meeting of the EU Directors General for Vocational Training on 20 September, Jan Truszczyński, Director General of DG Education and Culture, said that in the past five years Ms Bulgarelli had made an outstanding contribution not just to Cedefop but to the advancement of vocational education and training in Europe.

Governing Board Chair Peter Kreiml also praised Ms Bulgarelli’s performance. "Over the past five years", he said, "Cedefop’s management greatly improved the profile of the agency, placing it at the centre of the European social policy-making agenda. Just as important, Ms Bulgarelli focused equally on securing financial stability for the agency and transparency in its administrative procedures. In this, she always worked closely with the Governing Board, Court of Auditors and European Commission services."

Ms Bulgarelli thanked the Governing Board, management team and staff for their support and commitment over the years. She said she was especially proud of the inclusion of Cedefop’s data on skills in policy initiatives such as New Skills for New Jobs; of Cedefop’s contribution to the development of tools such as the European Qualification Framework and Europass; and of the integration of the agency’s conceptual and analytical work into the Europe 2020 strategy. This reason for this success, she emphasised, is that "Cedefop is providing solid evidence to stakeholders" through the work of its experts, "who are the best in Europe".

The new Acting Director, Christian Lettmayr (Austria, 1951), was appointed Deputy Director of Cedefop in April 2005. He had previously worked the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry (2001-2005). From 1994 to 2001 he was Director of the Austrian Institute for Small Business Research (KMU Forschung Austria) in Vienna. He will take up his new duties on 16 October.

InfoNet: Interview with Aviana Bulgarelli see link