The new executive of  WONASA for period 2015 - 17 has been formed.  While President is from Finland, three Vice Presidents are from Brazil, Egypt and India. 

 

Heikki Palin

President

Heikki Palin, Managing Director of Palin Granit Qy is not only the present  President of WONASA (2015-17) but also its Founding Member and also holds  the   position of President, Quarrying Committee of the Finnish Natural Stone Association 2001.  Further he is  Vice President  of Finnish Natural Stone Association.  He has also served Finnish Natural Stone Association as its President and Board Member in the past.   

 

Paulo Florio Giafarov Vice President 

A graduate in Chemical Engineering and Building Construction, he is also president of DGG ASSESSORIA LTDA - a Stone Consultancy Company, Member of  ABNT - Brtazilian Association of Technical Standards, Member of  Marble Institute of America and Technical Advisor of Magazines - Rochas de Qualidade, Litos and Rochas e Equipamentos.  He has also been speaker at  various trade fairs at Xiamen, Orlando, Moscow and Vitoria.

 

Karen Abdalla

Vice President 

A graduate in Business Management and Administration from American University in Cairo, she is Business Development Manager of Marmonil.  She is in the stone industry for the last 9 years. Her passion for stone began at the childhood as her family concern Marmonil, Egypt's largest vertically integrated stone manufacturer, has already been in stone trade.  She has attended INSEAD in France and is credited with being the youngest and the only female member  on the Executive Committee of MGS, Egypt's stone chamber.

 

Sunil K. Arora

Vice President 

Sunil K. Arora is the Promoter and Managing Director of Aro Granite Industries Ltd, Hosur, India, a 100% Export Oriented Unit established in 1990. In 2000 he set up a new state-of-the-art plant to process Modular Granite Tiles and Random Gangsaw slabs. Aro Granite was the first to be located in Hosur, which has become the Granite Belt of India. A pioneer in Indian Granite Processing Aro processes Granites from around the world.

 

“During my presidency we will focus on promoting the advantages of natural stone as well as to increase its use in the world. The main priority is to increase the knowledge around the material through active marketing. In addition to this WONASA regularly organizes seminars for architects and encourages young architects to utilize natural stone through yearly architectural competitions.  The competition organized by WONASA among students of architecture on "Creative Use of Natural Stone" in the Czech Republic announced two winners.  The First Prize was won by Jan Tesar, a Doctorate student in the Faculty of Architecture CTU in Prague, for his project "Centre for Prague 7" while the Second Prize was won by Tomas Livnansky, a student of the Faculty of Architecture CTU in Prague, for his project "City Hall for Prague 10”. Such competitions shall be organized in India in 2016”, says Heikki Palin.

 

WONASA is an international association of natural stone professionals with over 50 member organizations from all over the world.