about us

Governance

THE COMPANIES ACTS 1985 AND 2006

Constitution

ifpa team

Board Of Trustees

The IFPA Board of Trustees consists of a Chairperson, Treasurer and up to nine other trustees, working together with an independent Company Secretary. In addition to being fully qualified aromatherapists and members of the IFPA, many of the trustees each bring their own skills in business and industry to the board. Three spaces on the board are reserved for ‘Lay members’, who are not members of the IFPA.

Being on the IFPA Board of Directors is a voluntary task. Board meetings take place once every two months. Each trustee is allocated to a committee, according to their skillset, which meets in between and reports back to the wider board at the Board meeting.

how to become a trustee

Application Process

Although any member may apply to be a trustee, the Board will adopt a selection process for candidates, based upon IFPA’s strategic direction and the ‘best fit’ skill sets offered by prospective candidates.

Approximately three months before the Annual General Meeting, the current board will communicate candidate criteria to the general membership, inviting applications from members who fit the criteria for that year. Applications will be evaluated through an interview process, after which the board will select the best fit candidates and ballot the members with the view to appointing the candidates selected.

the board of directors

The IFPA Directors

Jane Court

Treasurer
Jane Court is an accomplished Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA), who demonstrates strong financial expertise, combined with commercial awareness. To bring balance into her life, over several years Jane gained experience and qualifications in a variety of holistic therapies, including Aromatherapy and became a full member of IFPA in 2007. Jane is passionate about the use of complementary therapies in the pursuit of improved wellbeing and lifestyle and enjoys sharing her knowledge and the benefits with others to promote awareness. Jane is also a Trustee and Treasurer of the British Society of Dowsers (BSD).

Russell Morrice

Appointed Company Secretary
Russell Morrice MSc,FCIS,IRM Cert is an experienced senior executive with over 20 years’ involvement in professional body management. Russell qualified as a corporate governance professional, specialising in the development and implementation of corporate governance strategies for membership bodies, with particularly reference to chartered corporations. A qualified risk manager, he has over 10 years’ experience of developing and implementing risk management structures within complex organisations. Russell has worked as a company secretary for the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and its commercial subsidiaries, and at director level in strategic development and operations, including business continuity, office relocation, facilities management and human resources, as well as education management, professional standards, and complaints and disciplinary processes.
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Christine Courtney

Chair
Christine Courtney has over 40 years’ experience in business and was a company director of a major Irish stationery company for 20 years, with numerous responsibilities in that role including sales management, purchasing and staff welfare. She is currently Managing Director of Obus Limited, and Principal Tutor of Obus School of Healing Therapies. She brings an abundance of skills to her role on the Board including marketing, staff management and forward planning and project management.
Lady with brown hair wearing white collared shirt

Nicole Bou Khalil

Trustee
Dr Nicole Bou Khalil is a registered pharmacist and earned her doctoral degree in Pharmacy from the Pharmacy School at the Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, and her Master’s in Public Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the Lebanese University in Beirut, Lebanon. She also holds additional qualifications in Phytotherapy, Aromatherapy and Medicinal Plants, Scientific and Medical aromatherapy, and underwent advanced courses in clinical aromatherapy and aromatherapy for cancer care. Nicole introduced clinical aromatherapy services in Lebanon to a tertiary care university center and trained the healthcare team and the nurses. She currently collaborates with physicians and integrative clinics in Beirut to provide aromatherapy services as a complementary approach, where patients can receive aromatherapy blends alongside their treatment and medications. She says: “I am honoured and privileged to have the opportunity to share my knowledge, my skills, my commitment and passion, and to work alongside other esteemed board members to advance IFPA interests and to serve aromatherapy worldwide”.
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Louise Carta

Trustee
Louise Carta has been involved in the aromatherapy industry since 1994, having trained at an IFPA-accredited school and worked as an aromatherapist, before moving on to become a tutor and then an IFPA Principal Tutor and examiner. In 2010 Louise founded The Aromatherapy Company, an IFPA-accredited school strongly committed to the ethos of Excellence in Education. She believes that good educational standards should be maintained by close monitoring and sharing of information with schools and members. Louise has served on the IFPA Board previously and has had the pleasure of working with equally passionate Trustees. She holds the firm belief that the growth of IFPA membership, as well as the support of its members, needs to be of the same focus and standard both nationally and internationally – and that through mutual support we can grow and learn from each other for the benefit of clinical aromatherapy worldwide.

Debbie Moore

Trustee
Debbie Moore qualified as a Beauty Therapist in 1986 and entered employment with Shirley Price Aromatherapy, where she qualified as an Aromatherapist in 1987. She was the resident aromatherapy practitioner additionally offering Shirley Price’s newly-devised Swiss Reflex treatment. She also became the in-house examiner, applying high quality standards. In 2003 Debbie started to work with Shirley’s daughter Penny at her school, where she gained a teaching certificate and taught extensively. In 2016 Debbie established Tranquil Heart Academy, which became an IFPA accredited CPD centre and later an IFPA accredited training provider offering clinical aromatherapy. Debbie continues to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for all things aromatherapy and plant-based, offering residential courses and workshops in the Limousin, France. Debbie has been a member and has supported IFPA for many years and recognises the work it has done to maintain its standards as a leading aromatherapy association.

Sunita Teckchand

Trustee
Sunita Teckchand THI, MIFPA is the Principal Tutor of The Holistic Institute, which was established in Dubai UAE in 2010, and has been teaching and practising Clinical Aromatherapy since 1997.   After completing Clinical Aromatherapy, her studies took her to Clinical Reflexology, Kinesiology (Touch for Health), Clinical Hypnotherapy, Master NLP Practitioner, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, The Art of Jin Shin Jyutsu Healing, Manual Lymphatic Drainage and multiple levels of Therapeutic Massage training. Sunita has given lectures and courses in alternative therapies in Dubai, London and Hong Kong with her focus on Clinical Aromatherapy. After moving from Hong Kong in 1997 to the UAE, she was the first person to open an Aromatherapy Centre in 1999 and challenged the health authorities that men and women should be treated equally, which she achieved. She has studied with Dr. Brian Weiss, Greg Braden and Anita Moorjani, to name a few and continues her path forward, educating like-minded people about the effects of Alternative and Complementary Therapies. At present Sunita is re-vamping the IFPA curriculum to fit into the schedule of students that are keen to qualify in this field, with some online (distance) learning and practical hands-on skills in person. Later she plans to translate the syllabus into Arabic so she can target the audience in Arab speaking countries.   She believes in a well-rounded approach to health and so emphasis on both western and eastern sciences, and the art of natural healing. Sunita currently runs the Holistic Alternatives, based in Dubai and offers a range of Aromatherapy courses.

Robin Kessler

Trustee
Robin is a clinical aromatherapist and for over 10 years, her speciality has been working with those in hospice, offering palliative and pain management care using aromatherapy, particularly essential oils, and frankincense resins. She decided to study frankincense resins to further her knowledge and increase her ability to help those who would benefit from it. She has written a book called “Frankincense Resins, The Journey and Beyond” to help those who are new to resins and how they can be used in their aromatherapy practice. She has written many articles for several different magazines describing aromatherapy in a hospice setting and also on resins. Robin is a Professional Continuing Education provider and runs courses on aromatherapy for hospice care in the US and also how to use frankincense resins. Robin is a Full member of IFPA and is the chairwoman for the Informal US Regional group which meets monthly with fellow IFPA aromatherapists. She is also a clinical member of NAHA, a professional and business member of AIA and a business supporter for Airmid Institute. She is also a member of Plant Savers. "I am honoured to be a part of IFPA and now a member of the Board of Trustees. I hope we can work together to bring those in the US a better understanding of what IFPA is about and to share my knowledge and the skills I have managed to acquire over the years and bring them to my fellow colleagues on the Board of Trustees."

Tomoyo Nozaki

Trustee
Tomoyo qualified as a clinical aromatherapist in 2012 and has been providing her services as a complementary therapist for more than 20 years spending nearly seven years of her life in London. In London, she worked with clinics, studied, provided aromatherapy and other complementary therapies, whilst also certifying as a Temprana Reflex therapist (a therapy especially for children with brain disorders), among other modalities. Tomoyo has garnered extensive tuition from experts in the field and has experience in many countries including the UK, Spain, Denmark, and Japan. She is also an overseas ambassador for the Story Massage Programme in the UK. Tomoyo now works in Japan giving aromatherapy and complementary treatments at luxury hotels, provides mobile visits to clients and children with special needs and spends a lot of her time doing what she is most passionate about, namely working at a hospital for children with severe mental and physical disabilities. Tomoyo has also been running workshops in aromatherapy and various Japanese complementary systems for many years and is also a keen volunteer and organiser of activities and charity workshops for victims of the Tsunami at the Great East Japan Earthquake. She draws from her extensive experience in creating balance and healing through natural systems and has dedicated her life to supporting families with her complementary therapies specialisation.

Raquel Costa

Trustee
Raquel originally graduated in Economics but fell in love with aromatherapy and integrative medicine 25 years ago. She has completed several courses in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), aromatherapy, and manual massage techniques. In 2012 she entered the University of Medicine of Porto – ICBAS, where she specialised in TCM and published several scientific articles. Raquel went on to complete several university post-graduate courses in the areas of aromatherapy, TCM, and Ozone, and now, she practices integrative medicine in her clinic in Portugal. Raquel founded her own school in 2009, which is accredited by IFPA. She is the founder and president of APA - Associação Portuguesa de Aromaterapia and mentor of the Hospital do Sorriso volunteer project. “Aromatherapy is my life”.

Charlotte Nørgaard

Trustee
Charlotte is the happy mother of a 30-year-old son and lives by herself in a small village in Denmark. She took early retirement due to a lifelong disability. Despite her disability, Charlotte lives a happy and inspiring life. Before she retired, she was a teacher in a public school. Charlotte is now a dedicated aromatherapy student, currently studying as a clinical aromatherapist with Essence of Thyme College of Holistic Studies. Charlotte’s goal is to raise awareness and promote the safe and sustainable education and practice of aromatherapy in Denmark. She believes that with her teaching background and life experiences, she can offer a broad range of skills to support the IFPA Board of Trustees.

Yee Nga Wong

Trustee
Yee Nga Wong, based in Hong Kong is a qualified aromatherapists as well as an accountant. Yee Nga hopes that her accounting with compliance knowledge and experience will contribute to IFPA and aromatherapy, and this will be further promoted. Yee Nga has conducted compliance audits on businesses in Hong Kong, Macao, the PRC mainland. Provided the audit service covered listed on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Market companies which in food and beverage, media and entertainment, financial services and properties management, IPO, private companies which in leatherware production and trading, semiconductor trading and properties management, association, securities funds and school. Yee Nga has knowledge of legal and regulatory requirements, understanding of fiduciary duties, and familiarity with regulatory best practices.

Get in touch with the IFPA Board of Directors

IFPA Committees

Committees

IFPA trustees are invited to join one or more committees, as befits their skillsets and experience. Currently we have three committees

Each committee meets on a regular basis to action the board’s annual strategy. We also welcome the help, support and expertise of volunteers from the wider membership. If you would like to be involved, please contact the IFPA office.

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Fellows and Honorary Members

The IFPA Fellowship rewards those who have shown exceptional dedication to the IFPA. Honorary membership is offered to those who have made outstanding contributions to the field of Aromatherapy.

Current Fellows of the IFPA

Honorary Members of the IFPA

Volunteers

The IFPA always welcomes voluntary assistance from members. Whether it is helping to arrange or man events, communicate information, conduct research, write articles, or host regional groups, we appreciate the strength, reach and diversity of our membership.

If you would be interested in volunteering, please contact the IFPA Office.