ESN is a membership organisation with a transparent financial and governance structure.

The ESN Board is non-political and is composed of representatives of ESN Members which are national or regional professional associations of directors of social services. As Secretary, the ESN Director, manages the secretariat, and is accountable to the Board. The Board is responsible for overall ESN direction and financial stability.

The Board meets twice per year and at the Annual General Meeting, it elects the Chair and Treasurer and approves the annual report and accounts.

Officers (left to right) : Christian Fillet, John Halloran, Lars-Göran Jansson

Lars-Göran Jansson, Chair

Lars-Göran helped to found ESN in 1998 and has been its Chair since its inception. He was a director of social services in Sweden for many years and now manages a regional network for directors and managers of social services in West Sweden. He is secretary of the Swedish Directors Association.

Christian Fillet, Treasurer

Christian has been ESN Treasurer since 2005.  He is director of social and health services in the municipality of Willebroek in Belgium. He specializes in non-profit management, accounting and social law. He is member of the board of the Flemish Directors Association.

John Halloran, Director

John helped to found ESN in 1998, having established the first European Social Services Conference in 1993. He has been Director of ESN for ten years and previously worked in social service management in France and England. Earlier he worked as an advisor to various local authorities, government departments and NGOs in the UK and internationally. He was particularly involved in the shift to health and social care commissioning of community care in the UK.