IPAF CEO hails successful 2024

Peter Douglas, the CEO of IPAF, hailed a successful 2024 for the organisation at its AGM in Dublin, held during the IPAF Summit and IAPA awards event.

He said the organisation expanded its membership by 121 members to 1,818 during the year and the number of people completing IPAF training in 2024 rose by 6.9% to 230,370 people.

Peter Douglas, IPAF CEO, speaking at the IPAF Summit in Dublin. (Photo: KHL)

The growth was even higher outside of the UK, increasing by 13.6% and now representing 35% of all applications.

“There was significant year-on-year membership growth outside the UK”, said Douglas, “China saw an increase of 16 members, an increase of 30%, and Ireland saw a growth of membership from 61 to 74 members.

“IPAF also expanded into two new countries, Paraguay and Serbia, ending the year with a presence in 82 countries around the world”, said Douglas, “In 2024, 60 new training centres joined IPAF, bringing the total to 676, a 5.5% increase, with 88% actively conducting training over the past 12 months.“

The association also added nine new members in the GCC, comprising five in the UAE, three in Saudi Arabia and one in Qatar.

IPAF training is now delivered in 62 territories around the world with new centers opening in Hungary, Paraguay, and Taiwan.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all IPAF members, but particularly our sustaining members who go above and beyond the support of the IPAF mission,” Douglas added.

He also paid tribute to the 520 individuals who work as volunteers on committees, work groups, regional councils, and the board and council.

Karel Huijser, IPAF president, said 2025 could see several landmarks; “One of the key measures that Peter and the team have is to ensure that more than 50% of IPAF income is generated outside the UK. This is now 49% and we expect to go through this barrier and beyond 51% during 2025, which will be the first time in IPAF’s history that this has been achieved.”

Huijser added that 2025 could also see reaching 1 million valid PAL cards, and 1 million downloads of the ePAL cards.