FRAPA appoints new managing director, general manager
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 04 February 2022
In a move that the company says reflects association’s growing scale and scope, positioning itself to meet the challenges of current global formats market, FRAPA, the Format Recognition and Protection Association, has announced a management re-organisation.

FRapa EricKafoe. 4Feb2022Established in 2000 by a group of key industry professionals, FRAPA represents numerous companies from across the television and broadcast industry. Its members include format creators, producers, distributors and broadcasters. Key services include registering format proposals; providing consultation in disputes arising out of claims of format plagiarism; creating guidelines for fair competition; and educating the industry and the law regarding the protection of formats.

FRAPA’s growing membership now includes format power players such as BBC Studios, ITV Studios and KOCCA (Korea Creative Content Agency) and means that the association’s back-office admin is becoming increasingly complex.

The new moves will see as of this month, Eric Kafoe (pictured) serving as the association’s managing director, Kafoe joined FRAPA in 2020 to manage events, communications and marketing, bringing with him a wide range of skills built up over 20 years on the front line of the formats industry. In addition, long-time FRAPA administrator Bianca Rootsaert will take on the role of general manager, responsible for compliance, governance, and legal and regulatory issues.

Commenting on the appointments, FRAPA co-chair Phil Gurin said: “It’s also increasingly important, as an organisation that operates in the grey zone of IP protection, that FRAPA’s compliance is beyond reproach. This is Bianca’s forté — nobody knows better what a not-for-profit can and can’t do. With Eric’s understanding of the TV industry and Bianca’s legal expertise, FRAPA has all the in-house skills it needs to move up to the next level.”

FRAPA co-chair Jan Salling, head of BBC Studios Nordics Productions, added: “As a well-liked, respected and experienced TV-industry professional, Eric’s the perfect person to steer FRAPA into the future. Thanks to market fragmentation, consolidation and digital disruption, the global format industry’s terms of trade are changing almost by the week. The board, all of whom have busy day jobs, realised that we needed a dedicated TV-industry insider to help us navigate these challenges and keep FRAPA relevant and influential. Erik ticks all the boxes.”