Speakers & Master of Cerimony

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Alessandra Gage – Pathway Level 3 (SPQRs Club – Rome, Italy)

Alessandra is an enthusiastic change-maker with a passion for international development and experiential education. She works as an international development professional at the UN with a background in environmental policy and planning, project management and coordination, and citizen engagement. Over the past 15 years, she has accepted leadership roles with increasing levels of responsibility, primarily in sports management, as well as the professional realm. Negotiating is critical to Alessandra’s work, and she recently accepted the challenge of mentoring colleagues to develop their own capacity for successful negotiation.. If not working, travelling, or diving into a Toastmasters challenge, Alessandra can be found playing music, acting, or exploring and hiking in the countryside.

 

 

 

 

Anne Topenot – CC CL, ALB (Toastmasters Nice – Nice, France)

Anne has served as Sergeant at Arms, VP Public relations, Vice President education and is today president of Toastmasters Sophia Antiplois. She has spent 10 years as a corporate trainer in technical English (catering, hospitality, IT, management), 8 years training youth , 3 years coaching managers in public speaking and 3 years facilitating events. French with quite a few years of experience living in the USA, Anne lives in Nice and explores the Art of communication, leadership and networking at all levels in her private and professional life.

 

 

 

 

Carol Bausor – ACG ALB, District 59 Toastmaster of the Year 2011 (Toastmasters of Paris – France  and  Toasmasters Unlimited – Lyon, France)

Carol has served as President, VP Education, VP Membership, Treasurer and District Corporate Club Extension Manager. She has been a Toastmaster since 2010.  She is a self-confessed “big mouth,” who has learned—and is still learning—how to zip it. As she owned up in her winning 2017 speech in Winterthur, benevolence does not always come easy to her. But her constant good humour, positive attitude, studies in psychology and long experience as a professional trainer all contribute to her excitement in conducting this out-of-the-box, far-reaching workshop, aimed at helping Toastmasters who wish to extend their range.

 

 

 

Kate Parvis – ACB CL, Triple Crown 2018 (Expressions Toastmasters Club – Paris, France)

Kate Parvis is the ALLeGRO Education Chair. That’s a mighty big, rockin’ chair! Kate and the Education Committee have been working hard for months to give you a diversified and entertaining TLI educational program for this first-time-ever event. American-born, married for 30 years to a wonderful Frenchman, with a 21-year-old son, Kate has lived abroad for the past 35 years, including two years in Japan, but for the most part near Paris, France.
She’s a conference-interpreter-turned-real-estate-investor, and is now mentoring women who want to achieve financial independence through real estate. She joined TM two years ago and is currently Assistant Program Quality Director and Pathways Coordinator for Division A, D59. An active Toastmaster, Kate has often been on the podium in both French and English speech contests (humorous, inspirational and table topics) in her area and division. She has served as VP Public Relations and Sergeant-At-Arms.

 

 

Katia Burdet – DTM, Triple crown 2018 (Toastmasters Torino – Turin, Italy)

Toastmasters from 2012 , she was VPE, President and Secretary in Turin.  VPPR and VPE in Radiant Rhetoric. Sponsor and President in Trucks and Tricks. Pathway guide. In professional life I’m Purchasing Responsible of  Giobert. Product Cost Responsible in CNH 2011-2017. Purchasing Manager in Alstom 2009-2010. She is a IPMA Project Management Certification

 

 

 

Kyle P. Bulus – CC, CL  District 59 Evaluator 2017, 3rd place ()

Kyle has served as VP Public Relations and Treasurer. 30 years of training experience.

An independent communication trainer with international experience, coaching executives and leading group training.

Kyle gained marketing, communication, recruitment and management experience  in England, USA, France, India and Switzerland. His business communication work includes presentation coaching, and email and telephone training. Extensive communication and language experience, investment work and his commercial background, make Kyle ideally qualified to offer you specialist business communication coaching.

 

 

 

Lerio Cunha – CC, VP Public Relations (Lisbon TM Club – Lisbon, Portugal )

Lerio was born and raised in Mozambique. In 2010 he moved to Portugal, where he graduated. Lerio holds a  Bachelor in Adventure Tourism and Events Management and a Masters in Human Resources Management. He is a soft skills Trainer since 2014 and in his workshops and training he uses Non-Formal Education methods. In 2015, he moved to Berlin to do his Masters Thesis. Now he is back in Lisbon and since March 2017 he has been running a freelancing business: Lerio Coaching. Lerio was one of the finalists at the International Speech Contest in Winterthur last year at District level. For more information about Lerio here it is his  website: leriocoaching.com

 

 

Lilian Shaftacola – DTM, Triple Crown 2018 (Crusaders – Nicosia, Cyprus)

Lilian is currently living in Cyprus, however she spent almost a decade in the U.S. where she obtained degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Quantitative Finance. She is now working in the banking industry as a Credit Risk Manager but, being a huge fan of Toastmasters, always finds the time to take on yet more duties in support of the organisation and its members. In fact, she is on a mission to make as many people as possible appreciate Toastmasters the way she does! Lilian has been a member of the Nicosia Crusaders Club since 2000, while last year she acted as a sponsor to the newly-chartered SuperSpeakers Club. She is currently serving as the Administration Manager of District 109

 

 

Lorenzo Gios – Division A Director  2017-2018 District 109 (Verona Toastmasters – Verona, Italy)

By profession I’m an Industrial Engineer with experience in process improvement, cultural change, project management and training.

I started my TM journey in 2014 when I was living in Munich. Since them I have held different leadership positions in clubs, last year I was Area Director and currently Division Director in Italy.

Passionate of diversity, travelling and building dreams together!

 

 

Manie Conradie – ACB ALB, PQD District excellence (Toastmasters Gent – Gent, Belgium)

Manie has served on all district levels in multiple positions, in two districts. Serving as D59 Program Quality Director for the 2015-2016 term, receiving the Toastmasters International  “Excellence in program quality” award. A passionate Toastmaster and professional robotics engineer, Manie is taking his speaking skills to the next level. He has a passion for the human side of engineering and leadership. He runs marathons and participates in Triathlons.

 

 

Markus Kuenkel – DTM, District Director 2016-17 (Top Notch Toastmasters Zurich – Zurich, Switzerland)

Markus has served as President, VP Education, VP Membership, VP Public Relations, Treasurer, Sergeant-At-Arms, Secretary, and District Director. After 35 years as a urological surgeon, rather than retiring, Markus set up a coaching and mentoring business to pass on his experience to others. His Toastmasters experience laid the groundwork for this huge leap. At Toastmasters, Markus not only learned about the foundations of leadership, but was able to practice it from club through district level. He then applied these new skills in his day-to-day work. “It’s obvious that you have received special communication and leadership training, Markus,” a senior colleague commented recently. Remarks like these empower him to reach for the top!

 

Oliver Hauss – ACB, ALB (Mannheim International Toastmasters Club – Mannheim, Germany)

Area contest Winner of the 2014 District 59 – F2 International Speech Contest. Oliver has served as President, VP Education, and Sergeant-At-Arms as well as Area Director. Within the scope of his professional activities, he has facilitated many workshops and presentations in German and English in biomedical science, statistics and medical diagnostics working in the diagnostics industry for five years. He’s now a freelance trainer and consultant for the healthcare industry and this September, he received official certification as a trainer by the Chamber of Commerce of Mannheim, Germany.

 

 

Paulina Obando – CC, Sergeant-At-Arms (Toastmasters Roma club – Rome, Italy)

Paulina Obando is trainer, speaker, presenter and author of the book “Il Volo del Colibrì”, “The flight of the hummingbird”. At the age of 21 she moved from Ecuador to Rome, looking for a job. Paulina had a degree as a tourist guide and she actually speaks three languages: Spanish, English and Italian. She started her journey with a very humble job. Step by step, with patience, humility, tenacity and with a strong motivation she faced difficulties, finding again the confidence in herself. Paulina really thinks that “By managing the moments of difficulty better and having greater control of thoughts, feelings and actions, people can make their dreams come true”.

 

 

 

Percy Roland – ACS, CL (Achievers Club – Nueva Andalucia_Marbella, Spain)

With a part-German, part-Spanish background, born in Austria, and brought up in an English-speaking bubble in the international resort city of Marbella, he struggles to decide which is his first language. He frequently flips from one to another in his daily work as a luxury real estate agent, speaking German with Iranians, Spanish with Russians and English with Arabs. His Toastmasters career has taken him to various contests, so far culminating in a ‘sweet’ victory in Table Topics at the District 59 Fall Conference 2015 in Amsterdam. Apart from public speaking, he enjoys art, writing, jazz and classical music, and above all, travel. He has been on various modes of transport but is a cruise-virgin and sometimes prone to seasickness, so if you see him pop any pills before the workshop, don’t be alarmed….it is not a dodgy Marbella habit!

 

Prince Motiani – DTM (Amazing Speakers – Luxembourg )

Prince has served as President, VP Education, VP Membership, VP Public Relations, and Secretary. Prince is a TEDx speaker coach.

Now PM is back in da house! For those of you who were in Florence, you saw him deliver a workshop on Debate, in Milan, he shared his knowledge about humour and in Athens, he was the Education and Contest Chair for District 59, assisted by Alleen Andreou and co-chaired by Naomi Carrington of District 95. This meant a lot of negotiations, debate and tons more of fun and learning.

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Johnstone – DTM (Toastmasters 75 – Paris, France)

Rob is is a software engineer, and has been a Toastmaster since 2009.

He began at Toastmasters in Australia, quickly becoming Sergeant-at-Arms before he even knew what that was! Since then, he has been an officer most years, including VPEd three times, President twice and an Area Director. When not in Toastmasters or at work, he enjoys running, cycling and traveling.

 

 

 

Sarah Johanna Dejaegher – CC (The Brussels Toastmasters Club – Brussels, Belgium)

Sarah Johanna is the VP Education of the Brussels Toastmasters Club. Over the past decade, she has held various communication functions, notably with regard to youth NGOs. She currently works as a social media expert for the Flemish government, where she creates strategic content for its innovation and entrepreneurship policies. In April 2015, she joined Toastmasters to explore her passion for bringing inspiring stories, often focusing her speeches on the intersection between classical philosophy and digital culture. She is now venturing into freelance work as a speechwriter, to create content that is as engaging for real-time audiences, and as it is in its virtual (eternal) afterlife.

 

 

Todd Buell – CC, ALB VP Public Relations ()
Area Director, Area F4, District 2017-2018, and has also served as President and VP Membership. Todd is an American citizen who has lived in Europe for nearly all of the last fifteen years, first in Austria, then 12 years in Germany and since April, in Belgium. He has worked as a journalist for almost 10 years, writing about monetary policy in Frankfurt and now tax policy in Brussels. He joined Toastmasters in 2015 to gain confidence in work and daily life. Last year, he spoke at a professional event before 200 guests in Frankfurt’s City Hall after Toastmasters colleagues gave him great tips on how to speak with authority and poise. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, reading, music and the occasional long walk along the sea.

 

 

Tulia Lopes – (Top Notch Toastmasters – Zurich, Switzerland)

Tullia is Brazilian but she lives in Switzerland. She is a multifaceted entrepreneur, public speaker, a natural leader, and very active member of Toastmasters International since 2009. Author of  “Leading in high heels”.

 

 

 

 

Turan Tanin – Club President 2017-2018 (Navigli District Toastmasters – Milan, Italy)

Toastmaster since March 2017, past president of Navigli District Club in Milan, Turan is currently Project Manager for Division A. Born in Turkey, he grew up between Istanbul and Detroit and settled in Milan where he currently lives. He holds an engineering degree in electronics and passed the PMP (Project Management Professional) certification in 2004. He tries to offset the hard skills through his interests and practice in NLP, Coaching and Mentoring.

 

 

 

Zsuzsanna Corridori – DTM, District Champion in Italian Humorous Speech (Aperitivo Toastmasters – Brussels, Belgium)

She is a marketing manager by day and Toastmaster by night. She is a member of four clubs (an English dinner club, and Italian club, a French club and an advanced club) and she currently serves as Pathways Coordinator in District 59, Division B.

 

 

 

Master of Cerimony

Day 2

 

 

 

Bigi Vitolic Koblet ( Turicum Toastmasters club – Zürich

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Kaiser (Toastmasters Baden – Baden, Germany)

 

 

 

Day 3

 

Beatrice Anton – (International Geneva Toastmasters ClubGeneva, Switzerland)

 

 

 

 

Bea Bincze DTM, ACC, District 110 Director (Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine)

(Skylarks Toastmasters Club  – Budapest, Hungary)