A Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) is an inspiring leader and an exceptional communicator who has earned Toastmasters’ highest honor through dedication, personal growth, and service to others. This prestigious award reflects the lasting impact they have on those around them.
In District 109, we are proud to have the unstoppable support of 69 DTMs, with many more striving to achieve this milestone—some for the first time, others for the second.
Explore the profiles of our DTM members to gain insights and inspiration for your own journey. Click on their portraits to visit their LinkedIn profiles and discover the stories behind their final projects!
Alessandro Balboni, DTM
Awarded February 2025
DTM Project: I have designed and structured the format for the Murder Mystery Meeting and created a bilingual manual to guide its implementation. The manual, available in both Italian and English, provides detailed instructions on how to run the format effectively. Additionally, I have developed supporting infographics in both languages to offer a quick and practical overview.
Club Sponsored: Salerno Toastmasters (the first club in Italy established through the Toastmasters-Rotary Alliance)
Club Mentored: Toastmasters Marche
Served as Area Director A6 (2020/2021) and created a blog to provide Italian-speaking members who struggle with English with clear, concise explanations of various aspects of club life.
Allison Turner, DTM
Awarded 2017 (Legacy Programme)
HPL project: organize a trilingual Division Contest (Humorous Speech and Table Topics) under the theme “Laughter Keeps You Young.”
Club Mentored: Toastmasters St. Gallen
Served as Area Governor (2005–2006)
Alexander Yim, DTM
Awarded April 2019 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Revitalized struggling clubs with low attendance and membership by fostering fun and engaging meetings
Club Coached: Career Masters and Toast2US (District 2), and LAC (Laos American College) (District 97)
Served multiple terms as Area Director
Andreas Geiger, DTM
Awarded 2019 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Established a broader leadership team for Division E, inspired by the Toastmasters model in Singapore, where each Area and Division has Assistant Division Directors to support key initiatives. Guided by three Toastmasters friends, this experience was highly enriching.
Club Sponsored: UBS Opfikon Toastmasters
Club Mentored: Wintispeakers
Served as Division E Director (2018–2019)
Barbara Konstantina Kondilis, DTM
Awarded November 2016 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Created a health literacy community webpage, which is still ongoing. You can visit it at Health Literacy Web.
Club Sponsored and Mentored: Hellenic Toastmasters
Brigita Tomas, DTM
Awarded 2020
District Officer Role(s) Covered: Area Director, Division F Director
Carlo Brozzo, DTM
Awarded December 2023
Club Mentored: Siena Toastmasters
Served as Area Director (2021–2022)
Claudio Russo, DTM
Awarded July 2020 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Organizing the division G district 59 spring conference, I followed the HPL manual for success.
Club Sponsored and Mentored: Lighthouse Toastmasters
Area Online Ovation Gold Award Jun. 30, 2020
Visiting Victor Award Jun. 30, 2020
Served as Area Director in 2018-19 & 2019-20
David Corcoran, DTM
Awarded April 2020 (Legacy Programme)
HPL project: Organise the District DECM in Vienna with social activities, official business as well as showing the Vienna Toasmasters Spirit.
Club Sponsored: Blue Danube Leaders
Division Director of the Year
Deniz Senelt Kalelioglu, DTM
Awarded May 2014 (Legacy Programme)
Club Sponsored: Bursa Toastmasters, Istanbul Türkçe Toastmasters
HPL Project: Started clubs using the Turkish language. My HPL committee was instrumental in helping me adapt Toastmasters’ know-how to run meetings in our native language.
2nd DTM, awarded November 2020
DTM Project: Organized the first Toastmasters Türkiye Corporate Summit, attended by managers from more than 50 corporations, held at a private bank’s headquarters seminar hall. The event continues annually.
Club Sponsored: My Shell Toastmasters, Anadolu Toastmasters
Club Mentored: Ankara Kolejliler Toastmasters, My Shell Toastmasters
Club Coached: Ankara Türkçe Toastmasters
Dimitrios Diamantopoulos, DTM
1st DTM achieved on July 1, 2016
Club Mentored: Piraeus Toastmasters Club
HPL Project: Building and Chartering Kifissia Toastmasters Club
2nd DTM achieved on July 1, 2020
Club Mentored: Unified Communicators
HPL Project: Chairing and Organizing the Joint District 59 and 95 Conference (Athens, May 2018)
Served as Pathways Ambassador (10/2016-12/2018)
Finance Manager / District 109 (2018-2019, 3-6/2020, 2021-2022)
Division B Director / District 109 (2019-2020)
Club Growth Director / District 109 (4-6/2023)
Elena Grammenou, DTM
Awarded December 2024
Club Sponsored and Mentored: Chios Toastmasters Club
Served as Division Director in 2022-23
Awarded January 2025
Club Mentored: BMS Boudry Toastmasters
Served as Area Director in 2021-22
Elsa Negri, DTM
Awarded January 2025
DTM Project: A plan to implement Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) specifically designed for women’s bodies
Club Sponsored: ToastMasters Marche – Villaggio Saggio
Club Mentored: Speech and Spritz
Served as Division Director (2022–2023)
Fabio Rigamonti, DTM
Awarded October 2017 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Organizing a conference with prominent Keynote speakers and workshops.
Club Sponsored: The Como Lakers
Served as Area Director (2016–2017)
Figen Aktaş Çavuşoğlu, DTM
Awarded March 2024
DTM Project: Video project for division social media completed. The project was sharing the content of Toastmasters and meetings in an engaging way.
Club Sponsor: Boston Scientific Turkiye Toastmasters
Club Mentor: Boston Scientific Turkiye Toastmasters
Served as Area Director in 2021-22
Francesca Gammicchia, DTM
Awarded June 2020 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: When I decided to resign and start my own business, I followed the HPL manual for success. Four experienced Toastmasters and company managers formed my guidance committee, and I remain deeply grateful for their support in transforming my life.
Served as Division Director (2016–2017)
Club Sponsored: Tuscany Masters
Guenther Aschenbrenner, DTM
Awarded February 2009 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: organize the District 59 Fall Conference 2007 in Vienna (Conference Chairman)
Club Mentored: Vienna Speakers Club
Served as Area Governor 2008/2009
Katia Burdet, DTM
Awarded November 2018 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Division Conference in Turin
Club Sponsored: Speech and Spritz
Club Coached: Toastmasters Academy – Florence
Area Director (2018–2019)
2nd DTM, Awarded January 2024
Club Sponsored: Trucks & Tricks
Club Mentored: INTRANERD
Division Director (2019–2020)
DTM Project: Bringing Toastmasters to the Theater
Keith Westmacott, DTM
Awarded November 2020
Club sponsored: EHL Hotel School Lausanne and the IFM Business School in Lausanne
Served as Division A Director in 2017/2018
Kleopatra (Clairie) Chatzigianni, DTM
Awarded September 2024
DTM Project: Leadership and Communication in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement
Since 2017, I have had the honour of leading the communication strategy for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in my country through Toyota’s Global Mobility Partnership with the Games. My leadership role focuses on strategic communication, public awareness campaigns, and strengthening social acceptance of sports for all.
Club Coached: Toastmasters Club “UNIFY COMMUNICATORS” (2 years: 2020-2022).
Iosif Nikolaidis, DTM
Awarded November 2019 (Legacy programme)
HPL project : the Centre for Nutritional Research and Studies is one centre that start when I made that project and because of that still work until now with a lot of success
Clubs sponsored: Agora Online Toastmasters Club, Dionisos Greece Toastmasters Club
Lance Webster DTM
Awarded 2013 (Legacy programme)
HPL Project: Initiated and implemented a club coaching program featuring a vetted internal “speakers bureau” for clubs to request keynote speeches on public speaking, leadership, and marketing.
Clubs Founded: Studio City Speakers and Lofty Speakers in District 52; West Hollywood Toastmasters in District 1.
Club Mentored: Rainbow Toastmasters (India)
Served as Lt. Gov. of Marketing and District Director for District 52, leading the startup of multiple clubs.
Meltem Altinay, DTM
Awarded June 2023
HPL Project: Building Toastmasters Turkiye social media presence on Linkedin, FB, IG and X. The Social media Team : Meltem Sahin, Tuana Arikboga, Gulsah Gungor.
Club sponsored and mentored: Anatolia Toastmasters
Served as Division H Director 2021-22
Michelle Bassanesi, DTM
Awarded September 2021
Club Mentor e uno dei soci fondatori di Toastmasters Academy Rome.
DTM project: Inerclub SpeechCraft Workshop
Served as Area Director for 2 years for D109 Area A3
Mikaela Gallon, DTM
Awarded June 2020
HPL Project: Leading the 20th grand anniversary celebration of my main club.
Club sponsored: Isar-Speak club (Munich)
Area Director (2019-2020), District 95 Extended Core Team, Branding Execution Lead (2024-2025)
Otto Schwerer, DTM
Awarded October 2010 (Legacy Programme)
Club Sponsored: Brno Toastmasters (Czech Republic)
Served as Division Governor (Director) (2008–2009)
Panagiotis Karanikas, DTM
Awarded January 2024
DTM Project: “Toastmasters Greece – YouTube-it” – A project focused on building an engaging YouTube presence to promote Toastmasters Greece, guided by DTMs Natalia Liaropoulou and Iosif Nikolaidis, and TM Miltos Kritikos.
Club Mentor: Netcompany-Intrasoft (Corporate Club)
Youth Leadership Program Coordinator: Secondary School of Alimos (2022–2023)
Served as Area Director (2022–2023), Division Director (2023–2024)
Paolo Ronchi, DTM
Awarded 2018 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: Answered the question “Does a perfect TM club meeting exist?” with a one-day event featuring talks by several competent and qualified speakers.
Club Mentored: Navigli District Toastmasters (2017–2018)
Served as Area Director (2016–2017)
Patricia Mansencal, DTM
Awarded May 2020 (Legacy Programme)
HPL Project: ALLeGRO – A 4-day Toastmasters Floating Academy held from December 1 to 4, 2018, during a cruise from Savona to Marseille, Barcelona, and back. The ALLeGRO project took me one year to implement and would never have happened without the commitment of over 60 volunteers.
Club Sponsored: Toastmasters Academy Rome
Served as Area Director (2017–2018, 2024–2025) and Pathways Ambassador (2018)
Roland Karius, DTM
Awarded July 2019
HPL Project: Plan and Organize Division Contest
Club Mentor: UBS Rhetoric Club Europaallee
Club Sponsor: Club der lebenden Worte
Served as Area Director, Area C2 2018-2019 and Division Director, Division C 2019-2020
Tara Gopal Chattopadhyay, DTM
Awarded June 2022
HPL Project: “Transformation of Area B1: People, process and performances”.
Behind the scenes of turning Area B1 to a President Distinguished Area: with +30 new members and adding 1 new club. A story of aspirational goal setting for corporate clubs with people management, stakeholder engagement and quality management.
Club Sponsored: Eloquence AZ Club ( AstraZeneca, Bangalore) From 2019 -2020
Club Coached: Eloquence AZ Club ( AstraZeneca, Bangalore) From 2019 -2020
Served as Area Director of Area B1, District 92, South India, Region 13. From July 2018-June 2019
Thomas Skipwith, DTM
Awarded November 2007 (Legacy programme)
HPL Project: Some Toastmasters and I felt the need for another German speaking club. Together we chartered the Rhetorik Club Zurich in 2005.
Club Sponsored: Turicum Toastmasters Club
Served as Area Governor 2004 – 2005 and Division Governor in 2007 – 2008 in District 59
Zukhra Abdumalikova, DTM
HPL project: “How to Prepare Your Successor”. I have seen how an improper handover leads to inefficiency, confusion, unnecessary challenges, and setbacks, making it harder for new leaders to step confidently into their roles. By focusing on structured knowledge transfer and effective leadership handovers, I aimed to create a process that supports successors in taking on their responsibilities seamlessly, while maintaining efficiency and continuity.
Club Mentored: Top Notch Toastmasters Zurich
Served as Finance Manager in 2016-2017; Area E4 Director in 2015-2016
Do you feel inspired to work on your DTM award?
Reach out to your VP Education and explore the resource page for useful insights!
Explore DTM Project offers from the District
Index of DTMs
| Alessandro Balboni, DTM | Allison Turner, DTM | Alexander Yim, DTM | Andreas Geiger, DTM | Barbara Konstantina Kondilis, DTM | Brigita Tomas, DTM | Carlo Brozzo, DTM | Claudio Russo, DTM | David Corcoran, DTM | Deniz Senelt Kalelioglu, DTM | Dimitrios Diamantopoulos, DTM | Elena Grammenou, DTM | Elsa Negri, DTM | Fabio Rigamonti, DTM | Figen Aktaş Çavuşoğlu, DTM | Francesca Gammicchia, DTM | Guenther Aschenbrenner, DTM | Katia Burdet, DTM | Keith Westmacott, DTM | Kleopatra (Clairie) Chatzigianni, DTM | Iosif Nikolaidis, DTM | Lance Webster DTM | Meltem Altinay, DTM | Michelle Bassanesi, DTM | Mikaela Gallon, DTM | Otto Schwerer, DTM | Panagiotis Karanikas, DTM | Paolo Ronchi, DTM | Patricia Mansencal, DTM | Roland Karius, DTM | Tara Gopal Chattopadhyay, DTM | Thomas Skipwith, DTM | Zukhra Abdumalikova, DTM |
To millions of DTM projects!