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Francesca Wels – PRESIDENT
Francesca is Swiss. She is a typical secondo, as the Swiss call children of expatriate parents. Her parents moved to Lugano in the 1970s when she was a teenager. There she attended the Swiss school and later studied translation. She worked as a translator for a bank in Lugano, and then as an independent translator for insurance companies. Francesca sees herself as 'European', because her father is Italian, her mother French, she is married to a German and has two Swiss-born children. Francesca and her husband moved to Zürich from St Gallen in 1989. In 2000 the family moved to Greece, where Francesca had the opportunity to study Greek and learn more about the Greek culture. There she also discovered her passion for drawing, sketching and etching. They returned to Zürich in 2002.
Francesca has been a member of ZIWA since 1990, but because at that time her children were still very young, she didnÕt have the opportunity to join in many ZIWA activities. Since her return from Greece, however, Francesca has been a very active member of our association. She is co-chairlady of two interest groups, the Arts and Culture Group with Anne Zulauf, and the Discovering Zürich and Switzerland Group with Julia Newton and Anne-Marie Watter. She regularly attends the Fitness Walking Group on Tuesday mornings and though she is not an active member of the Hiking Group, she would like to become one. She also attends the Italian Conversation Group, the Greek lessons and the Life Coaching Group and sometimes joins the Moviegoers in the Evening and the Wine Discovery Groups.
Francesca served on the Board for two years, as Director of Monthly Meetings from 2008 to 2010. Francesca is confident that her energy and enthusiasm, together with her experience on the Board and her knowledge of our association make her a good candidate for President of the Board of ZIWA.
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Sue Kenny – TREASURER
Sue was born and raised in Ireland but has spent 20 years living and working in the British Isles. She moved to Zürich with her husband's job in January 2009 and became a ZIWA member almost immediately. She has two children, a daughter at University in Edinburgh and a son at boarding school in Ireland.
Her background is in banking, having initially worked in an administrative role with an Irish Investment Bank, she then worked for a Dutch Private Bank as Assistant to the Compliance Officer and then spent 7 years as Compliance Officer for the Offshore Fund Services Division of a large European Bank.
She has attended many of ZIWA's interest groups, namely English Bookclub, Singing for Fun and some of the coffee corners where she has met a wide variety of interesting and friendly people. Her hobbies are reading, playing tennis and learning to play bridge. She has attempted to learn to ski and learn German, both of which are taking longer to master than planned. She has been Assistant Treasurer for the year 2010-2011. |
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Michele Papke – SECRETARY
Michele was born in Zimbabwe and then moved to South Africa with her parents where she grew up, went to school and later met her German husband. She has two adult children now living in Dubai. She came to Europe with her husband's job in 1998 living in Munich for six years, then Warsaw for four years and now in Zürich for two years.
Her professional background is as a legal secretary and she studied part-time for a law degree in South Africa. While living in Munich she was secretary of the ParentÕ's Association of the International School. She was also very involved in the International Women's Association in Warsaw where she started selling designer jewellery from South Africa and undertook a Style Coaching course.
Michele's family is very sporty and enjoy motor biking, scuba diving and snow skiing together. She also loves horse riding and her hobbies are cooking, wine appreciation, reading, gardening and walking.
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Raquel M. Fonte Werth – DIRECTOR OF MONTHLY MEETINGS
Raquel M. Fonte Werth, originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, moved to Zürich with her American husband in September of 2009. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Latin American Studies from American University in Washington, DC and her Juris Doctor from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University in Washington, DC. After law school, Raquel moved to Los Angeles, California where she practised immigration law in both public interest and private law firms representing individuals from more than 20 countries around the world. Prior to moving to Switzerland, she joined the faculty of the Gould School of Law, University of Southern California as a Visiting Professor to direct the Immigration Law Clinic.
Raquel is delighted to be in Zürich and to have the opportunity to enjoy her hobbies such as hiking and yoga and to explore her interests in wine and cooking. ZIWA Interest Groups in which she participates include the Zürich Evening Book Club, the hiking groups, and the Latin American Group. She is a co-founder and co-chairlady of Youth Club. Raquel was invited to join the Executive Board as Director without Portfolio in November 2010, and she served in that capacity through May 2011.
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Anne-Marie Watter - DIRECTOR OF INTEREST GROUPS
Anne-Marie is from the French part of Switzerland. She grew up in Montreux, famous for its jazz festival and its Mediterranean climate. Thirty years ago she met her future husband, a Swiss German, and decided to move to Zürich in order to improve her German. Here she worked for a bank in several different departments and during this period she also had the opportunity to learn English in Brighton, England. In 1987 she lived for one year in Washington, DC, while her husband studied for his LLM. There she discovered pottery, quilting and developed her interest in travel, language and culture. On her return she had her two lovely children, who are still in full time education here in Switzerland. She has many hobbies such as gardening, sewing, languages classes, reading, music, theatre and travel.
Through her close friendship with Francesca Wels she became a ZIWA member. She is co-chairlady of the Discovering Zürich and Switzerland group and organises trips to many parts of Switzerland. From time to time she attends the Art and Culture, Italian and French Conversation groups, the Moviegoers in the Evening, Line-Dancing, Travel Group and Wine Discovery.
Anne-Marie brings her organisational skills and her experience of Interest Groups to the role of Interest Group Director, and her language skills and diplomacy will be of benefit to the Board as a whole.
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Lindsey Carver – DIRECTOR WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
Lindsey was born in Glasgow Scotland, but grew up in different parts of England, before finally settling on the East coast of England in the county of Suffolk.
Before moving to Switzerland with her husband and two dogs, she worked 19 years in retail banking for HSBC and was on the committee of the local branch of the Institute of Bankers.
Lindsey has lived in the Zürich area for more than twelve years (originally planning to stay for only two) and regards Switzerland as her home now.
She has been an active ZIWA member for the past eleven years and is a member of several interest groups including bridge, informal lunch and badminton. Lindsey has been the co-chairlady of the badminton group since 2001, and was on the organising committee for the ZIWA cookbook published in 2006.
Lindsey's main leisure interests are bridge, painting, golf, skiing and is she is an avid follower of Formula One Racing.
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Cassandra Budlong – DIRECTOR WITHOUT PORTFOLIO
Cassandra Budlong was born in St. Petersburg, Florida in the USA, and by the age of 17 had lived 33 different houses and attended 17 schools. She joined the US Navy at age 18, and continued to travel, in addition to earning two AA degrees, one in Journalism, the other in Human Resource Management. As an Equal Opportunity Consultant, she worked on board various naval vessels on the east coast of the US, conducting training in the areas of racism and sexism awareness, and setting up cultural diversity management programs. Upon leaving the Navy, she earned her BA in Theater and Dance, and an MA in Humanities.
She believes variety is the spice of life and so has worked in a wide range of fields including public relations, marketing, special events planning, theatrical production, and even acted in a television series for two years. For the last 14 years she has taught at an international hotel school in Switzerland, and also runs the schoolÕs theater company.
Cassandra joined ZIWA 18 months ago, and in November 2009 started the Photography Interest Group. This January she took on the additional challenge of chairing the Informal Lunch Group, and serves on the ZIWA News team.
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