Conference 2021 - Speakers
...find out who will be speaking at the conference (updated September 2021)
Jennifer Carless (Saturday)
Jennifer is 16 years old. She was appointed as the Chief International WASUP Ambassador (World Against Single Use Plastics) by its founder, Professor Gatrad OBE, a Consultant Paediatrician. Jennifer's initial engagement with WASUP was through introduction by the director of the Miss England Pageant, Angie Beasley, who selected her as Miss North Yorkshire and she is now in the Miss England Finals.
WASUP now extends to over nine countries and its work is to expound its four Principles, which are raising awareness, education/self-education, litter picking and putting pressure on supply chains to decrease the production and delivery of single use plastics.
It is Jennifer's hope that Rotary will take the WASUP message far and wide as it has a huge reach in many countries. Working with WASUP, as its representative, she hopes that 'together we can get WASUP done' - their mission statement - for the sake of our children and future generations.
(Photo courtesy of Craig Ellis Photography)
Mina Chiang (Saturday)
Mina Chiang is passionate and committed to contributing to eradicate modern slavery. She is a consultant specialising in modern slavery, human rights, and poverty and has eight years of experience in conducting projects in some most impoverished and conflict-affected countries. Mina has an inter-disciplinary background in engineering, sociology, anthropology, and international development.
With the vision to empower young professionals from Global South to utilise local knowledge to combat modern slavery, Mina founded Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC). HRC is a revolutionary research consultancy aiming to end modern slavery using a systems approach with an emphasis on local representation. HRC is honored to be selected as one of the ventures in the Cambridge Social Venture Incubator in 2019 and certified as a UK social enterprise. HRC has been trusted by various governments and non-government clients to research and solve complicated social issues related to modern slavery, forced labour, sex trafficking, etc.
With research experience in modern slavery, forced labour, and human rights issues across a wide range of UN bodies, governments and NGOs, Mina is becoming a sought after expert. She is also a coordinator and board director for the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS) and a member of the Rotary eClub to End Human Trafficking (RCEHT).
David Ellis (Sunday)
In 1994, as a busy Sales Director in the carpet manufacturing industry, David didn’t think he would find the time to be a member of the Rotary Club of Salford, how wrong he was. David is a MPHF and served as District Governor for D1280 in 2011/12, he chaired the RIBI Marketing PR and Communications for three years and was elected to serve as the Chair of Executive for Rotary in Great Britain & Ireland in the Rotary year 2021-2022.
He wants to change the perception the public have of Rotary and is passionate about the language we use when we talk about our great organisation. He wants to drive change, not just for the sake of it but to make Rotary more relevant to society today. David has spoken at many District Conferences and really enjoys getting the message out to the wider Rotary family.
David, recently retired, is married to Denise, also a Rotarian, who is a retired cancer coordinator at a local NHS Trust hospital. They have a daughter, Jenny, who heads up the L&D dept of Virgin Active, in London and a son, Peter who is the Stage Manager at The Palace Theatre, Manchester.
Jon Hope (Saturday)
Jon Hope is BillyChip’s Co-Founder, focused on developing BillyChip into a global solution to improve communities and people’s well-being.
After losing his son in an accident, Jon and his daughter Meg, were determined to carry on Billy’s legacy to support and empower homeless people. In 2018, they established BillyChip, a social enterprise platform which allows people to purchase a token from participating food and drink outlets which can then be given to rough sleepers and homeless people as an alternative to cash. The scheme has been supported by a number of celebrities including Professor Green, Russel Howard, Pierre Koffmann and Tom Kerridge.
Before developing BillyChip, Jon’s career spanned an eclectic mix of roles – from making sandwiches in Canada to sailing yachts around the Gulf of Mexico. After coming back to the UK, he returned to his electrical training, enjoying success as a Business Development Director for a renewable energy company, with the goal of transforming its operations into the leading supplier to the UK social housing sector. He also managed Technical Sales for a global engineering company picking up a number of industry awards along the way.
Jon’s entrepreneurial skills also saw him putting his spare time to impressive use, notably in designing and developing ScreenPlay, an adult’s party game with a friend, which was picked up and stocked in toy shops around the world.
Outside of work Jon is a keen equestrian with the family stabling a number of horses at their home in South West England. His hobby also sees him rolling up his sleeves to renovate the necessary barns, stables and extensions which the horses demand!
Mark Huddleston (Sunday)
Mark joined the Rotary Club of Edwardstown in South Australia in 1997 at the age of 29 after 10 years in Rotaract. Now aged 51, Mark has been involved with Rotary for well over half of his life. He was Edwardstown Club President in 2006/07, and served in senior district leadership roles for 8 years including 3 years as District 9520 Membership Chair. He is also the administrator of the District 9520 Facebook page, a regular blogger on Rotary membership issues and has authored a number of articles for Rotary Down Under Magazine.
In November 2016 Mark transferred into the newly chartered Rotary Club of Seaford, a club he was instrumental in forming. He is a much sought after commentator on Rotary’s membership challenges and has spoken on over 200 occasions about membership to clubs, and numerous conferences and training events around Australia and New Zealand. In 2018 Mark published his first book, Creatures of Habit about the underlying causes of membership decline and how we can turn things around. Mark is a store manager with Pack and Send, Australia’s leading freight, courier and logistics company. He is married to Debra, who he met in Rotaract, and has two children, Aaron aged 17 and Elise aged 14.
Alfie Moore (Saturday)
Alfie is an experienced and versatile humorous speaker, BBC Radio 4 presenter and comedy writer with his distinctive niche as a recently retired police officer.
He offers an innovative and unprecedented insight to the world of modern policing, skilfully interwoven with comedy moments from his own twenty years on the beat - where dealing with everyday incidents has generated a host of hilarious stories that you ‘just couldn’t make up’.
Alfie writes and presents his own hit BBC Radio 4 comedy series ‘It’s a Fair Cop’ – with a sixth series due to air Spring 2021. Television appearances include: Show Me the Funny, Bizarre Crime, Confessions of a Copper and guest presenter on Channel 5’s CCTV crime series Caught on Camera.
Alfie is a regular at the Edinburgh Festival and is currently touring his stand-up comedy show ‘Fair Cop Unleashed’ to sold out venues across the UK. He has also supported Rhod Gilbert, Sarah Millican, Russell Kane and Milton Jones on their national comedy tours.
Barry Rassin (Saturday)
Barry Rassin served as World President of Rotary International in 2018-2019. His responsibilities involved leading and motivating the 36,000 Rotary Clubs in the 200+ countries throughout the world. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Board for Rotary International.
Barry was named the first Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in The Bahamas. He retired as President of Doctors Hospital Health System in Nassau, Bahamas, after a stellar 38-year career, where he remains as a Director.
Barry has been a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau since 1980, serving as President in 1987-88. He continued his Rotary service as Governor for District 7020, Member of the Rotary International Board of Directors, Trustee and Vice-Chair of The Rotary Foundation, as well as Chairman of Shaping Rotary’s Future. He has served on many initiatives in The Bahamas and is currently Chairman of Volunteer Bahamas, a national program to create a culture of volunteerism in the country.
Barry is the founder of HANWASH - Haiti National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy, a collaborative program to bring potable water and satisfactory sanitation to all the citizens of Haiti. This international volunteer team works to bring together large implementing and donor organizations, along with the Haitian regulatory agencies, to accomplish this multi-decade, US $2.3 billion initiative. Barry remains a member of the HANWASH Steering Committee.
In 2010, Barry coordinated the Rotary disaster relief efforts in Haiti following the devastating earthquake. Rotary raised $6.5 million and Barry personally supervised the completion of the 105 relief/development projects throughout Haiti. He is now on the Bahamas Rotary Disaster Relief Committee working on Hurricane Dorian relief and Covid19 relief.
Barry has been recognized for his humanitarian service by many organizations both within and out of The Bahamas. He received the Service Above Self Award from Rotary International and was presented with the National Award of Health Hero by the Bahamas Ministry of Health and PAHO.
Nicki Scott (Sunday)
As a global citizen, Rotary felt immediately like home when she joined in 2000 in the Chicago area, USA. After serving as District Governor 6450 in 2014-15, she was appointed Rotary Coordinator for Zone 28 2016-2018, Zones 28 & 29 Institute Chair 2017 and an International Assembly (IA) Training Leader 2017 & 2018. Most recently Nicki served as Seminar Trainer for IA 2019 and 2020 and was a member of Rotary’s Strategic Planning Committee: a three year appointment ending in June 2019.
In January 2018 Nicki returned to her birthplace in England and immediately joined the Leadership Development and Training Team for Rotary GB&I. In December 2019 she was elected as Rotary International Director and Leader of the Association 2021-23. She was recently honoured with Rotary’s 2019-20 Service Above Self Award.
Nicki is a strong supporter of The Rotary Foundation: a founding member of the Paul Harris Society, a Major Donor and member of the Bequest Society.With a background in corporate finance, strategic planning and change management consulting Nicki then owned a promotional product business for 12 years and developed expertise in branding and entrepreneurship. She went on to be a mentor and coach for CEOs and business owners for Vistage Worldwide in 2016 before returning to England.
Nicki’s core passions are strategy, leadership coaching & development and motivational speaking. She aims to use these skills in service to Rotary to help bridge the gap to the next generation of leaders for our second century of service.
Freddie St. George (Saturday)
Since 1990, Freddie St. George and his mother Giulia have organised the annual Mini fundraising event called the ‘Italian Job’. The event entails taking up to 100 Minis and their teams to Italy and back to the UK for a series of challenging navigational trials in aid of children’s charities. To date, nearly £3 million has been raised.
Returning to the UK after University of Trento in Northern Italy in 1990, Anglo-Italian Freddie asked his professional conference organiser mother to ‘help’ him put together what was in effect a plan for a one-off fundraising event. However, so successful was the Italian Job 1990, that the mother and son duo have organised the event each year since, except 2020 of course.
Almost as soon as the idea was first mooted, Freddie enlisted the support of John Cooper, the brilliant automotive engineer, F1 constructor champion and creator of the legendary Mini COOPER, inviting him to become a patron of the event. Fast forward 30 years and today, the Italian Job has become known as the epitome of social motoring at its best. It runs a series of motoring based fundraising events across the UK and Europe all designed to raise money for the children’s charities it supports.
In 2020, Freddie’s Mother Giulia (now 87) was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List and in December 2020, Freddie was similarly honoured with an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.
(Photo courtesy of @AAH_TobyPhillipsPhotography)
Anne Wafula Strike (Sunday)
Anne Wafula Strike MBE provides a personal example of courage, commitment and determination that challenges misconceptions about disability, ableism and race. Athlete, sporting ambassador, author and disability rights and inclusion campaigner, Anne inspires achievement and excellence across a broad range of life situations through advocacy and lobbying government and policy makers.
Anne is a Paralympian wheelchair racer and a Tough Mudder conquerer who demonstrate that it’s possible to break down barriers. She is the first black personality to serve on a government funded sports board. She’s a NED on UK Athletics, Active Essex and British, Princes Alexandre Hospital and the British Paralympic Association. Anne is one of the Purple4Polio campaign ambassador to help Rotary rid the world of the crippling disease. In 2020 (a one year role), she was appointed as a Commonwealth special envoy Champion for Equality in Sports with a role promote the Commonwealth’s values and principles around the world by connecting sporting initiatives and supporting the implementation of SDGs relating to sport, peace and development and improving equality in sport.
She continues to advocate for an accessible and inclusive society. She holds a B.Ed (Hons) degree and supports various not-for-profit organisations both at national and international level.
As the first Action on Disability and Development goodwill ambassador, she successfully supported and campaigned for nations to ratify the UN Convention on the “Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities” and she’s a lobbyist at International Parliamentary Conferences on Millennium Development Goals.
In 2010 Harper Collins published her Autobiography ‘In My Dreams I Dance’.
In 2014 she was awarded an MBE for services to Charity and Disability Sport. Anne continues to lobby to further the interests of disabled people in the UK and developing nations.
Jane Walker (Saturday)
PCF began in 2002 by Jane Walker and established two successful charities, one in the UK to raise funds for the second charity started in the Philippines.
Jane was awarded and MBE in 2009 and the Woman of the Year Award in 2010, various awards from associations and clubs during her career and the Paul Harris Fellowship by Rotary in 2012.
PCF has developed highly effective poverty reduction programs for disenfranchised communities in some of the worst slums in Manila through a holistic approach, providing integrated services in education, health and nutrition, social welfare and livelihood and skills training. Many of PCF’s students were child workers and are supported in education through government run schools, colleges and universities and classes for out of school youth, together with a range of out of school activities to give the children every chance of success. PCF works together to look after the whole family and has established successful livelihood programs for the children’s parents through the acquisition of new skills and business loans.
Rotary has played a major role in PCF’S success by providing much needed funds and technical support for over 19 years. For more information or how to donate please visit our website.
(Speakers as at September 2021, subject to alteration)