Speakers

Paul Rulkens is an expert in high performance: the art and science of achieving big goals with the least amount of effort. 

He is an award-winning professional speaker, author of two international business books and a trusted boardroom advisor. 

His clients include companies such as McKinsey, UBER, DSM, ASML and Novartis.

Originally trained as a chemical engineer, Paul’s work is based on deep knowledge and extensive experience in the practical business applications of behavioral psychology, neuroscience and, especially, common sense. 

 His popular TED talks have been watched more than five million times on YouTube.

Jane is passionate about the impact that meetings can have on organisations, participants and communities where the meeting is held.  This does not just happen, intention, dialogue and engagement are critical to success.  Jane brings this approach to the facilitation and consultancy work she does creating open, trusting and inclusive environments with high energy levels while being focused on the process to enable meaningful outcomes.

Kai is volunteer President of Brussels based ASSOCIATIONWORLD Foundation, taking a holistic approach towards the development of associations and association professionals, building a global association community movement. 

Kai serves as the CEO of Best Buddies EMEA region and as Head of Development of the International Sport and Cultural Association (ISCA). He drives developments at several International and European associations in the field of disability,- medical,- new technology,- sports and education and is the co-founder of the Geneva International Association Forum (GIAF), the Brussels International Association Forum (BIAF) and the Nordic International Association Forum (NIAF).

He serves as an advisor to several boards of international organisations and non-profits focusing on the areas of Resource Development, Governance and Strategy. Kai is an active member of the UN SDG platform and the Clinton Global Initiative. Previously, Troll was Director of Global Partnerships with the International Diabetes Federation, the Director at Special Olympics International in Europe-Eurasia and a Senior Management Consultant with the Boston Consulting Group based in Europe, North-America and Asia. 

Troll has a BA in Science, a MBA in International Management and a PhD in Economics.

Airah Cadiogan joined the International Seed Federation (ISF) as the Digital Media Associate in January 2020. In this role, she supports ISF’s communications by managing ISF’s online communities and platforms, including the website and Channel World Seed, and driving ISF’s digital outreach and engagement. 

Over the last 10 years, she has worked as a communications professional specializing in public and digital engagement for international organizations, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Oxfam, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines, Mexico and globally. 

Airah has a background in Communication Research and Development Studies. Currently based in Switzerland, she also works as a strategic communications consultant to complement her work with ISF. 

Martin Daubney is an international coach, trainer, and facilitator based in Basel, specializing in Executive Leadership and Team Development using for example Gallup Strengths Coaching, Emotional Intelligence and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) as a basis for action learning. Martin’s Clifton StrengthsFinder Top5 are Adaptability, Empathy, Ideation, Learner and Maximizer.

Everything Martin does is in service of understanding stress and building resilience in people, teams and organizations, through a number of interventions. He is now proud to be able to offer to the community his resilience program called Clear Your Head to Get Ahead® : the antidote to stress in the workplace, which uses principles from Psychology, Physiology and Technology to help clients move their stress in to strengths. Martin collaborates with clients to design their coaching, quickly understanding their coaching needs. His approach is flexible while at the same time ensuring you will maximize your opportunity together. Clients are senior leaders, senior directors, VP or above and as such your coaching program will be unique for you.

 Before coaching Martin worked in the pharmaceutical industry, including BioTech, initially in Commercial and then in Internal Communications within R&D, late stage chemical development and Productions and Supply with global responsibilities. His coaching career started in 2010 with a chance opportunity to take the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment. From that point on he realized he was not playing to his own strengths and in the environment, he was in he would not be able to. 

Martin chose to retrain, certifying as a Psychological Coach in 2012 and the first Gallup Strengths Coach in Switzerland in 2014. He’s never looked back, being known locally as “the strengths guy”! Over the 10 years Martin has run workshops  in Emotional Intelligence, Gallup Strengths as well as his own signature workshop “Clear Your Head to Get Ahead®” globally for pharmaceutical companies, Swiss banks in Zurich, Swarovski Crystal in Austria and Pandora in Denmark.

Naomi Smith is a communications expert who delivers amplified communication strategies for her clients. As a former radio and print journalist, she brings a unique pool of experience in helping her clients understand the power of connecting with their audience. She values concise writing, and also has a soft spot for well-made podcasts.

Her previous clients have included companies including the Bank for International Settlements, KPMG Hong Kong and international broadcaster Voice of America.

She is also a certified conflict negotiator, a tool she has used frequently both in the workplace… and at home with her family.

Frank is a passionate believer in people and culture being the essence of all right strategies and systems and offer a down to earth and balanced approach to projects seeking to achieve true business outcomes.

He helps organisations and SMEs with intelligent agile marketing strategies and in the digital transformation processes inspiring positive change.

His objective is to simplify marketing and inspire his clients to deliver the most engaging and memorable campaigns that will help them build their brand and organisation.

A passionate design thinker and non-profit innovator, Benita has dedicated her professional career to helping non-profits make an impact. She started her international association career at the European Science Foundation (ESF), where she led the ESF Conference Scheme as the youngest-ever Head of Unit and launched long-impact series such as Graphene Week and the European Gender Summit. As a board member of the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE), Benita created the ESAE peer-learning education track, providing European association leaders with a platform to share their ideas, concerns and experiences in an engaging format. As Head of Interel Association Management, Benita has been updating the outdated AMC model to offer agile support, smart solutions and strategy design to international alliances, societies and associations. Her unique blend of strategic innovation and deep sector knowledge helped launch and grow associations such as ELSA Alumni, the Cloud Signature Consortium and ENRIO. A passionate speaker and trainer, Benita believes in the innovative power of diversity and inclusion, the importance of smart strategic management and the power of associations to advance our society.  

About DGI interel

DGI interel are an expert-led, internationally accredited association management company (AMC) that helps membership organisations succeed in an increasingly complex international environment.

 As trusted partners to association boards and secretariats, we pride ourselves on providing informed insights, purpose-built non-profit strategies, candid advice, and results-oriented association management – all underpinned by a commitment to quality, shared values and the highest ethical standards. As part of Dentons Global Advisors, we offer our association clients access to a global network with local expertise, providing nuanced counsel on strategy, public relations, communications, and regulatory affairs. Our partnership with Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, means clients can draw upon integrated legal expertise and high-end advisory services when and where they need it.

With over 20 years of agency experience, Alex's client-side experience includes the Public Sector, Telco, FMCG, Retail, Education, Utilities, Finance and Banking, Transport & Logistics working for organisations such as the UK’s Police Forces, Alstom, Thales, Vodafone, McDonald’s, Islamic Bank of Britain, and Zurich Financial Services.

Logic Digital are future-focused, taking the wider picture, vision, and roadmap. We love what we do and will go above and beyond to help your business to achieve its next level of digital growth.

The key to our methodology is working closely and collaboratively to identify and prioritise the activities and actions that will deliver you the most benefit. We will integrate with your existing team or provide full project delivery services to suit your needs.

Sina is a Certified Meetings Professional (CMP) with extensive knowledge in organizing hybrid, online and in-person events. She organized the ICCA Congress 2020, a global hybrid event with 8 hubs around the world that attracted 1500 delegates, featured 220 speakers and over 100 hours of content. After working for seven years with ICCA, she has started her own digital events consultancy company, DigitalMind.events. Additionally, she is a manager at EventProfsBreakShit, a passion project to bring event professionals together to test Event Tech. Sina is a certified Digital Event Strategist (DES), and was awarded the prestigious PCMA "20 in their Twenties" Award in 2018 and was a finalist for the PCMA Visionary Award 2022 as Digital Experience Strategist of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXC4WCEhohZRCvGPfsY-BTQ/videos

20+ years’ experience in association management, events and public affairs. Liaising with professional and trade associations, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, Michiel ensures content is relevant, supports business objectives, and facilitates connections between senior executives.

Drawing from his passion for cooking, Michiel knows matching the dish to the occasion, and gathering the right guests at the table is what makes for an optimal and memorable experience. 

Michiel serves on the International Associations Advisory Council of ASAE.

15 years’ experience on dozens of events in more than 20 countries worldwide and online. Bénédicte puts her structured but caring approach, her eye for detail, and her boundless energy to work to deliver a seamless event experience for clients and participants.

From planning and site and/or virtual event platform selection, through to onsite/online production, Bénédicte ensures every organisational element is taken care of whilst never losing sight of the client’s vision or budget goals.

As a lover of nature, respecting all the components of an ecosystem, and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships are her guiding principles. A mother of 3, Bénédicte always keeps care, development and planning needs as key factors. 

Bénédicte also sits on the MPI Association Professional Advisory Board.