BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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| Trish Leonard |
Arnold Haake | Michael Schneider‑ Christians |
Candace Wehbe-Dennen | Suzanne Specht | Debbie Laites | Norma B. Henning | Donald Hansen | Gerda Hansen | Theresa Ayers | Jorge Castro |
Trish Leonard
President / American Spokesperson
Trish Leonard IOM is the owner of TLC Marketing & Creative Services, a marketing & pr firm that assist small to medium size companies with their marketing needs. She also works at Florida Gulf Coast University-Small Business Development Center as Marketing Director/Community Outreach.
Leonard has been active in Southwest Florida for over 38 years. Currently she serves on the board with the Speakers Assembly of SW FL, Advisory Board for the Children’s Hospital of SW FL, Founder of Commercial Sales Industry Professionals (CSIP) Vice Chair of City of Bonita Springs Arts in Public Places and several other community not-for-profits.
www.tlc-consulting.biz tleonard@tlc-consulting.biz or tleonard@fgcu.edu.
Arnold Haake
Past President
Arnold J. Haake is currently the President and General Manager of the Commercial Real Estate Opportunity Fund of SWFL. Previously he was chairman of the board, president and CEO of the Royal Palm Bank of Florida, a commercial bank, with European stockholders and clients; he founded in 2001 and subsequently sold in 2006. Most of Haake’s earlier banking assignments have been in Europe and the Middle East with the international operations of The Chemical (now JP Morgan-Chase) Bank of New York. He has also been member, director and president of the European American Network (previously called the European Chamber of Commerce) since its inception in 2000. Haake was born and raised in Missouri, has a professional military background and has been a full time resident of Southwest Florida since 1994.
Michael Schneider-Christians
Past President and Honorary Board Member
Michael is a 1985 immigrant to Florida from Germany. He has an MBA degree from a German university. Michael was one of the founders of the European American Network group. Michael has always worked in international business, in Im- and Export of tools in Germany and in international real estate here in Florida.
www.schneider-christians.com
Candace Wehbe-Dennen
Vice President / European Spokesperson
A former international investment banker, spending 6 months of the year in France and Switzerland, Candace is engaged in the completion of an “Equestrian Village” on her properties in France, and in the Punta Gorda /Charlotte Harbor area where she works closely with government entities to create a “Village of the Arts”.
Multicultural and multilingual, of Swiss and American nationality, her vast overseas experience in both Director level positions of international finance and the Diplomatic Corps have provided Candace with a truly “European” view on issues, and her networks are broad based in industry, government and finance.
Her present company, Economic Development Advisors (www.economicdevelopmentadvisors.com) assists businesses looking to expand either US to Europe or Europe to US, including harnessing institutional investors to finance projects, the build out of tourist revenue streams, development of educational opportunities, investment in foreign real estate or company relocations and expansions.
She is an active member of many local and international organizations and spends her European time with her Welsh Pony Stud, which is one of the leading breeding operations of competitive ponies in France (www.royalwelsh.net)
Economic Development Advisors is available to provide proposals to government entities, individuals and business interests looking to develop their European presence.
Suzanne Specht
Suzanne Specht is the Assistant Director, professional development coordinator, and full-time certified business analyst for the Small Business Development Center at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has been with Florida Gulf Coast University since 1997. Suzanne has extensive financial experience and expertise gained from her career as a loan officer with several area banks. At the SBDC, Suzanne has counseled over 2000 small business owners in the past 13 yrs. She has spent over 12,600 counseling hours with clients assisting them with business plans, financial statements, and loan applications resulting in 140 business start-ups and capital formation over $15 million dollars. Her expertise includes SBA loan packages. Also, Suzanne has conducted 400+ training seminars, not only in SW Florida but also in faraway places such as Russia, Trinidad, and Haiti. Her international training skills have built relationships with different organizations including partnerships with Halmstad University in Sweden and Kabardino-Balkaria Business Institute in Russia.
She sits on the Access Florida Finance Board, is a member of Gulf Shore Business Magazine editorial board, is a board member for the European American Network and was recently named to the IDS Corp board, a SBA CDC lender. She is supportive as a small business advisor to many local chambers of commerce. In her spare time, Suzanne enjoys international travel, missions work, and reading.
Debbie Laites
Keller Williams Elite Realty
An accomplished professional in the sales consultant field, Ms. Laites has been recognized as a top leader in her profession. She has represented such companies as Bayer Pharmaceutical, Baxter Healthcare and ZLB Bioplasma. Upon relocating to Florida she served as the Broker Liaison for the developer, Bonita Bay Group covering the Naples, Bonita Springs and Ft Myers area. She has earned advanced credentials from the National Association of Realtors.
One of her many strengths is working with companies to foster business relationships that ultimately lead to sales generated revenue. Ms. Laites has a long history of delivering results and client satisfaction.
She was named a top producer from the Women’s Council of Realtors where she has served as a board member. She is a board member of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of SW Florida.
When not working she enjoys, tennis, golf, travel and the beach.
www.FloridaHomesByDebbie.com
HomesByDebbie@comcast.net
Norma B. Henning
Norma Brenne Henning, J.D. is a practicing Florida attorney and the owner of the Henning Law Firm, P.A. In 2003, she was appointed by the German government as Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Southwest Florida. She focuses her practice on advising both foreign and domestic clients in the areas of obtaining temporary and permanent business visas for employees or residence for family members. She also practices in the areas of business and corporate law, contracts, real estate law and simple estate planning.
Ms. Henning was born and raised in Germany and came to the United States in 1986. She is a graduate of the Hall School of Journalism of Troy University in Troy, Alabama, and the University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, Florida. In 2002, she became a Florida Civil Law Notary. As opposed to Notaries Public, Civil Law Notaries are authorized to draft and notarize notarial acts for production in Civil Law countries.
She is the mother of two adult children, a frequent contributor to publications dealing with foreign investment and immigration issues and the recipient of the Silver Cross of Honor of the German Armed Forces. She also serves as a member of the External Advisory Board of the University of Florida International Center.
www.henning-law.com
Donald Hansen
Gerda Hansen
Theresa Ayers
Theresa Ayers is the Co- owners of GSW Consulting; a company that helps its clients to create a comprehensive online presence to bring their businesses to a targeted audience.
Theresa spent most of her professional career in the Construction Industry. She realized that to reach a larger more targeted audience she would need to incorporate technology, creativity and innovation into her marketing campaigns. Once she understood the power that the internet afforded businesses with regard to marketing and branding. Theresa co-created GSW Consulting to help small and medium businesses, as well as the larger corporate entities, build relationship driven marketing campaigns.
Theresa speaks at a variety of business and networking venues as well as teaches classes and workshops for social media, digital technology, and e-marketing through out Florida
Jorge Castro
Jorge A. Castro is the President and Principal Broker of Kapital United, LLC a Naples based brokerage and consulting firm that specializes in Real Estate Finance, Investments and Financial Services for individuals and business. Jorge's academic background in Economics and International Business as well as his over 25 years of working experience in local and international markets give him vast knowledge to operate, guide and counsel challenging intercultural and cross-collateral projects. Jorge is active member of the National Association of Realtors and the Naples Area Board of Realtors currently serving in the Commercial Real Estate Committee and in the Budget & finance Committee for 2010.
