BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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| Trish Leonard |
Arnold Haake | Michael Schneider‑ Christians |
Suzanne Specht | Norma B. Henning | Donald Hansen | Gerda Hansen | Jorge Castro | Susanne Pawlik |
Bev Larson |
Leenid Gilman |
Candace Wehbe-Dennen |
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, Founder of Commercial Sales Industry Professionals, (CSIP) and Vice Chair of City of Bonita Springs Arts in Public Places. She is the 2011 Woman of the Year presented by the by the Zonta Club of Bonita Springs and has been recognized numerous times for her charitable work in the community.
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
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.
Norma B. Henning
Norma Brenne Henning, J.D. is a practicing Florida attorney and a partner with the Naples law firm of Salvatori, Wood & Buckel.
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; business and corporate law, contracts, real estate law, probate and 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.
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.swbnaples.com
Donald Hansen
Donald J. Hansen is a retired president and CEO of American Building Consultants, a commercial real estate inspection firm and a long time banking executive. He holds an MBA from Western States University and is the recipient of many Illinois professional licenses and appointments.
A child of a Luxembourg heritage conscientious family, Donald grew up to hold the highest office in the Luxembourg Brotherhood of America. In 1992 he was Knighted by Grand-Duc Jean of Luxembourg (Order of Merit) and in 1995 he was appointed Honorary Consul General of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with jurisdiction over the states of Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. Until 2009 he served as Second Vice Dean of Chicago’s extensive Consular Corps until his transfer to Florida, a personal request realized. Thus today Mr. Hansen is the Honorary Consul General of Luxembourg in the state of Florida wherein he plans to continue to foster international connections and opportunities.
He is married to Gerda M. Hansen, father of 5 grown children, all living in the Midwest, and grandfather of 14 grandchildren. He is also retired from the US Naval Reserve after 20 years of active service.
Gerda Hansen
Gerda M. Hansen, retired marketing, publishing and sales director of international convention and hotel industries. She holds a BA in education and psychology from Roosevelt University. A former secondary education teacher and owner of an Austrian Import Business in Chicago, Gerda immigrated to the US in 1951 from Graz, Austria. As director and founder of special international programs and cultural events for Chicago’s Cultural Affairs, Gerda hosted countless individuals and groups from around the world. She has served on several Boards in the state of Illinois. For the past 7 years, Gerda has been one of the founding members of the worldwide Luxembourg American Cultural Museum and Center in Wisconsin and is an executive member of its Board of Directors. In 2010 the country of Austria appointed Gerda as Honorary Consul of Austria with jurisdiction in Western Florida.
She is married to Donald J. Hansen, mother of 5 grown children and grandmother of 14 grandchildren. Gerda is fluent in the German language and has a good working knowledge of Luxembourgish. She is proud to announce that already 4 of her young grandchildren are taking German language classes.
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.
www.kuniter.com
Susanne Pawlik
Treasurer
Susanne Pawlik .....
www.PawlikCorp.com www.SWFL360.com
Susanne@PawlikCorp.com
Bev Larson
Bev Larson has been living in the area since 1976 and has been in Real Estate Development and currently as a Realtor, Buying, Selling & Investing in Lee, Collier and the surrounding Counties, specializing in Residential, Commercial & Investment Properties. Bev is a Designated ABR, ASR, RECS, CRS, TRC & CIPS as well as a Member of CCIM, CIP, REIS, SWFLREIA, WCR, NAWIC, & EAN.
Bev is on the Board of Directors of the CCIM SWFL District, she is the 2011 Chair of the Commercial Committee of NABOR, a member of the 2011 Nabor Leadership Class, the Board of Directors of EAN, she is the Vice Chair of the of the International/Global Committee at B.E.A.R. and is currently the V.P. and on the Board of Directors for "The Offices at Coconut Point". Bev is a member of The Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers and The Beach, B.E.A.R.- Bonita-Estero Area Realtors and NABOR - Naples area Board of Realtors. She is Certified in Feng Shui and has earned the Advanced Business Certification. Bev is a Master-4th Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, eligible for her 5th degree testing, and a 1st Degree Black Belt in Hapkido, eligible for her second degree testing ...
Bev1314@aol.com
Leenid Gilman
Mr. Gilman has more than 25 years of professional business and administrative experience in corporate management and marketing, entrepreneurship as well as non-government organizations in the Russian Federation. Executive positions include regional and national electronic publishing and telecommunications as well as liaison between government, corporations and industry organizations. His expertise is business development in Russia and the former Soviet Union. Currently, he is Chair of the Advisory Board for RTZ.
Mr. Gilman was president of DealMore Group Holding Company, Moscow, Russia, which included publishing company DVD Production, chain of retail stores, and ecommerce. He was proprietor of an upscale restaurant Angletter in downtown Moscow, which was visited by high profile government officials and host to Moscow Kremlin Rotary Club. Mr. Gilman was the General Manager of telecom distribution company PageTel Communications, Moscow, Russia. He was also Vice President of the Foundation for International Cooperation and Development, Seattle, WA, and initiated, coordinated and supervised US trade delegations and conferences in Russia, including International Banking Conferences.
Mr. Gilman is an active member of International Academy of Creative Endeavors, Moscow, Russia and was previously involved in the Moscow community with Business Club “Congressmen” as a Board Member and was the Founder and Board Member of the Central Moscow Business Club. His Rotary International memberships included The Moscow Kremlin Rotary Club, The Bellevue Rotary Club, Washington, and The Naples Rotary Club, Florida.
lmgilman@aol.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.