Organization & Leadership

A message from GSF President, Charlotte Kemp

I am Charlotte Kemp, your GSF president for the 2023 / 2024 year, and I am honoured to hold this position and to serve our member speaker associations around the world. 

Associations are by their nature, collaborative organisations and this is very evident in the speaking world. Far from being competitive, speakers who belong to their national or regional associations seek ways to learn from each other, support each other and together raise the profile of our amazing profession. 

And we reflect this in our leadership of the Global Speakers Federation as well. From the Presidential Leadership Team, through the Steering Committee, Leader-to-Leader calls, various committees and the Board itself, you will find people generously donating their time and expertise to support the leadership of our home associations. These are people with their own speaking businesses or careers who have already voluntarily held leadership positions in their own associations and now extend the service to the GSF. Their contributions are highly valued. 

In the Presidential Leadership Team we have myself, Martin Laschkolnig (Immediate Past President), Ruby Newell-Legner (President Elect) and Mike Handcock (Vice President) as well as the amazing Shari Bricks who as Executive Director holds everything together. We work in concert to make sure that our initiates are in line with the Strategic Plan for the GSF, and that projects and values are handed down through the leadership team. 

I look forward to meeting many of the speakers in our global community, as I visit various speaker associations’ annual conferences in this year of my service. 

Charlotte Kemp
Cape Town, South Africa
August 2023

Presidential Leadership Team

The Presidential Leadership Team consists of the GSF President, President-Elect, Vice President, Immediate Past President, and Executive Director. The Presidential Leadership Team serves as the interim governing body between meetings of the GSF Board of Directors.

Board of Directors

The GSF Board of Directors, which meets quarterly, consists of a representative from each GSF member association and each has one vote. In addition, the GSF President, GSF President-Elect, GSF Vice President, GSF Immediate Past President, and GSF Executive Director serve as voting members of the Board.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee consists of nine members, namely:

  • the Board member from each of the three largest member associations (as determined by membership count based on dues paid, 30 days prior to the Annual General Meeting)

  • the Board member from two of the remaining member associations (elected annually by the two highest votes cast by the GSF Board of Directors)

  • the GSF President, GSF President-Elect are voting members of the Steering Committee, while the GSF Vice President, and GSF Executive Director are non-voting, ex-officio members.

GSF Presidential Leadership Team

  • Charlotte Kemp

    President

  • Martin Laschkolnig

    Past President

  • Ruby Newell-Legner

    President-Elect

  • Mike Handcock

    Vice President

  • Shari Bricks

    Executive Director

Representatives from Member Associations

  • Philippe Boulanger

    Representative of AFCP

  • Cathy Johnson

    Representative of APSS

  • Ron Tsang

    Representative of CAPS

  • Radislav Gandapas

    Representative of CISSA

  • Christian Buccholz

    Representative of GSA

  • Victoria Holtz

    Representative of LATAM

  • Johan Irwin Kamarozaman

    Representative of MAPS

  • Monica Moore

    Representative of PSANZ

  • Sylvie Di Giusto

    Representative of NSA/US

  • Amanda Lambros

    Representative of PSA

  • Neerja Singh

    Representative of PSA India

  • Eksteen de Waal

    Representative of PSA-Netherlands

  • Joni Peddie

    Representative of PSASA

  • William Buist

    Representative of PSAUKI

  • Antoni Lacinai

    Representative of NSA Sweden

  • Sterling Plata

    Representative of PAPS

  • Wendy Lee

    Representative of VSAI

Federation Leadership Past Presidents (Non-Voting)

  • Steve Lowell

    2021-2022 Federation President

  • John B. Molidor

    2020-2021 Federation President

  • Paul ter Wal

    2019-2020 Federation President

  • Elias Kanaris

    2018-2019 Federation President

  • Shirley Taylor

    2017-2018 Federation President

  • Nabil Doss

    2016-2017 Federation President

  • Jonathan Low

    2015-2016 Federation President

  • Lenora Billings-Harris

    2014-2015 Federation President

  • Lesley Everett

    2013-2014 Federation President

  • Cheryl Cran

    2012-2013 Federation President

  • Janelle Barlow

    2011-2012 Federation President

  • Alan Stevens

    2010-2011 Federation President

  • Lindsay Adams

    2009-2010 Federation President

  • W Mitchell

    2008-2009 Federation President

  • Joe Sherren

    2007-2008 Federation President

  • Robyn Pearce

    2006-2007 Federation President

  • Naomi Rhode

    2005-2006 Federation President

  • Paul Bridle

    2004-2005 Federation President

  • Catherine Palin-Brinkworth

    2003-2004 Federation President

  • Terry Paulson

    2002-2003 Federation President

  • Kit R Grant

    2001-2002 Federation President

  • Patricia Ball

    2000-2001 Federation President

  • Maxwell Reginald Hitchins

    1999-2000 Federation President

  • David Julian Price

    1998-1999 Federation President

  • Warren Evans 1997-1998 (Deceased)

    Founding Federation President

GSF Presidents From Member Associations

  • Jean-Philippe Ackermann

    President of AFCP

  • Arishta Khanna

    President of APSS

  • Beverly Beuermann-King

    President of CAPS

  • Radislav Gandapas

    President of CISSA

  • Silvia Ziolkowski

    President of GSA

  • Octavio Aguilar

    President of LATAM

  • Kishvin Sirinavin

    President of MAPS

  • Julia Grace

    President of PSANZ

  • Gunnar Söderberg

    President of NSA Sweden

  • Mike Staver

    Chair of NSA/US

  • Lloyd Luna

    President of PAPS

  • Gary Edwards

    President of PSA

  • Vinay Pushpakaran

    President of PSA India

  • Eksteen de Waal

    President of PSA Netherlands

  • Tsitsi Mutendi

    President of PSASA

  • Chantal Cornelius

    President of PSA UKI

  • Paul ter Wal

    President of VSAI