Division A Governor - Parren Shannon

Parren is an active member of Worldspan Wings and Ben Hill Toastmasters and a former member of Macy’s Communicator.  He has served as the President, Vice President- Education, Vice President- Membership, Vice President – Public Relations and Treasurer.  He is the former D31 Area Governor where he achieved President’s Distinguished Area for two years.  He was names the Area Governor of the Year for the term, 2009 – 2010.  Parren begins his second term as the Division A Governor. 

The theme for Division A is “Accountability in Action”, as Parren feels that we, all, should be held accountable for ourselves and to each other for achieving goals in Toastmasters.  As the Division A Governor, Parren pledges to work side by side with Area Governors and clubs to help them obtain as many goals as possible.        

Parren has been a true Ambassador for Toastmasters.  One of his goals as a Division A Governor is to continue to talk up Toastmasters in order to grow club membership.  He feels that a strong membership base is the key to a healthy and successful club.  Parren would like to focus on retaining existing members and building new clubs.      

Parren has spent many years mentoring and coaching Toastmasters, helping them to achieve their personal goals.  As a result, he spent very little time focusing on his personal growth and development.   To this end, Parren completed the requirements for his DTM in July 2010.

Parren is an avid sports fan and he loves to travel.  Having worked in the travel industry for over 25 years has afforded him the opportunity to see the world.  Parren is a consultant at Travelport, formerly Worldspan.  Parren is also an adjunct college instructor at Strayer University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in management and law.  He is the proud father of two daughters, Francesca and Shaquia.
Parren holds a BA degree in Management, MBA and JD.

Padma Kaviratna, ACG, ALB, joined Toastmasters in October 2007 hoping to improve his communication and leadership skills.  Friendly members of the Westside Toastmasters club in Pooler Georgia welcomed Padma with open arms and helped him become a better communicator and a competent leader.  He served as the Sergeant at Arms of the Westside Toastmasters during 2007-2008 Toastmasters year, Secretary of the club from July 01, 2008 to June 30, 2009 and the President of the club from July 01, 2009 to June 30, 2010.  During his Presidency, he guided the club to a President’s Distinguished Club status.  He was the Area 14B Governor form July 01, 2010 until June 30,
2011. During his Governorship Area 14B became a Select Distinguished Area.  He served as coach for Toastmasters of Richmond Hill club and helped the club achieve Select Distinguished Club status during July 01, 2010 - June 30, 2011.   
Padma Kaviratna completed his primary education in Sri Lanka and received his BS and MS from University of Ruhuna.  He came to the USA for his higher education and received his PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State University.  He is married to Hema Kaviratna and has two sons (Lakmal 22 years & Neal 17 years).

Susan Goodsell, DTM joined Toastmasters 25 years after attending her first meeting. That first meeting was with her dad, then president of his Toastmasters club. In 2006 Susan joined All American Toastmasters, one of three Aflac corporate clubs. She served her club as secretary, vice president education and president. Most recently, Susan served as area governor for area 21 (2010-11).

Susan enjoys a career full of variety and adventure, providing plenty of source material for speeches. She has been an interior designer for commercial interiors, project manager for museum exhibits, meeting planner, exhibitor coordinator for the Southwest Michigan Home and Garden Show and an entrepreneur — operating her own retail store in the resort town of Saugatuck, Michigan for five years.

Currently Susan is editor of internal communications for Aflac Incorporated. With a passion for environmental issues, Susan serves on Aflac’s corporate green committee where she drives strategy to encourage employee engagement in the company’s SmartGreen initiatives.

She spends her free time supporting her husband, Leo, who is executive director of Historic Westville, located in Lumpkin, Ga. Along with her husband and son, Evan, the Goodsells enjoy visiting museums and historic sites to broaden their knowledge of American history. 

Abdul Wahab Memon currently is working in GE as lead engineer for 10 years. He served in Karachi Electric Supply Corporation an electric utility for 16 years. He joined toastmaster in 2007 after occasionally coming as a guest for almost 2 years in GE Power Speaker Toastmaster club. He is former governor of Area D31 which achieved president distinguished and former governor for E-47. He got DTM in 40 months when former Division Governor E made plan for his DTM. Abdul Wahab’s motto is if you take action you can produce great results. He believes that more people join toastmaster by word of mouth when you tell them the benefits.

Abdul Wahab believe that:
The real motor of success is communication whether it is in company or with family and by doing this we come closure to others and get other person’s point of view so pick up the phone, discuss and grow. You will see that you have achieved a lot if you listen and talk with focus.

Abdul  Wahab with the dedicated team of 6 AG wants to wants to support District 14 to achieve President Distinguished District status in 2012.
Abdul Wahab was target speaker in fall 2008 conference with topic of blessing in which he showed murals for nursing home to bring smile at senior people‘s face.

Abdul Wahab has master in Electric Power and MBA in information System.

Alstenia Smith-Sellers, DTM is presently Division E Governor.  A native of Cleveland, OH, she enjoys most sports but football is her favorite, reading, working with young people and watching movies with her husband of 26 years.  Alstenia was first bit by the Toastmasters bug at Articulate Delivery Toastmasters Club at UPS where she served as President, earned her CTM and placed first in the club International Speech Contest and third at the area level contest.  
After a life altering experience, Alstenia made the decision to visit Dawn-Breakers Toastmasters Club and joined that morning.  It was there that she made a commitment to improving her communication and leadership skills.  With the help of her new Toastmaster s family she began her journey almost immediately.    It was not long before she was serving meeting roles and cub officer positions.  She has served as President, Vice President Education and Vice President of Membership.  On the district level, she has served two terms as Area Governor where her areas were distinguished.  Alstenia has achieved many awards the;  club President’s Award  for Outstanding Service,  Distinguished Toastmasters Award, District Governor’s Award ,and  two Triple Crown Awards.  In the community she has worked on developing young peoples’ communication and leadership skills with the 100 Black Men of DeKalb County Leadership Academy, DeKalb County Juvenile Justice System, DeKalb County Leadership Academy and Beulah Baptist Church Gavel Club.
 As division governor, Alstenia is committed to providing Division E with H.O.P.E., Helping Others Pursue Excellence.  It is her goal to help the division be President’s Distinguished.    

 Division F Governor - Patricia Fiene-Voyna 

Charter member of Toast of Rockdale. Started Toastmaster journey in 1991 when a person came around to her desk and asked if she wanted to come to a club meeting. Being new in Georgia along with everyone else in the new AT&T office, thought this might be a great way to meet people in this strange new land. Asked the only person she knew, Mera that sat at the desk next to her and off they went to this club meeting and joined. Wow what a shock when the ice breaker came due. Knees knocking, mouth full of cotton and a death grip on the lectern she gave her 1^st speech.  

Her first conference she saw Jim Dawson get up and receive so many educational awards and on that day she informed Jim he was going to be her mentor and she was going to do what he did. Some where between 12-15 CTM'S (CC's) 2 DTM's And many awards including Top 5 Area Governor of the Year, and Select Distinguished Area 42 Governor 1993-1994. Select Distinguished NE Division Governor that covered the area along I-20 from Madison into I-285, up along Peachtree Industrial to the Carolina State Line. Division Governor of the Year 1994-1995, and District 14 Toastmaster of the year 1994-1995. 

After some strokes and heart attack that put her on the slow track for awhile and into a disability for Pronator Teres retirement, is back to help District 14 in a vacant Office for Division F Governor. She is excited to be back guiding and mentoring new leaders. Division F requires traveling which is going to be great. 

Pat moved here from Iowa where her volunteering in the Telephone Pioneers earned her the Angus Award. She was Iowa State Chairman for Easter Seals Telethon and increased donations 12 fold in 5 years earning her the Volunteer of the Year Award. She has one son, David and married Marvin Voyna 25 years ago gaining 3 daughters, Michelle, Monica, and Marcia. 6 grandchildren, several dogs and cats. Her education includes 2 masters and a Ph.D. Organizations; ABWA, Eastern Star and Tahitian Noni among a few. Her hobbies are many, most of all she loves to get into the motor home and travel.

Kim Gibson, ACS, ALB joined C.H.A.T., Chapter of Hartford Alpharetta Toastmasters, club # 759425, in 2006.  Kim has served as the immediate past Area Governor of G 62 (President’s Distinguished Area 2010-2011), Club Treasurer (2010-2011), Club President (Distinguished Club 2009-2010) and Club Secretary (2008-2009).  

This year’s theme for Division G: Envision the goal… Mentor the needs…Empower the team!  With continued focus on supporting each Toastmaster; each Club, Area, and Division will lift District 14 to greater heights of service.
Kim’s journey in Toastmasters reached a personal best during this 2010-2011 year becoming a Certified Chief Judge, receiving her 1st Triple Crown Award and completion of her 1st High Performance Leadership Program.  For 2011-2012, Kim is developing District 14’s 1st Health and Safety Team to ensure on-site resources as emergency contacts are available at conferences.

Kim is a Registered Nurse and Certified Case Manager with over 15 years of Disability Case Management experience.  She is currently a Clinical Team Leader with The Hartford Insurance Company.  She is a graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.  A native New Yorker, Kim relocated to Georgia 21 years ago.  With her husband Gerry, they have four awesome children: Romney (28), Glynn (25), Jarrett (18) and Jordan (16).

Division G
Envision the goal… Mentor the needs…Empower the team!

Jan is taking the scenic route in Toastmasters to his DTM, having been a member of Toastmasters for over 20 years. Jan hopes to be making the DTM walk at the Fall Conference 2011. He is currently a member of Worldspan WINGS and Delta Medallions. For the past two years Jan has served as an Area Governor in Division D Area 38 in 2009-2010 which he lead to Distinguished Area Status and this past year 2010-2011 in Division A Area  5 which achieved Distinguished Area Status. 

Stepping up to the position of Division Governor was a challenge he decided to take on as his way to continue the Toastmaster journey to the next level and help others to reap the benefits of Toastmasters. As Division H Governor Jan plans to continue with Division H being the Heart of the District by helping members achieve their communication and leadership goals by building relationships with clubs and members throughout the Division and allow them to see their potential.  Being a club Coach for the Legacy Owls which achieved Distinguished Club Status was a proud moment in Jan’s Toastmaster career because he saw how Toastmasters can transform people when they believe they can make a difference. 
Having worked for Delta, Worldspan and Travelport for 24 years in the IT field has allowed Jan the chance travel around riding rollercoasters and has 5 States to complete all 50 States  and  Antarctica is his last continent to visit. He is hoping for a Super Bowl appearance and win by the Atlanta Falcons to make is football dream come true. 
This year will be dedicated to growing membership and keeping members by having members tell their story and having them make a difference in themselves, their club, the Area, the Division and the District.   

Ron Krevat joined Toastmasters in 2007 because he wanted to round out his technical background with communication and leadership skills.

He has served the Dogwood Club as VP of Membership and Club President. As VPM, he added 16 new members, and as President, he earned the Dogwood Toastmaster of the Year award and led the club to President's Distinguished status. As Area Governor, he led I-83 to President's Distinguished status.

As a Sponsor and Mentor of  the "Mercer Smooth Talkers" club, Ron provided timely advice and encouragement to the new club and its members.

While serving in these officer roles, Ron continued to work on his educational goals, completing all of the DTM requirements in June 2011.

Ron looks forward to working closely with his team of Area Governors, and empowering them to set and achieve their goals. He feels that clubs need to make meetings entertaining and productive, so that prospective members can easily see how they can attain their goals while having fun.

Ron holds an MBA in Business Administration from Golden Gate University and served in the US Air Force in San Vito, Italy. Ron enjoys exercising, cooking, travelling, and spending time with family.

Vicki joined Toastmasters to get over her very real fear of speaking in public. Working in technology can present challenges in communication. Toastmasters’ has helped to provide the tools to overcome those challenges.
The Toastmasters promise asks us “To serve my club as an officer when called upon to do so”. Vicki has taken this promise to heart. Prior to serving as Division J Governor she served two years as Area J-94 Governor from 2009 - 2011. She also has held a variety of officer positions in several clubs.  She served as an officer for three years at Macy’s Communicators, during which they were President’s Distinguished, Vice President of Public Relations from 2007 - 2008 and Vice President of Education from 2008 – 2010.
Earlier in her Toastmasters journey she was a charter member of Checkfree Toastmasters. While a member of that club she served as Sergeant At Arms 1998-1999 and Vice President of Membership 1999-2000. More recently she has served at Toastmasters of Forsyth County as Vice President of Education 2010 – 2011 and Northeast Georgia Toastmasters as Vice President of Membership 2011 and Vice President of Public Relations 2011.
Toastmasters is has helped Vicki conquer her fears of public speaking. It has also provided her with leadership opportunities. Her hope is that everyone can get as much out of Toastmasters as she has gotten.

Sadie Hannans, ACG, ALB, District 14, Division K Governor, joined South Cobb Club #678903 located in Austell, GA in 2005. In 2008, Sadie joined Voice of Aaron Club # 5748 located in Atlanta, GA.
Prior to being appointed as 2011-2012 Division K Governor, Sadie served as Area Governor J- 93 in Division J in 2010-2011. Her leadership in toastmasters started when she served at the club level more than one occasion as Vice President of Membership and continues as she serves as Vice President of Education.

Toastmaster Hannans determination to become a better speaker and leader afforded her the achievement of the Advanced Competent Communicator Gold, Advanced Leadership Bronze, Triple Crown Education Award 2011 and her first High Performance Leadership award resulting in Area J-93 becoming Select Distinguished Area 2011.  Due to the 2011 Reformation Plan of District 14, she will be the first Division Governor to serve in Division K.

Sadie majored in Business Administration/Marketing at Clark Atlanta University formerly called Clark College. She also completed the Human Resource Management Certificate Program at Kennesaw State University. This former Resource Manager and Corporate/IT Recruiting Specialist, works with her husband at their real estate company as Office Manager.

Sadie Hannans, a motivator and serving leader, believes enthusiasm is contagious.  A firm believer that you are second place to being someone else, but number one when you are yourself, she understands confidence comes when you know who you are as a speaker and leader.  Her motto is: Everyone has something to say and anyone can lead if they desire, but with the help of Toastmasters, you learn to do it better.

 J.D. is a voracious learner with a simple educational philosophy: ask questions, observe competent leaders, understand the policies and procedures, study the manuals, and purpose yourself to do your best.
Since joining Toastmasters in May 2006, J.D. has served as President, Vice President Education, and Vice President Public Relations of the perpetually President’s Distinguished High Noon club; as a President’s Distinguished Area Governor; and as a member and Chair of several District standing and ad hoc committees. She developed the District 14 Speech Contest Judges Training Workshops, and is the 2011-2012 District Contest Chair.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Constitutional Law with a minor in Philosophy and Religion, J.D. enjoyed a career in consumer sales. Before joining Toastmasters, she had time to pursue her interest in needlework, fine art, and classical music. She and husband Ted live in the middle of nowhere with a haughty cat and a spoiled pooch. Both are active community volunteers.
J.D. knows that, for speakers and leaders, Toastmasters is the best place to practice, fail, practice, learn, practice, grow, practice and succeed. As Governor of the newly-created Division L, her emphasis will be on education, service, and raising future leaders.