Simon Bucknall – Deputy President & Business Director

I’ve been a member for just over three years and joined because the opportunities for personal development are outstanding.

It’s also fun to meet with fellow young professionals from so many different backgrounds!
As an entrepreneur, taking on the role of Business Director has huge appeal – to work with a team in building new relationships with companies in arguably the world’s greatest Business Hub. I feel there are huge opportunities to build strong, long-term relationships with businesses large and small across the capital. Outside of JCI, I run a consultancy called The Art Of Connection – helping business leaders to influence and inspire through the spoken word.

Solveig Malvik – Immediate Past President

I’m Solveig and my role on the council is Immediate Past President. That means I will be supporting the current council without taking a too active or leading role. I will be involved in some projects, among them a mentor program with the London Chamber of Commerce as well as setting up MasterMind peer to peer coaching groups. Let me know if this interests you!

In addition to my role as IPP in JCI London I am Marketing Director on the National Board. This means that I will be supporting all the local Presidents and Marketing Directors with their marketing needs and help us as an organisation become more visible and confident with who and what we are.


Callum Waddell – Marketing Director

Callum joined JCI London recently, in October 2010; however has been aware of JCI and their activities since living in Scotland at University. “Junior Chamber International is one of the furthest reaching organisations in the world with some of the best opportunities for young people to make a difference in others lives, and change their own for the better.” He says. “Personally, to have the chance to be a part of this group in one of the greatest cities in the world is a great honour.”

Callum studied Marketing and French at University both in the UK and in France, and in his work life he is a Relationship Manager in the Finance Industry (in particular, Prepaid) – working with over 70 client organisations globally. He hopes to use these skills to help JCI London build on its current strengths and create a lasting legacy by looking at things like Relationship Management, Branding, the Website, Online Advertising, Present/Future Collateral, etc.

In his spare time, Callum likes the gym, reading, foreign films and coffee.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to a great year with JCI London and I know that working with a good team, we can do this 110%”


Dimitri Inglezos – Community Director

I have been a member for 1.5 years now. I originally joined to be part of a team for a new project called Entrepreneurial Academy; I was very much interested in business and wanted to be involved with a project where I get to meet like minded people. Of course my interest since then has widened to other areas such as the International team where I was a deputy director last year. This year I wanted to lead the Community team as I want to bring forth more volunteering opportunities for all of us to help in our local communities. I also believe that in order to help others we must have an equilibrium in our personal lives and especially the triplet of mind, body and soul. Therefore expect many seminars and workshops on these 3 subjects!

I am looking forward to working with the rest of the Community team to help brainstorm and organise all the events we are planning but most importantly to help increase the volunteering spirit amongst our members.

I currently run my own Internet Marketing business helping local businesses with their websites, blogs and social media.


Eyad Hamouieh – International Director

I have been a member of JCI London for nearly a year and a half during which I have already gained and learnt a lot from JCI.

Due to work loads last year, I was unable to be actively involved in international events as much as I had originally planned. I therefore decided this year to push myself in attending such events by taking on this current role. I am looking forward to meeting JCI members from other chambers and learning and sharing experiences. I am sure a lot of JCI London members share my passion in travel, exploration and a bit of adventure!

I also plan on adding an element of Business to the international team. I plan on running lectures and seminars on how to outsource business to other countries, the cultural differences in running businesses and import and export rules.

My real profession however is a Research and Development Consultant. Coming from an Engineering background and moving into a client facing role required me to invest in my soft skills which I aim to improve as this year goes along through JCI. While doing that, I am sure that I will get to meet many of you whom I already know and other new faces.

Looking forward sharing another great year full of amazing events with you all!


Lydia Bartaud-Nel – Membership Director

I discovered and joined JCI in Jun2009 quite by chance. I would like to see that more and more of our young professionals get a chance to make impact quite early on in their career.

I joined the JCI team that started the Entrepreneurial Academy. The Project gave me the confidence and posture to continue personal projects. I have done a public speaking course and will attend Presenter and Trainer to gain professional accreditation in the future. All these courses are so useful in your personal and professional development. I urge everyone wanting to better themselves and their communities to come and see what JCI would offer. We have fun and we offer great friendships globally.


Nadene Jones – Social Director

I’ve been a member of JCI since August 2010. I grew up listening to all the wonderful things my mum had done when she was a member of Jaycees in her younger days so i decided to look up the website one day and was just so inspirited by it that i joined then and there.

My vision for this role is to bring like-minded people together, as the JCI vision says by not just by creating and running social events independent of the monthly Networking evenings and annual dinners, but also interweaving the events with other JCI areas in London and even national, for example working with the Marketing team to run some fun and exciting events to bring in new members, or working with the Community team to run events to get everyone involved….life should be fun and helping others is what we’re here to do.

I’m most looking forward to the experience of working with such motivated people who will take action to make a difference to themselves and people around them.

With being an IT Project Manager, my roles involve a lot of people management, so bring people together is an important skill and i hope i practice how to do that in a more creative way by being Social Director of JCI London 2011.


Saket Modi – Training Director

Saket Modi is the Training Director of JCI London. In this role, his objective is to provide opportunities to JCI members to develop their communication and leadership skills for professional growth. He has been a member of JCI London for three years.

Saket is a Chartered Accountant and runs his own financial training and consulting business (www.saketmodi.com). He conducts training in financial reporting, especially International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for global banks, accounting and law firms. He is actively involved in providing training in UK, India and Sri Lanka. Within JCI, he conducts training on “Finance for non-finance managers” and “Debating”.

Saket has a keen interest in UK India business relationships and is a member of the Next Generation Network of UK India Business Council.


Triin Paavel – Strategic Partnership

I am graduating from King’s College London and starting a role at Deloitte this January. I have been a member of JCI since September 2010 and I joined JCI because I thought it would be a great way to develop my professional skills and meet inspirational people. I figured that becoming a Director of Strategic Partnerships would allow me to make the most of what JCI has to offer and become more engaged with the organization. Joining JCI has already created more opportunities for me and I am looking forward to bringing JCI to more people in 2011.

Raani Virdee – Honorary Secretary

I had originally joined JCI London in May 2010 because my father had been a member and had always said they were some of the best days of his young professional life, I was also new to the city and thought it would be a great way to meet new people.

Having attended the leadership weekend in autumn I found I got so much out of those two days that I wanted to get more actively involved in the council activities. The role of Honorary Secretary appealed to me as it is a flexible role that touches base with all the teams and also provides a central point for monitoring their progress at meetings.

I’m currently working as Chartered Accountant in the City which could help the chamber and its teams in maintaining budgets if needed and in return I think the sky’s the limit with how JCI will help me in my career!

I’m looking forward to the year ahead and working with a great team!


Dora Bodo – Finance Director

I joined a 1.5 years ago driven by the purpose of meeting ambitious, inspiring people and to extend my network in London. However after getting to know the organisation better it became clear that JCI London has a lot more to offer.

Finance is an area that is useful whatever one`s profession is – learning how to deal with the numbers and running a budget are valuable set of skills everywhere. I`ve always wanted to gain deeper experience in this field although (or maybe because) it used to scare me. On the other hand, it is an area that currently falls far from my real job but I`m convinced in the long-term this experience will be prove to be beneficial.

JCI London is definitely on a roll now – I`m hoping to see it growing, being taken to a new level. I am also curious what flavour and atmosphere the new council will give the chamber.

I recently started a new job as an IT Consultant and at the final interview of the recruitment process I was asked more questions about JCI than my previous professional experience so I`m convinced that`s when JCI helped me first. The debating and public speaking courses highly contributed to my confidence when it comes to speaking in front of others but apart from these tangible benefits there are a lot of other ways how JCI helped me growing such as networking with people from diverse background and having stimulating conversations.