Blog

Trainer - Ismail Haznedar

 Ismail Haznedar was born in Tetovo, Macedonia and is a member of JCI Turkey.  He joined JCI Avrasya in 2005 and became local President in 2008. Two years later, he progressed to JCI Turkey National President.  At the 2010 World Congress, Ismail was elected as a 2011 Vice President. Scotland is one of his assigned countries. Ismail has attended four JCI Area Conferences and three JCI World Congresses. He has been honored as JCI Senator No. 69159.

 Ismail speaks English, Turkish, Macedonian, Albanian and is familiar with East European languages. He works as a partner in an investment and business development company.

Read more

What was it that inspired you to take the next step to become Local President of JCI Leeds 2008?
Julia Goodfellow-Smith the then president asked me if I would consider being her deputy. I had already got so much confidence and many new skills from my membership of JCI that I was very keen to take on a big new challenge. Julia gave me the support and the confidence to go for it!

You are the cover girl for the Nothing But Nets calender. How did you get involved in the project?
Originally it had been my idea after a glass of wine at world congress in New Delhi that it would be good if JCI members wore nothing but nets to raise money for the nothing but nets appeal. I didn't really think that it would ever come to anything. Then two years later Julia Goodfellow-Smith decided that she is going to organise the calendar project!  She showed so much determination to get the project off the ground and it is for such an amazing cause. There is no way that I wasn't going to be involved.  After all the pictures came in the calendar team asked me if I would agree to be the cover girl.  It was very flattering but slightly daunting to suddenly have your picture at every JCI event and in the press etc!  The end result of all of the hard work is an amazing calendar and we have already sold nearly 400 calendars with every calendar sold buying at least one bed net to go to Africa! 

What have your membership in JCI meant for you in your life?  

Since becoming a member I have met so many amazing people. I have increased my confidence and massively improved my communication skills. The opportunities to get involved with fundraising projects that really make a difference such as the charity calendar is fantastic. Also to meet new business contacts and people that have achieved massive success in the chosen fields. 

Which is your best JCI experience? 

In 2008 in my role as JCI Leeds Community Director we organised a young person's Christmas party for a charity called Willow Young Carers.  These young people act as carers for adult relatives and face huge daily challenges.  To give them a few hours respite to relax with people of their own age in a fun and safe environment was so rewarding.  We hosted the party at my office at Morgans City Living in Leeds City Centre and my Managing Director Jonathan Morgan enjoyed the event so much that our company organised the event last year and we are currently organising this year's party! 

You are a JCI Trainer yourself. If you could invite any speaker/trainer to a JCI UK event who would that be?  

Bill Gates.  The way he has balanced massive success with also giving so much back in terms of community projects that he runs with his wife is inspirational. An active citizen on a global scale. 

Is there anything that JCI can help you with? Contacts? Ideas? Connections? 

I would like to see a skills directory available to new members. Senators that are willing to mentor or have skills in different areas.  People that have run big projects that can offer support for those starting out on the same journey etc. Also businesses that support local chambers that other chambers might be able to approach for support in their areas too.

Read more

George Yule - Dominion Gas

 George Yule is executive chairman of ROMAR International Ltd, an Aberdeen based oilfield/drilling equipment company that specialises in magnetic separation and innovative technologies. George is responsible for plotting and delivering strategies to progress global expansion for ROMAR.

 Until 2010 George was CEO of Dominion Gas. He was part of a business where he led an MBO and followed it up with a further two acquisitions. George then successfully internationalised the business, transforming a turnover of £5.1m into a £24m global oilfield service company in just four years. During this period the business won several accolades from industry peers. In addition, George received the 2009 Grampian Industrialist of the Year award for his business leadership and entrepreneurial skills.

 George is a board director with SUBSEA UK and Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce. He holds an honorary position with University of Aberdeen College of Physical Sciences. He is also chairman of Aberdeen Sports Village, an appropriate role for this once-professional footballer.

Read more

Sir Moir Lockhead - First Group

 Moir Lockhead left school at 15 and started work as an apprentice mechanic. He followed a career in engineering until he joined Grampian Regional Transport in 1985 as General Manager, where he led a successful employee/ management buy-out of the company in 1989.

 As founding Director and CEO, he saw the company grow to be the largest provider of rail and bus services in the UK and, with over 60,000 yellow school buses, the largest provider of school bus travel in the USA and Canada. From small beginnings in Aberdeen, the company now carries 4 million students per day and over 2.5 billion passengers a year, including the iconic Greyhound network in the USA and Canada. The company employs over 130,000 staff worldwide.

 Sir Moir received the 1993 Grampian Industrialist of the year award for his business leadership and entrepreneurial skills. He awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1996. In 2008 he was awarded a Knighthood for services to transport in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and was named IoD Scotland Director of the Year. In 2009 he was again an award winner at the IoD Scotland Awards, being named Global Director of the Year. He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor Honoris Causa  from the University of Aberdeen as well as being appointed Senior Governor of the University of Aberdeen Court. In 2010 Sir Moir was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Society of Operations Engineers, a body of which he has been a member for over 40 years. In May 2010 Sir Moir became the President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport. He is also a Board member of VisitBritain.

Read more

 Andrew Laing - Aberdeen Asset Managment

 DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE (AGE 58) Andrew joined the Group in 1986 with responsibility for private equity investment. Andrew was subsequently appointed chief operating officer, originally joining the Board in 1987 and was appointed deputy chief executive in 2008.

 Andrew graduated from Aberdeen University with a MA in Politics and International Relations and a degree in Law. He practiced commercial law in Glasgow before joining a venture capital specialist in Edinburgh leading eventually to his appointment to the group. Andrew is a director of a number of Group subsidiaries

Read more

Solveig Malvik is the founder and owner of Total Presence where she trains individuals and groups on presence, charisma and personal impact.  

Solveig is active in JCI as a Trainer, a leader, was European Public Speaking Champion 2010 and was elected Deputy National President JCI UK 2011 in April 2011.

As a trainer Solveig has trained JCI members in the UK, Norway and Lebanon and has been a speaker in the US, Belgium and Denmark.

Of Norwegian nationality, Solveig received her MA in Modern Middle Eastern Studies from American University of Beirut in 2006. While a student, Solveig was on the International Council for the Women as Global Leaders conferences, graduated from United Nations University in Tokyo, and presented at the 2005 Middle East and Central Asia, Politics, Economics and Society Conference at Utah University.

Following her graduation Solveig worked for an investment bank splitting her time between Beirut, Dubai and Washington (DC), before  becoming involved in the Middle East alternative music scene managing local artists and later in a global company managing strategic communication projects around the world.

Read more

On 29th March 2011 the Dexter Montague LLP charity pub quiz in aid of Sue Ryder Cancer Care went off like a dream!

With the skills that I had developed from my role as Personal Development Director I was able to organise the event which included arranging the venue, booking the quizmaster, sending invitations, arranging teams, buy prizes, organising the raffle, creating the marketing flyer and arranging newspaper publicity.

We managed to get a dozen or so teams consisting of 4-6 so a total of nearly 100 who all had an enjoyable evening while raising in excess of £1,000 for Sue Ryder.

JCI has given me (Clare Franklin) the confidence to take on and manage such projects so I would recommend JCI to anyone that wants to increase their skill set and confidence.

Read more

As I mentioned in the March Newsletter it was the JCI UK Marketing Academy from 1^st -3^rd April.

This was an opportunity for JCI Members to find out about how best to market something, in this case JCI. We started with an introduction to the concept of branding and then went into detail about how you personally associate with a brand and how you sell it based on your interpretation of the Vision and Mission.

We all had to come up with a one liner that encompassed our own hook that would get people asking us, What is that then? or How do you do that?

Mine was 'Helping people help themselves while helping others' to me this captures the personal reward that you get (helping yourself) with the local and global impact of JCI (helping others) and the advantages of the JCI framework in that the structure Helps people, to achieve what they set their minds on.

We went on to look at how this new knowledge could be used locally, within JCI UK and our own local chambers. This allowed is to move on to specific's implementing our message into Websites, Blogs, (SEOing them as much as possible) the use of Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, yes we already know they are great and can give results, but we were actually told some of the top tips on what to actually do got get those results. Even going so far as to having our LinkedIn profiles personally reviewed by Jen Little.

We will be passing on some of these tips over the next few weeks via our Facebook and LinkedIn groups so make sure you are signed up and keep an eye out for the updates.

Read more

How long have you been a member?

1 year

What is your role this year?

No role since I am back to University and commuting a lot.

What are you hoping to achieve this year?

Gain skills, experience and training from JCI to maximise my chances to achieve my career goals

Is there anything you have done as a JCI member that you never would have thought possible before you joined?

Training my JCI fellows on public speaking and also the leadership academy was an event in which I pushed myself to increase my leadership skill-set.

What do you enjoy most about being a JCI member?

The members, the organisation, the trainings and opportunities to develop oneself, not forgetting the ability to make a difference in ones community.

Read more

How long have you been a member?

I have been a member for 3 or 4 years and was one of the original members that joined at the first meeting of the new JCI Reading chamber in it's current form.

What is your role this year?

Currently I do not hold a board role as I am studying for professional exams that are taking up my time. I have held the role of Personal Development Director for the last two years. I took on the role as I had no experience at all of running events.

What are you hoping to achieve this year

My hope for later this year when my exams are over is to return to the board, taking on a different role and challenging myself to learn new skills.

Is there anything you have done as a JCI member that you never would have thought possible before you joined?

I recently organised a charity pub quiz for the firm of solicitors that I work for. I would never have been able to achieve this if it hadn't been for the event organising experience I had got through JCI. I was able to arrange the venue, quizmaster, raffle, prizes, invitations, bookings, charity link and newspaper publicity.

What do you enjoy most about being a JCI member?

JCI has given me the opportunity to make my own networking of contacts, develop my skills in ways i would not have the chance to do in my professional career and most of all make friends.

Read more