Our Board Members
(these change every year – election is in December, Rotary year starts in June)
Jim has a passion for consulting and product safety testing. He leads our "Save Kids Lives" global grant project.
Harriet leads our projects committee and oversees the Safe Kids Lives and other initiatives. She is the only one on our board who can be found up early in the morning - doing FitFam.
Andrew leads the website committee - and (though not a morning person) also acts as the Sergeant at Arms to welcome our visitors every Friday morning.
Gary runs all administrative aspects of our club, which is "holding up half the sky". He currently lives in Malaysia and can often be seen running on the streets of Kuala Lumpur.
As the treasurer, Louise keeps her eye on our finances. Hailing from Ireland but with a long history in China, she also shares a passion for sports, and rugby in particular.
Tobias leads our club this year. He has been living in Shanghai since 2001 and can often be seen on the streets of Shanghai with his daughter Mischa and his (undisciplined) dog Zeb.
As an active practitioner of a psychology-based approach, Steffen Ummelmann creates healthy systems in mid-life adults, children and groups. He is passionate about our youth initiatives together with Angie and has been instrumental in sponsoring our first Rotaract club.
Randal was instrumental to founding our club and deserves a spot on our website. He started our club to provide the first breakfast meeting for Rotarians in Shanghai and to apply the idea of a Pilot Club with a focus on social enterprises. Randal, we thank you!
Past Board Members
Angie was our founding president for two years and still works tirelessly supporting our club, especially the youth program (RYLA). Her home was often the location for our board-meetings!
Cécile spearheaded our speaker series and helped to make sure we had amazing speakers every Friday. In her “spare time” she lead the award-winning NGO and social enterprise Shanghai Young Bakers, which provides French bakery training to disadvantaged Chinese youth.
As the founder of Cambio Coffee, Sebastian is a social entrepreneur with a passion for all things coffee. If he isn’t acting, boxing or organizing events, he travels the world to fight crime.
Anna has 18 years of training and consulting experience in China. As the head of the Timebank she has been instrumental in engaging more and more people in Shanghai to post and help social enterprises. She is also one of the Rotary Trainers adding a very welcome element of fun and surprise to our trainings.
Becoming a Member
Joining FreshStart is easy – come to our meetings and get someone to sponsor you. If you’re a business professional and like the values of Rotary, FreshStart is a great place to meet great people – something which Rotary calls “Fellowship”.
The membership process is simple:
- Attend 4 meetings and find a sponsor: an existing member who likes you!
- Fill in our membership form
- Wait while the board approves you
- Pay your membership dues (1200 RMB per year or 800 RMB per year if you work for a social enterprise)
- Become inducted in the club and get your very own Rotary International membership which allows you to be welcomed and attend any Rotary club or event anywhere in the world. Neat!
As a side-note: you DO need to be a foreign passport holder.