Course Directors

The CCIC will always ensure that there are never more than 2.5 students per teacher. As Course working languages vary with demand, the teaching faculty is made up of highly experienced and respected conference interpreters from the following pool of volunteers:

Christopher Guichot de Fortis (A-EN, B-FR, C-ES) M.A. (Cantab); PDLS; BACI; M.A. in Conference Interpretation (University of Bath); AIIC, has had an eclectic life.

At 18 he briefly played professional tennis, then began competing as an amateur rally driver. He obtained BA and MA degrees from St. John’s College, Cambridge, going on to serve 9 years in the British police.

In 1988 he began a staff interpreting career at NATO Headquarters, becoming Senior Interpreter (servicing inter alia 400 committees at all levels, and countless Ministerial and 14 HOSG Summit meetings) and running NATO’s recruitment tests and practice programme for 10 years.

He has also organized volunteer interpreting teams for several NGOs, trained and worked for 15 years as an ambulance paramedic, and founded a refugee social and legal service, “l’Olivier 1996”.

He has taught, examined and lectured at over a dozen interpreting schools in Belgium, France, the USA, the UK, the Czech Republic, Germany and Mexico, has taught for AIIC in France and Germany, and currently chairs the Belgian AIIC Network of Trainers (BANT). Chris was for several years a member of the Geneva International Model United Nations teaching team, and has spoken during every edition of the #TerpSummit. He began teaching on the CCIC in 1991, and has been its co-director since 2002.

Recently retired, he now freelances and spends much of his time training Master’s students and providing specialized and targeted individual CPD coaching to (primarily) young interpreters in many countries. He continues to run and develop the “L’Olivier 1996” registered charity, and to compete regularly and successfully in regional and international level motorsport rallies.

Julia Poger (A-EN, B-RU, C-FR), M.A.C.I. (MIIS); ATA; AIIC, has been a freelance interpreter for over 30 years. As a long-time bi-active contractor with the U.S. State Department, she worked at Presidential and Cabinet levels. 

In Europe she has freelanced for the OECD, the UN family of organizations, the Council of Europe, and the private market. She has helped negotiate business deals, drafted legislation, argued arbitration cases, built nuclear power plants, gone on fact-finding missions, and put on a show.

She has been invited to train, speak, or examine both novice and experienced interpreters in schools and venues in 7 countries, including her alma mater.

She is a proud member of the International Association of Conference Interpreters, and is a member of the Belgian AIIC Network of Trainers (BANT), and the AIIC Social Media Committee.

She has been co-director of the Cambridge Conference Interpretation Course for almost 20 years. If that wasn’t keeping her busy enough, she also runs Know Your Worth: a seminar by Julia Poger, training interpreters in marketing and negotiating skills.

Eva Bodor (A-DE, C-EN, C-NL, C-HU); B.A., University of Vienna (Austria) Institute of Translating and Interpreting; cand.iur. University of Amsterdam (Netherlands); NGTV, AIIC, followed her husband twice around the globe for 15 years studying law and business in Leiden, Natal, and Baltimore.

She resumed freelance interpreting around the fall of the Berlin Wall, working for German delegations at the US Senate, State Department, Pentagon and White House. She works at the highest political and diplomatic levels, as well as for the private market.  She is accredited with the EU institutions and has worked with all International Courts and Tribunals seated in The Hague. She is a teacher and examiner at the Dutch Institute for Legal Translators and Court Interpreters (DE-HU).

Eva is a member of the Cooperative Congrestolken Amsterdam and has served on their board. She is the chairperson of the conference interpreter’s section of the NGTV (Netherlands), and is active in AIIC:  she was Council member for the Netherlands from 2006-2012 and a Vice-President from 2009-2012. Eva currently serves on the AIIC Budget committee. NGTV (Netherlands; chairperson conference interpeters’ section).

Alessandra Bonatti Harabin (A – SPA / IT, B – ENG, C – FR), MA, University of Florence, School of Higher Studies in Interpretation and Translation, Conference Interpreter, member of AIIC since 1991, was born in Johannesburg, her family moving to Mexico when she was 2. She was educated at the American School of Monterrey then obtained a degree in Art History at Florence University, before enrolling in the School of Higher Studies in Interpretation and Translation, obtaining a degree in Parliamentary Interpretation.

Alessandra began her career in conference interpretation at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Florence, interpreting for Florence dignitaries and the purchaser of the “Leicester Codex” by Leonardo. After working in Europe, she moved to the United States with husband Michael. Her career has taken her on G7, G8 and G20 assignments, inter alia to Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia and Malaysia. She passed the State Department Conference Interpretation and Federal Court system exams in 1985. In 40 years as a conference interpreter Alessandra has worked for international organizations and agencies such as the UNO, the IMF, the World Bank and the IDB. She was General Branch Chief at the Office of Language Services at the United States Department of State for some 3 years.

Aside from Art History, Literature, and spending long periods of time in Lucca, Alessandra enjoys being with her husband and son Alessandro, practicing yoga, and clean, healthy food preparation.

 Camille Collard (A-FR, B-EN, C-DE), M.A. in Conference Interpreting (2014, ISTI Brussels), Ph.D. in Translation Studies (2019, Ghent University). Currently director of the Conference Interpreting and the Translation Studies Masters programmes at ESIT, Paris, where she teaches consecutive, simultaneous and sight translation classes.

She is a board member of the EMCI consortium, chairs the Quality Assurance committee, and is a member of the Training of Trainers Committee (ToT).  Until 2019, she originated and managed the interpreting training module at the Geneva International Model UN. She took part in several continuing education programs for interpreting trainers (SCIC Academy of Trainers, AIIC Training of Trainers). She regularly gives presentations, teaches and writes publications in the area of interpreting studies.

Marie Diur (A-FR, C-EN, ES, IT, PT, SV) Maîtrise en langues étrangères appliquées (Université Toulouse-le-Mirail); DEA en littérature française, francophone et comparée (Université Bordeaux 3); Post-graduate Diploma in Conference Interpretation (PCL-London); Ph.D. in humanities (Universidad Pablo de Olavide- Sevilla), has been a freelance interpreter since 1988 working for UN agencies, the EU, and the private market, and became an AIIC member in 1992.

In 2001, she joined UN New York as a staff interpreter, became Chief of the French booth at UN Vienna in 2008, where she became Chief Interpreter in 2016.  Since 2018 she has been Chief Interpreter at the UN Geneva.  She has been a visiting examiner in interpretation schools in France and Belgium (ESIT; ISIT, ISTI; EII; LSTI/Marie-Haps).

Carola Garth (A-DE, B-EN, C-ES) M.A.C.I. Heidelberg University, has joined the German Federal Ministry of Defense in 2013 as a staff interpreter. Prior to that job, she worked as a translator and interpreter at the U.S. Embassy, Berlin for two years.

In her current job at the Defense Ministry, Carola accompanies the Defense Minister and other executive staff on their trips across the globe, but also has the opportunity to dive deep into what the German armed forces call the “mud zone” and has been in and on frigates, tanks, and fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Career highlights include NATO Defense Ministerials (where she had the pleasure of working with Chris!), the Munich Security Conference and, as part of that, lending her voice to President Biden on German television.

She gained teaching experience – and improved her already impressive English – while working as a teaching assistant at the University of Leeds in 2010.  Carola is Julia’s partner in sequin crime…

 Ann Goslin (A-EN, ES, C-FR) Post-Grad. Certificate in Interpretation and Translation (Georgetown University) 1980, AIIC, has retired from being a staff interpreter at the WTO, after over 20 years experience as a free-lance interpreter working for UN & government agencies, international organizations, and the private market.

She was guest lecturer in Interpretation and Translation at the University of Salamanca, and the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE).

Ms. Goslin was also a language advisor for State Examinations at the Spanish MFA, Parliament and Diplomatic School.  In 2003, King Juan Carlos I of Spain awarded Ms. Goslin the Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil. (Cross of the Order of Civil Merit).

Tatiana Kaplun (A-RU, B-EN, C-FR), Degree in Translation Studies and Interpreting (St Petersburg State University); M.A. Interpreting and Translating (University of Bath); AIIC, worked extensively on the Russian market, and has been based in Strasburg since 2017 working mainly for international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the ECHR.

She also works on the ministerial level, and for private companies with a special interest in the arts, marketing, legal, and oil and gas.  Tatiana teaches at ITIRI (Strasburg) has also helped organize Julia Poger’s Know Your Worth seminars, both in person and online.

Sébastien Longhurst (A-FR, B-EN, ES), BA in English Language (Bordeaux), BA in Political Science and MA in International Relations (IEP Bordeaux), TAALS, AIIC, lives and works in Bogota, Colombia. He is a self-taught interpreter but admits that he would not have gone very far without the mentoring from his fellow AIIC colleagues and sweating his way through the CCIC as a student in 2016.

Sébastien, who is accredited by both the UN and the Government of Canada, built most of his experience on the Colombian and Latin American markets as a conference and diplomatic interpreter working for various governments, UN Offices in Nairobi, Vienna and Geneva, the Organisation of American States, and international sports and union federations. He also worked in Geneva for the WTO, WHO and ILO.

In 2014, he founded Lingua Viva, a language service provider based in Bogota, which currently employs ten staff and over forty freelance translators and interpreters in Latin America.

In collaboration with ISIT, he supported the organisation of several professional development courses for interpreters in Colombia. In 2019, he organised and coordinated a professional practice course for Canadian Government and ICAO staff interpreters.

Patricia Magno-Holt, (A-EN, ES, C-FR)

Interpreting: As the former Chief of the Interpreting Division, Office of Language Services, U.S. Department of State, Patsy supervised the work and testing of staff and contract interpreters in over 80 languages for the White House and other US federal agencies.

Prior to that job, she free-lanced as a diplomatic and conference interpreter in North America, Europe, and South America. Her career has spanned over 40 years, and she has been a guest lecturer/evaluator in institutions around the world. She currently consults on interpretation issues, including voice production and presentation techniques.

Theatre: The Other Side of a Life, 2022, New York (Director); Ever Young, 2021, New York (Director); 366 Days, On-line production, June 2020 (London Offies OnComm winner); Past Perfect, RADA Festival, London, 2019. Past Perfect, Etcetera Theatre, London, 2019. Harmony in A Flat, Triad Theater, New York, 2019. The Trip to Times Square, Theatre for the New City, New York, 2019. The Bohemians, Theatre for the New City, New York, 2018. Past Perfect, New York New Works Theatre Festival, 2018. While she works in multiple languages, her first love remains Shakespeare. She has appeared in Santa Fe, NM, in The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Winter’s Tale, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at RADA (London); and starred in Madame Ambassador, a featured comedy at the DC Fringe. She has trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, and with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, DC.

Lina Pekler (A-EN/RU, C-FR) DESS in Conference Interpretation (ESIT, Paris); AIIC, started as a freelance interpreter in Paris in 1991.  During her freelance career, clients included International Organizations such as the UN, NATO, UNESCO, and the OECD, as well as private clients.

She taught interpretation at ESIT for eight years, and was a member of the AIIC professional delegation in Paris.  In 2004 she accepted a staff position with the UN in Nairobi, and is now working as a senior interpreter and is a former head of the English booth in the UN HQ in New York.

Claudia Ricci (A-IT, B-EN/ES, C-FR/PT); Post-graduate degree in Conference Interpreting Techniques (University of Westminster); Honours Degree in English and Spanish with final dissertation in compared literature (IULM, Milan); Degrees in Parliamentary/ Court/ Community Interpreting (Bologna), AIIC; has worked as a freelance interpreter for all EU institutions since 1998 and works actively on the private market, both as an interpreter and as a consultant.

She sat on the AIIC PRIvate Market Sector (PRIMS) Standing Committee for 10 years, and is still actively involved. Claudia is exclusive member for Italy at Calliope Interpreters, the first global network of consultant interpreters

Bernd Saure, (A-DE, B-EN/FR); M.A., Diplom-Dolmetscher (Cologne), Bordeaux (Université de Bordeaux III) and Paris (ESIT), AIIC has been a part-time staff interpreter for German, English and French with the German Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag) since 2017.  From 1994 he started working full time as a staff interpreter with the German Ministry of Defence, which included a four-year period (1998-2002) as Head of Linguistic Services of Eurocorps, then moving to part time in 2008.

Bernd has much experience as an interpreter in politics and diplomacy, working regularly with all the German ministries, including the Federal Chancellery and Federal Presidency, and at international conferences such as the G7, EU and NATO summits, and the Munich Security Conference.  As a free-lance interpreter in Berlin, he works for political foundations, the Berlinale Film Festival and for ARTE, N24 and ZDF, as well as being a fully accredited interpreter at the European Patent Office.

He is a lecturer (chargé d’enseignement) at La Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris (ESIT) and at Cologne University for Applied Sciences, where he teaches simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.

Ekaterina Shutova (A-RU, B-EN), MA in Translation and Interpretation from the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), AIIC, accredited interpreter (ACI) for EU institutions, has been working as a freelancer since 1996 in Russia and internationally.

She has worked for a range of government structures, international organizations, private companies and NGOs. She also has considerable experience in diplomatic interpreting at international fora and as a personal interpreter for high-level politicians, members of royal families and other leaders.

Since 2008 she has been in charge of curriculum design at the St. Petersburg School of Conference Interpreting and Translation (SCIT) where she also teaches consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. She has participated in numerous DG SCIC and EMCI training-of-trainers courses and delivered training modules to corporate interpreters and university trainers

Lucie Solem (A-FR, C-ES, DE, EN, PT); MA in Conference Interpreting (ISIT); MA in Research in Translation Studies (ESIT); AIIC; first worked as a freelance interpreter for 10 years in Buenos Aires and Paris, for the private market (politics, environment, energy), TV channels and ministries, UNESCO and the EU.

She taught and examined at ISIT, UCLouvain, Universités Paris Diderot, Paris Est, Catholique de l’Ouest.

She has been working as a staff interpreter since 2019 for the Directorate General for Interpretation (SCIC) in the European Commission. She has participated in various DG SCIC and AIIC training of trainers courses, and is in charge of the French version of https://orcit.eu/.

Marie-Jeanne (MJ) Vanleynseele (A-FR, B-EN, C-DE), M.A. in Conference Interpreting (ISTI, Brussel), Post-Graduate Diploma in Conference Interpreting (University of Manchester), has been working as a freelance interpreter on the Parisian market since 2018. She is a member of the SFT, an AIIC precandidate, and took part in the first edition of the French VEGA Mentoring scheme as a mentor. Interested in a vast array of topics, she specialises in the cinema industry and in counter-terrorism.

She is a co-administrator of the Paris Interpreters Practice Sessions (PIPS) for qualified interpreters wishing to hone their skills through deliberate practice. She has taught simultaneous and consecutive interpreting from EN and DE into FR at the ULB in Belgium.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she oversaw the smooth running of online multilingual meetings for international organisations, remotely liaising with technicians and interpreters. MJ has been part of the CCIC team since 2017.

Gabriella Verdi (A-IT, B-EN, C-ES), Degree in Conference Interpreting  and Translation from Trieste University and M.A. in English Literature from Bologna University, AIIC; has been a freelance interpreter on the Italian private market since 1985, working in a wide range of areas, with a special interest in medical and scientific disciplines, politics, business, TV & radio, literary and journalistic translation.

She taught simultaneous and consecutive interpreting at the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Interpreting and Translation of Bologna University, Forlì Campus, Italy from 1992 to 2000.

Since 1996 she has been a member of InterMed, Italian Association of Medical Interpreters. She teaches courses of English in Optics and Optometry in cooperation with Aston University in Birmingham since 2013.

She is a member of AIIC, and currently a member of AIIC’s THC (Technical and Health Committee), working on a projects on hearing protection and interpreter health.