District 5030 Team to France

District 1690 Team From France

Jacques Thibaudon: Team Leader - Du Rotary Club de Dax - From the Rotary Club of Dax

Jacques is a member of the Rotary Club of Dax. He was a consulting engineer in logistics and worked for many years in an important industrial group, PECHINEY, which manufactures special steels, aluminum and various metals. His job included purchasing, supplying, production planning and transport. He has been retired for five years and logistics is no longer his main concern which has become family, gardening, playing bridge, traveling and ... ROTARY.

Jacques is open to every opportunity to meet people and visit any kind of company, including harbor companies, since he was a port forwarder for five years for PECHINEY. Over 40 years ago as a student he worked two months for a company in Connecticut. This is his first return visit to the U.S. so he is looking forward to it and to seeing the West Coast.

Kelly Emerson - Sponsored by the Shoreline and Shoreline Breakfast Rotary Clubs

Kelly was born in Baltimore, and grew up in South Florida. She has a younger sister who is currently serving in the U. S. Army in Baghdad, Iraq.  She also has a six-year old baby brother who lives in FL. 

For her junior year of college, Kelly participated in a Study Abroad program at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Goucher College in French, with a concentration in International Relations. To maintain her language proficiency, she participates in several French conversation groups that meet in the Puget Sound Region. She also tutors French in her free time. 

Soon after moving to Seattle, Kelly worked in the customer service department for a local internet service provider, Sprynet (which later became EarthLink) for five years. That is where she met her husband, Jon, who currently works for Comcast. She then worked for COIT Restoration Services as a Marketing Coordinator for three years. There she honed her presentation skills through exhibiting at trade shows around the country; as well as through doing presentations at the yearly “Restoration College” COIT would offer to its division and franchise managers. 

Currently, Kelly is a Program Assistant in the immigration department at the Canadian Consulate General of Seattle, where she has worked for the past two and a half years. In a team environment, she processes applications for foreign nationals who plan visit, work or study in Canada, and for those intending to reside in Canada permanently. In her position, she works with people from all over the world on a daily basis. She has also traveled extensively with trips that include Italy, Greece, Germany, Morocco, Belgium, France and Canada. 

To relax, Kelly enjoys reading, spending time with friends, listening to music, bicycling and yoga.

Antoine David -  parrainer par le Rotary club de Blanquefort - sponsored by Rotary Club of Blanquefort

A mechanical engineer in aeronautics, born Jun 18, 1982. Antoine, 26 years old, is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Blanquefort-en-Medoc.

He works as an engineer at Airlinair, a company which provides maintenance and repair services for aircraft. His main function is to give technical support to the workmen doing line maintenance. If they find something unusual (on the structural area, landing gears and wheel and brakes), they send a report with a sketch, distance description of the damage. Antoine analyses all the data, studies the manufacturer’s recommended procedure and decides whether to authorize the plane to fly (in accordance with his department chief) or to ground the plane and contact the aircraft manufacturer for further instructions. After that he is the liaison between the workman and the manufacturer. His company has a workshop to overhaul brakes and wheels of planes. He also writes work orders and validates the work carried out (based on the work order filled in). Same as above, if something is not in the manufacturer’s recommendations, I contact the wheel and brakes manufacturer to try to find a solution Last year he also worked on the renewal of approval of airworthiness for an aircraft. With a co-worker he is setting up a file for the French authorities. They reviewed it and after he and his partner were interviewed about it they led an inspection of the aircraft being renewed.

He is also very interested in aircraft manufacturing in general. It is an area he doesn’t know very well, though he knows it is well developed around Seattle. Beyond professional interests, he would be glad just to share with people the different way of life and culture in France.

Charity McCollum - Sponsored by the West Seattle Rotary Club

Charity was born in Seattle and spent her childhood years in Montreal where she developed a passion for French language and a strong desire to travel the world. After returning to the Pacific Northwest and completing high school, Charity worked as a nanny in New York before attending the University of Washington, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Communications and French. After graduation, Charity entered the marketing field at a local dot com before heading to England for a coaching and teaching position at an all girls boarding school outside of London. This position included everything from coaching lacrosse and basketball to French tutoring and teaching British history.

Charity is currently working at Group Health Cooperative as a Senior Consultant in the Enterprise Project Management Office. Her role has involved working directly with clinicians, IT, leadership, vendors, and various other departments on large scale projects including implementations of the organization’s electronic health record system (EHR) and the picture archiving and communications system (PACS). Prior to joining Group Health, she worked at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the Library Program installing computers in public libraries of low income communities throughout the US and training librarians how to use and maintain the new technology.

In her work and life Charity is passionate about people and believes that every interaction can be enhanced by taking the time to listen, acknowledge, and appreciate the different perspectives that each of us has to offer. She is also passionate about staying active and inspiring others to do the same. She currently volunteers as a coach for Girls on the Run, an after school program promoting self respect and healthy lifestyles through running and is a member of the Luna Chix cycling team leading rides for women of all skill levels and abilities while raising money and awareness for the Breast Cancer Fund. Charity can also be found traveling, playing lacrosse, participating in triathlons, enjoying the snow, and spending quality time with her husband, Chad, and their adorable cat, Bella.

Helene Chochoy

Ms. Chochoy is 29 years old and works as a Financial and Management Analyst. Helene is 28 years old and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bayonne-Biarritz.

She has worked in recent years at several small companies as a financial analyst. She currently works as a financial analyst in a technical college in Bordeaux. Helene is currently very interested in the operations of a university or technical college, particularly the financial aspects: the cost of tuition and the cost per student for the institution; the various sources of revenue for post-secondary institutions of learning; how students finance their studies and how they are selected for admission. She also works on analyzing the cost of research projects for the college because it receives funding for research from the French government.

Helene is single and has no children. She likes to surf, to rollerblade and to take walks. She is also a lover of nature.

Elizabeth Milburn - Sponsored by the Lake Union Rotary Club

Elizabeth Milburn was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She transferred from Shoreline Community College to Washington State University (WSU) in 2003, and finished her Civil Engineering undergraduate studies there in 2005. Elizabeth then stayed at WSU to complete a Master’s Degree from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Currently, she is working for Coughlin Porter Lundeen, a civil engineering firm in downtown Seattle. Her work involves designing site utility and stormwater systems for northwest educational construction projects such as Pacific Lutheran University, Robert Frost Elementary, and Lake Washington High School. She enjoys the challenge of integrating innovative and progressive design techniques into her projects, and is always looking for better ways to produce sustainable, environmentally-responsible systems and sites.

Elizabeth has a life-long commitment to serving her community, church, and family. For the past ten years she has enjoyed teaching horsemanship, boating, and rocketry at Cascade Camp Cherith, located in the Eastern Cascade Mountains. She is also involved in Outdoors For All at Stevens Pass, a local organization which assists students with disabilities as they learn to ski. Elizabeth has enjoyed getting her hands dirty by helping out with local community enhancement projects through the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and Habitat For Humanity.

Ms. Milburn’s interest in France and the French language started early, prompted by her parents’ stories of their French-Canadian heritage. She enjoys traveling domestically and abroad, and is excited about returning to France this March. She is especially looking forward to getting to know her host families and learning about French culture and engineering strategies. In her spare time, Elizabeth enjoys construction projects and being outside, especially alpine and cross-country skiing, boating, biking, ultimate Frisbee, hiking, and attending live music events.

Sabine Flajeolet - parrainer par le Rotary club de St Médard en Jalle - sponsored by Rotary Club of St Medard en Jalle

Personal Secretary (Administrative Assistant) in CCSO bank, born Aug 15, 1981. Sabine is 27 years old. She works as an Administrative Assistant for top management at Credit Commercial du Sud Ouest (CCSO), a bank based in Merignac, a suburb of Bordeaux. CCSO has 57 branches in the Aquitaine region of France, which covers a large part of Rotary District 1690.

Jean Baptiste Trappier - parrainer par le club de St Médard en Jalles - sponsored by Rotary Club of St Medard en Jalle

Head of Consulting and Management, born Feb 27, 1972.

Jean-Baptiste is 37 years old and a native of Bordeaux. After earning a degree and license to practice law, he started his own business buying and selling real estate: he purchased and renovated various properties for resale. His company also does consulting and renovation work for private individuals and small properties.

Jean-Baptiste does not have any specific wishes for this exchange. He once spent a year in Columbia, South Carolina and is happy simply to return to the United States.

He is the father of a four-year-old daughter.