Marie-Claire Howard
Chair

An active member of Alliance Française Vancouver since 1996, Marie-Claire is a former journalist and public relations consultant. She now shares her time between business management, philanthropy, sports, and graduate studies. She is serving her fourth mandate and has been involved with the AFV new building project from the beginning. She has sat on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Hawks Field Hockey Club, the Advisory Board of the British Columbia Recreation and Parks Association, the Lord Tennyson PAC and the French Chamber of Commerce in Toronto and Vancouver. She is also on the Financial Committee and the Opportunities Committee of Social Venture Partners.

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Richard Brown
Vice President

Returned to Canada following retirement as an investment banker in 2019 after two decades covering Asian markets from Hong Kong, most recently as Senior Banker for Brookfield Financial. His former career included McKinsey & Company, Citibank, and Bank of New York Mellon. He graduated in engineering from Imperial College, University of London, and earned an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Fascinated one summer by the Côte d’Azur at the age of 12. Now, he spends part of each year in France to immerse in the culture - celebrating the work of great artists, visiting small villages by bicycle, and sampling the delights of local markets and vineyards. He also collects works of Provencal artists. Previously studied at L’Alliance Française Hong Kong, where one night he dreamt in French for the first time. He hopes to enable other Alliance Française Vancouver students to be inspired by French and Francophone culture and to achieve their own linguistic dreams.

Suzanne (Suzy) Buckley
Treasurer

Suzy Buckley joined the Alliance Française Vancouver Board in 2018. She is currently Treasurer and sits on the Financial Planning Committee for the new AFV building. Suzy is a principal at Competition Economics LLC, with over 20 years of consulting experience in litigation matters primarily involving intellectual property, breach of contract, false advertising, and other commercial disputes. She has also taught courses in economics at several universities. Suzy earned an M.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland at College Park and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Swarthmore College.

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Cosme Fandy
Director

Originally from Benin, Cosme did his higher education in Benin and France, respectively. Currently a doctoral student in education at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Cosme is interested in learning French in a minority setting. He also works as a document management clerk at the French School Board of British Columbia since 2018. By choosing to join the Alliance Française Vancouver, Cosme's vision is to contribute to the promotion of francophone culture, cooperation and a synergy of action between the Alliance Française and the Francophone associations of British Columbia in order to improve their visibility.

Amandine Carton
Director

After leaving the south of France (Sète) in 2001, Amandine lived in England for 10 years as well as in Mauritius, Australia and South America and settled in Vancouver in 2016. She is an experienced project manager with a specialization in process improvement that she has applied in many areas such as finance, retail and construction. Amandine is interested in cultural development and supporting environmental activities. She wants to put her cultural and project management knowledge and skills to the service of the Alliance Française of Vancouver.

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Pierre Beugnot
Director

Pierre moved to Vancouver in 2012 from Lorraine, France. He has a background in business and computer science, and he is currently VP of Product/Operations at Axiom Zen, an innovation studio focused on emerging technologies. In his free time, Pierre works as Chair of the Technical Committee with PeaceGeeks, a non-profit organization that builds digital tools to empower communities in the pursuit of peace. He is also the High-Performance Fleet Captain at the UBC Sailing Club. He plans to support Alliance Française Vancouver with today's technological challenges.

Sonia Robert
Director

Originally from Montreal, Sonia transferred to Vancouver with Xerox Canada in 1991. Sonia’s tenure at Xerox spanned over thirty years. She possesses extensive experience in business development, employee management, operations, and project management. She is a recipient of multiple awards as an outstanding achiever in sales and customer satisfaction. Over the last nineteen years, Sonia has devoted her time volunteering for non-profit organizations. She was President of The Trottin Trottinette parent’s association French pre-school and Andre Piolat. During her mandate, she developed a before and after school care program. She spent the last four years as a chair of The Vancouver College parent’s association, successfully leading and project managing their annual Mayfair fundraising event resulting in her receiving the White Wash award for outstanding contribution. Fluent in French, and believer in Francophone cultural diversity, Sonia will draw upon her many attributes and experiences to assist in the success of Alliance Française Vancouver realizing their objectives.

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Marc Tabet
Director

I’m a professional Engineer in British Columbia working as a Project Management Professional. I’m analytical, entrepreneurial, responsible professional driven by significance and learning. I’m also passionate about engineering/technology, sustainability and human behavior. I have a bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut and a Masters in Clean Energy Engineering from the University of British Columbia. I completed my engineering background with an Accredited Training in Personal Development Consultancy/Coaching. I have lived and worked in 4 countries. Adaptable, fluent in French, English and Arabic and enjoying a conversational level in Spanish, I have great affinity to connecting with people. I am in part French and greatly appreciative of French Language and Culture that I like to promote through my participation to the AFV among other. I like hosting dinners, socializing, playing tennis, skiing, doing High Intensity Trainings and keeping informed by reading about topics I like.

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Lily Qiongli Wu
Director

Of Chinese origin, I lived in France and worked for a decade for Auchan in France and in China in the product and branding section. As soon as I arrived in Vancouver in 2017, I have been an active volunteer of the PAC (Parent Advisory Councils) at Cousteau, the French International School. For three years I actively helped in a lot of projects: crowd founding, organization of major events in the school like the charity fair, Christmas, Chinese New Year’s Eve, and I was also managing and distributing the hot lunches. I would like to continue to maintain the strong connection between China, France and Canada thanks to my professional expertise and my multicultural experiences.