ICC-The International Language Association

ICC Co-Chairs (2026 – 2029)

Helen Bulluck

Helen is originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, but has settled in Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. She holds degrees from Queen’s University Belfast and the Open University. She has taught in public schools in Britain and Germany, but most of her teaching career has been as a freelancer in the industrial and medical fields. She lectures at the Fachhochschule des Mittelstands, a private university, and at Hochschule Coburg, Germany. She has been a EUROLTA trainer for over 20 years and, most recently, was involved in the rewriting of the EUROLTA programme. Her goal as Co-Chair is to expand knowledge of the ICC and its many programmes.

helen.bulluck@icc-languages.eu

Stella Coel

Stella Coel currently serves as Head Teacher English and Innovation Project Lead at Flying Teachers GmbH in Switzerland, where she oversees a network of 200+ teachers across four countries. Her work bridges high-level institutional strategy with hands-on pedagogical innovation, encompassing quality assurance, teacher certification, and cross-border programme development. Raised bilingual in English and Mandarin Chinese with intermediate proficiency in German, her multicultural perspective is complemented by her work across Europe and Asia.
Stella holds a BSc (Hons) in Business & Management from the University of London. She is a certified Cambridge CELTA Trainer and holds the Swiss Federal Certificate for Adult Educators (SVEB). She has also completed the DELTA Diploma (Level 7) with International House London, further deepening her expertise in syllabus design, testing, and assessment.
Within the ICC, Stella has demonstrated capabilities in consortium building and tender development. She co-led a successful consortium bid for a German and EU‑funded project to train 50 German language teachers in Pakistan, working closely with government and institutional partners. On the global stage, she has represented her institution at major international events, including a panel appearance at the UK–Pakistan Trade Summit during World Economic Forum week in Davos.
Areas of expertise and training focus:
  • International project and tender management
  • Teacher training and CELTA certification
  • Examination centre accreditation and quality assurance
  • Language policy, curriculum development, and assessment design
  • Cross‑border team leadership and stakeholder engagement
  • Multilingual programme development

stella.coel@icc-languages.eu

Learn more about the History of ICC Chairs here

ICC Board Members

Damian Fäh

Damian Faeh has a master’s degree in general history, environmental sciences and English literature and is a certified education and training manager with 10 years of experience in various fields of adult education. He is currently an innovation manager and product developer for Flying Teachers in the fields of basic skills provision, digitalization and AI-literacy, German as a second language and teacher-training. He is an active teacher-trainer in EUROLTA, the Swiss SVEB and fide certificate courses, and in basic skills trainings focusing on digital literacy. H is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Basic Skills Network (EBSN). In his work for the ICC Board (since 2023) he has contributed to the revision of the ICC EUROLTA course and is currently coordinating the joint project of the ICC and Flying Teachers titled: “Enhancing Language Training Capacities, Teaching of the Trainers (ToT)” in Pakistan, which will lead to the certification of 50 Pakistani German Teachers with the EUROLTA certificate in 2027. Before his current position, he led a team of ten teachers, and managed an integration program for adult refugees, where he developed content, curricula and quality management processes for German as a second language, intercultural competence and job-application training.

Areas of Expertise

  • Project Coordination
  • International Networking
  • Digital Technology & AI
  • Teacher Training
  • Basic Skills
  • Curriculum Development
  • Erasmus+ 

damian.faeh@flyingteachers.com

Eliza Claudia Filimon

Eliza Claudia FILIMON, Director of the MA Programme ‘The Theory and Practice of Translation’ of the West University of Timișoara, Romania, is PhD Associate Professor of Film Studies, Audiovisual Translation and Literary Translation. She was awarded the title of Professor Bologna in 2018. She is a member of the European Film Academy, a Board member of the PETRA-E European Association for the Training of Literary Translators, and served as a member of the Steering Committee of the European Parliament terminology unit DG TRAD-Term Coord- YOURTERM (2021-2022). She is an active member of international language and translation assessment boards: Cambridge English Language Assessment, Culture Moves Europe,  and the Romanian Cultural Institute. A translator herself, Eliza has translated award-winning prose and poetry from and into Romanian, English, Dutch, and Spanish.

In the field of Film Studies, Eliza is a jury member and assessor of films and screenplays at international film festivals, as well as a coordinator of projects on subtitling, dubbing and audio description for the blind and partially sighted audiences. Eliza Filimon is a Festival de Cannes accredited professional, and she served as the ProZ Pro Bono Ambassador to Romania (2023-2024).

eliza.filimon@e-uvt.ro

Ian McMaster

Ian McMaster is a business communication consultant, author, and journalist. He was editor-in-chief of the general English magazine Spotlight from 1995—2003 and editor-in-chief of the business communication magazine Business Spotlight from 2001 to 2021. He is a former coordinator of the IATEFL Business English Special Interest Group (BESIG) and his research interests include international communication and English as a Lingua Franca. His latest publication (in English, with Bob Dignen) is Trainingsbuch Business English – Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit in internationalen Teams (Haufe. 2023). Ian has been presenting an international conferences for nearly 30 years and is a long-time supporter of the ICC and a regular participant at its events.

ian.mcm@t-online.de

Iryna Demchenko

Iryna Demchenko is originally from Ukraine and is the founder and director of Garna Language School in Magdeburg, Germany. She has more than 18 years of experience in language education, having worked as an English teacher, Head of English Department, school principal and educational leader in Ukraine and Germany.

She holds a CELTA qualification and is recognised in Germany as a teacher of English and German as a Second Language (DaZ). She specialises in teaching children and adults, Cambridge English qualifications, multilingual education and language learning for professional and academic purposes.

As a member of the ICC Board, she is committed to promoting international collaboration, sharing innovative teaching practices and supporting high-quality language education for learners of all ages.

  • Areas of Expertise:
    Cambridge English Qualifications
  • English Language Teaching (Children & Adults)
  • German as a Second Language (DaZ)
  • Educational Leadership
  • Multilingual Education
  • AI in Language Teaching
  • International Educational Projects

Email: info@garnaschool.com

Jason Chan

Jason Chan is a professor of English language and business communication at Management Center Innsbruck, Austria. He is an experienced teacher of English and intercultural studies as well as an oral examiner for IELTS and Cambridge Exams. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Glasgow and a masters in English language assessment from the University of Cambridge. He serves on the editorial panel of the Cambridge Journal of Education and is a Fellow of the English Association, UK.

jason.chan@mci.edu

Michael Haris

Michael Haris is the proprietor of “Haris Michail,” a Foreign Language Center located in Rhodes, Greece, where he has been teaching English since 1993. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Arts and Literature from La Trobe University and another in Finance and Marketing from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). Additionally, he possesses a Cambridge Proficiency Certificate in English from La Trobe University and has completed a TEFL course.

As a Teacher-Trainer and Oral Examiner, Michael is affiliated with various prestigious organisations, including Palso, EDEXCEL exams, London Test of English (LTE) exams, Pearson Test of English (PTE) exams, and NOCN exams. He is an active member of PALSO Dodecanese and the Palso Federation of Greece.

Michael’s leadership extends to PALSO Dodecanese, where he served as Chairman of the board, overseeing the organisation of annual Book Exhibitions and Foreign Language Exams in English, German, Italian, and French across eight local centers.

info@michaelharis.com

Nazan Doğruer

Nazan Doğruer got her BA in English Language and Literature, (Hacettepe University, 1990); MA in English Language Teaching / Educational Studies (EMU, 2000); PhD in Educational Sciences (EMU, 2015). She holds RSA COTE, DOTE and CEELT from Cambridge University. She has been an English instructor at Foreign Languages and English Preparatory School at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) since 1992 and she has been also teaching at Education Faculty since 2010. While working at EMU she holds different extra responsibilities and currently she is the Assistant Director for Academic Affairs at Foreign Languages and English Preparatory School at EMU. Throughout her professional career she has attended many seminars, workshops, conferences, and educational training courses as an attendee or a presenter. She also has published book chapters and articles in the field of education.

Ridha Mejri

Ridha Mejri brings extensive experience from both the corporate sector and adult education. As a consultant and trainer, he delivers seminars and workshops tailored to corporate clients seeking to enhance their intercultural communication and leadership competencies. His international expertise is founded on extensive professional experience acquired through multiple assignments in diverse countries.

Raised bilingually and biculturally (Arabic and French), Ridha Mejri is fluent in German, English, French and Arabic. He studied English and German as foreign languages at Heidelberg University and holds a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, as well as a TEFL certificate from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, United Kingdom. He currently serves as a lecturer in Business Communication and Intercultural Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Worms, Germany. He is a conference speaker and a GlobeSmart Profile Advanced Practitioner.

Contact:

Email:      mejri@hs-worms.de

Web:        www.hs-worms.de/mejri

LinkedIn: https://shorturl.at/LnDr8

Thomas Tinnefeld

Thomas Tinnefeld is a Full Professor of Applied Languages at Saarland University of Applied Sciences and President of the Language Council of Saarland, Germany. Specialising in applied linguistics, he is a multilingual researcher and academic editor who has overseen nearly 400 scholarly publications across three international series. As an ICC Board member, he leverages his background as an established conference founder, international speaker and external academic reviewer to enrich the organisation’s webinars and conferences.

Further details regarding his academic and professional background are available on his personal website.

thomas.tinnefeld@icc-languages.eu

Administrative Support

Birgit Schrader Voelzke

EUROLTA

Birgit, a qualified office administrator, addicted to foreign languages, can look back on rich and varied experience in several national and international companies of different sectors – in a supermarket chain, in a hospital, in an auditing company, in a hotel in Paris, but also as a German teacher in Brazil. She holds all the strings of administration for EUROLTA.

birgit.schrader-voelzke@icc-languages.eu

Joana Huth

Accounting

Joana successfully completed her apprenticeship in hotel management and spent the first years of her professional career working across hotels throughout Germany. She has a keen interest in travel and spent considerable time immeresing herself in the diverse cultures of Australia, Europe and various regions of Asia. Through these experieces, she has broadened her understanding of different societies learning about their economic and cultural dimensions. She gained further knowledge of the hospitality industry working on cruise ships. In 2015 she joined a major hotel group in Hamburg as part of the accounting department before relocating to Rhineland-Palatinate and joining the team at ICC Languages as an accounting assistant.

joana.huth@icc-languages.eu

Lillian Tinnefeld-Yeh

Conference & Webinar Organisation, Correspondence, Social Media Management

Lillian Tinnefeld-Yeh holds an MA with Distinction in TESL/TEFL from the University of Birmingham (UK). She has over two decades of dedicated language teaching experience in higher education.

​Beyond the classroom, Lillian is a regular contributor to conference organisation. Since 2011 she has been actively involved in the organisation and planning of numerous on-site and online conferences and symposia in Saarbrücken, Germany.

​Upon joining the ICC in 2022, Lillian expanded her impact by coordinating international conferences and webinars and managing the association’s social media presence and marketing.

lillian.tinnefeld-yeh@icc-languages.eu