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Toastmasters Leadership Institute Speakers
Lark Doley, DTM, Past International President
A member of Toastmasters since 1990, Distinguished Toastmaster Lark Doley served as the 2018-19 Toastmasters International President. In her professional life, Lark has owned a successful manufacturing business, worked as a Marketing Manager at Texas Instruments, and before her retirement in 2021, worked as a Training Manager for Maximus. Lark lives in a lighthouse home outside of Austin, Texas, USA overlooking Lake Travis. The home was built by her late husband Roger in honor of her late father-in-law Arthur. Both men were born in England and both men loved the sea. At Toastmaster events Lark often wears golden outfits to symbolize the value of membership in Toastmasters.
Varun Puri
Varun is the co-founder of Yoodli, an artificial intelligence powered platform that helps people improve their public speaking without the pressure of judgement. Toastmasters has partnered with yoodli to bring AI speech coaching to members globally. Yoodli automatically tracks your filler words, pacing, eye contact and helps you improve.
Denise Sundquist
Denise is a health, safety and environmental professional. She is currently working full time as an electrical safety trainer utilizing all of her Toastmaster skills to keep her audience informed and engaged. She lives in Brainerd, MN with her husband Matt and enjoys spending time with her three adult children.
Sarah Bateman, DTM
Sarah is a long standing member of Toastmasters International. She is a graduate from the National Speakers Association Apprentice Program and is a certified coach through the World Class Speaking Program. She takes pleasure in guiding new speakers.
Sarah aids entrepreneurs in the development of a focused message which is relatable, memorable, and succinct. She teaches techniques which help decrease the stress and time involved in preparing presentations.
She is currently presenting workshops designed to help people create more fulfilling lives by learning to share their knowledge, opinions and ideas.
Matthew Villella, DTM
Matthew is a 40-year-old lifelong resident of Thunder Bay. Matthew is a proud graduate of Lakehead University with his Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in 2005, and recently completed his Master’s in Education at Lakehead University in 2018.
Matthew is currently a professor at Confederation College. Previously Matthew worked at YES Employment Services for over 14 years as an Employment Counsellor and Workshop Facilitator.
Matthew was honored to receive the Citizens of Exceptional Achievement Award from the City of Thunder Bay in 2014, and was recently awarded the Community Champion Award in 2018 through the Northern Ontario Visionary Awards Top 20 under the age of 40. Matt is the VP of Public Relations for the President Distinguished Nanabijou 2090 Toastmaster Club and Past Division Director and area director for District 106 Toastmasters and is now the lead trainer for District 106 which he has held for the past two years. One of Matthew’s highlights as a toastmaster was being a Toastmaster for 4 international meetings that were held during covid on zoom which saw over 250 toastmasters from around the world attend 4 meetings. Matt is a fun, dynamic presenter and owes this all to Toastmasters.
Daniel Grundtner, DTM
