Staff

Christie Hickman

Executive Assistant, Event & Membership Coordinator

Christie, a Colorado native, lived in France in 2008 for a study abroad program in Rennes as well as in the Basque Country during 2010-2011 teaching English to high school students. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in French language from the University of Colorado Boulder and is currently pursuing an MBA with an emphasis in International Business. Christie is responsible for planning and marketing all events, member coordination, as well as maintaining partnerships such as CORA. As a new staff member, she looks forward to incorporating her background in French and International Business skills at the FACC.

Board of Directors

Omar Soubra, FACC President
Director, Techno-Marketing, Trimble Navigation
Omar, a French native, has been developing a team of professional marketers in different parts of the world. He has been with Trimble Navigation, the leader in positioning solutions, for over 13 years, in various roles, from European Sales manager, to Portfolio/Market Manager. Omar holds anengineering degree in LASER and Photonics from Polytech Orléans, France, a Bachelor in Engineering, Electronics and Electricity from the University of Dundee,Scotland and a Master of Art in Sales and Marketing from the Chamber of Commerce of Versailles/Yvelines, France. Full details on his career is available on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/omarsoubra. In addition to his marketing communications responsibilities, Omar is an innovator at heart and holds several patents that have been developed and used in current products and solutions. Omar has been living in Colorado since January 2005. 

Benoit Guin, FACC Chairman of the Board
Principal, Amelie Company
Benoît is one of the founding members of the French-American Chamber of Commerce. He has 21 years of international agency experience in marketing and advertising services, starting his career in the most prestigious advertising agencies in Paris including Eurocom and DMB&B. In 2002, he founded Amélie Company, offering advertising and marketing services

to French businesses as well as US companies.

Susan Brushaber, FACC Secretary
Attorney at law, Law Office of Susan J. Brushaber
Admitted to practice in New York, New Jersey and Colorado, Susan Brushaber advises foreign and domestic clients on a wide range of legal issues, primarily in the area of Intellectual Property Law. She also advises clients on general corporate and commercial matters, especially in connection with the formation and management of foreign subsidiaries, strategic relationships, outsourcing and product distribution, procurement and supply.

Vera Divenyi
Business Relationship Manager, Wells Fargo
Vera Divenyi is a Business Relationship Manager with Wells Fargo serving the Denver Metro and Boulder Metro areas.  Vera specializes in commercial lending and helping businesses with any business banking needs. Vera is currently a member of the Colorado Administration of Municipal Tax Auditors (CAMTA), Colorado Association of Commerce & Industry (CACI) Tax Council, and Colorado Software Industry Association (CSIA).

Virginie Ganivet
Principal, Cividesk
Virginie, a French native, moved to the US in 2000 with her husband and her three boys. Virginie was the Executive Director of the FACC from 2004-2011 and the Executive Director of CORA (Colorado Rhone-Alpes Economic Development Partnership) from 2009-2011.  Before transferring to the U.S., Virginie worked for 10 years in the field of high-tech product marketing as Marketing and Communications Manager for Arche Group Siemens, and prior to that as Product Manager for Cabletron Systems. She holds a degree in Mathematics and Physics and graduated from the Computer Sciences, Electronics and Engineering School of Paris.

Jean-Marc Guillard
Chief Operating Officer - Spatial
Jean-Marc joined Spatial from Spatial's parent company, Dassault Systèmes. Jean-Marc is responsible for company strategy and all of Spatial's business operations, including sales, marketing, services, development and finance. He has 20 years of experience within Dassault Systèmes development, professional services and information systems organizations. Early in his career, Jean-Marc worked as a software engineer, developing surface algorithms and geometry operators for CATIA v4.

Jeff Richards
Honorary Consul of France
Attorney, Anstine, Hill, Richards & Simpson 
Jeff is the Honorary Consul of France in Colorado. Prior to settling in Denver, Jeff studied and worked in France. He has been active in the French Community in Colorado since the 1980s and is past president of the Alliance Française de Denver. Jeff began his legal career in Washington, D.C. and is currently a partner with the law firm of Anstine, Hill, Richards & Simpson, where he specializes in commercial, business and insurance litigation for both French and American clients.

Edith Samouillet
President, Turning points
Edith Samouillet is the President and founder of Turning points, LLC. Her speciality areas are Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, and Team building, which she offers in both in English and French. Her interest in the French American Chamber of Commerce is not only because she is a French citizen, but because of her international background and the fact that she comes from the Rhône-Alpes region where she still has a significant business network. For the majority of her international career, she has been based in Lyon.

Brad Whittle
Senior Vice President, Veolia Transportation
Brad Whittle has over 20 years of management and financial experience in both the private sector and public accounting.  Brad joined Colorado Cab Company as President in 2000, and is currently Senior Vice President for Veolia Transportation, a division of Paris based Veolia Environnement.  Veolia Transportation is the largest multi-modal transportation company in North America.  Brad oversees taxi, paratransit, SuperShuttle and ExecuCar operations for Veolia in Colorado and the Kansas City area.  In addition, Brad is a member of the Veolia acquisition team.

Honorary Board Members

Susan Engeman
Former FACC President

Frieda Sanidas Leason
Honorary Consul of France Emeritus

Bob Snyder
Former FACC President