St. Lawrence Toastmasters has a history of developing great speakers. Since 1948, the club has seen a disproportionate number of its members go on to participate and win regional, district and international competitions.

To recognize the achievement of these members, we’ve established a Hall of Fame. Membership is awarded to those who have shown an exceptional ability to speak, to persuade, and win competitions at all levels. Each Hall of Fame member has also given generously of their time in teaching others in the club or at workshops, the winning formulas to giving great speeches.

Many members of the Hall of Fame are still active members of the club, attending the weekly meetings. This provides you with an exceptional opportunity to learn, be mentored and be evaluated by some of the best speakers and presenters in Montreal. All you need to do is attend one of our weekly meetings.

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Martina Kugler

Martina joined St-Lawrence in 2010. She completed her Competent Communicator in 2013 and her Competent Leader in 2017. She was President for two years in 2012 and 2013.

She is known for her outstanding and motivating evaluations. All of our members highly appreciate her for her tact, kindness, positive attitude, and friendly smile.

Martina had to leave us to return to her native Germany. Whether she stays there permanently or returns to us, the members will always remember her 8 years of contribution and dedication to this Club.

Pier-Luc Rouleau

Born in Lac-St-Jean, Pier-Luc joined our Club in 2013 to improve his public speaking skills and develop his English. He completed his Competent Communicator in 2015 and Competent Leader in 2018. In 2014 he was named the Most Improved Toastmaster at St-Lawrence. In 2016 he won the District Evaluation Contest and came second the following year.

He is always happy to accept new challenges, such as being the Chairman for the Area Contest or being the Co-chairman and Toastmaster for our 70th Anniversary Gala. Without a doubt, he is one of the members on which the Club can count to face its future.

Christian Turianskyj

Christian has been a long time member of our club. We have been enjoying his dedication and support since 1973. During this time, he gave our members many opportunities to learn and to grow: He isn’t only perfectly bilingual, he always makes sure that we use the best words and correct grammar in any situation. His carefully written speeches are educational and make us discover new topics and perspectives. He gives us the chance to learn how to evaluate an advanced speaker. He even knows which challenges the individual member needs to grow. He gave the entire Better Speaker Series to teach us new speaking skills. When we need a mentor for a new member, he is always ready to help out. What stands out the most is that he accomplished all these tasks with a friendly smile. In short, we are very fortunate to profit from his skills and support.

But he helped not only our club. He also participated actively in the larger Toastmasters program. He was one of the founding members of the advanced club TASK61 of which he was the VP Education in 1983 and 1984 as well as the president in 1985. He is one of the pioneers of the Toastmasters committee for the French translation of the manuals. He helped promote our club by writing articles for our website. He represented us in various speech contests. He even placed third in the regional contest in Lansing, Michigan, which proves that he is a true champion. And last but not least, he was so kind to conduct a Youth Leadership Program for high school student in Pointe Claire to introduce them to the art of public speaking.

Mathieu Savage

Mathieu joined St.Lawrence in September 2008. Bringing fresh air into the Club, right from the start he went on to accumulate many functions. Very active on the Executive Council, he held the following roles: Sergeant-at Arms, Vice-President Membership, as well as President in 2010/2011. He was always ready to take up a challenge and this, with brio. Just to name one: let us recall the speech he gave on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of our Club. This was remarkable, considering that this young new member had just arrived!

Mathieu is dynamic, dependable and you can always rely on him. This young man is an inspiration for the other speakers. Apart from giving excellent prepared speeches, he is a master in the art of writing a speech at the last minute. He also became a master in both persuasive and humorous speeches. It was in that last category that he went on to the District Level. This means, in fact, the highest level in this type of speech making. He equally participated, with much success, in improvisation and French language contests.

A number of persons have joined our Club thanks to his charisma as well as his kindness. 

Gilles Pelletier

In 1992, Gilles joined TM following his attendance to a Speech craft given at Canada Post. At that time, he was petrified to speak in public, but right from the start, he saw that in TM he would acquire the skills and get all the tools to communicate more easily. He was one of the founders of the Club Poste-Voix. And in 1994, he joined St. Lawrence club and he is a member still. As a competition fan, he won three times at district level, first with a humorous speech, in 1993 and then in the speech contest of 1994 and 2004.

He also engaged in leadership roles, when at the 1995 Spring Conference he gave a workshop entitled I.M.P.A.C.T. or the six secrets of a winning speech, and in 1999, another workshop entitled “Les mythes aux boules à mites, les diktats au débarras”, about myths and legends on public speaking. He also hold various fonction at the executive: secretary, vp-membership, and president in 2009. He had a great impact on the club, particularly in the promotion of French. He was the first speaker to present his speeches in French, although St.Lawrence club had the charter of bilingual club since. He also is a devoted member that always motivate and congratulate his colleagues toastmaster.

 

Jeannine Scott

Jeannine joined toastmasters in September 1993 and gave her ice-breaker speech at the 45th Anniversary celebration.  She was the President of the club in 1996 and was the District Champion in the Humourous Speech Contest in English in 1994 and in French in 1998.  Jeannine placed first in the District International Speech Competition three years in a row; 2002, 2003, and 2004.  In 2003, she also placed first in the region and participated in the World Championship of Public Speaking in Atlanta, Georgia.    Jeannine feels that she joined Toastmasters to gain confidence and has received benefits ten times more than she expected.

 

 

Italo Magni

Italo joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in March 1989 and became club president in 1993. He obtained the ATM designation as well as winning the English district humorous speech contest in 1989 and then went on to win the French district humorous speech contest in 1992. In 1994 he represented our District 61 at the International Speech contest. Italo considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be able to express his creativity through words. He has presented workshops at both the regional and district conferences as well as being the keynote speaker as such conferences.

 

 

Jacques Lamontagne

Jacques joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1983 and became club president in 1985. He has obtained his ATM designation and won the English district contest in 1991 and went on to win the French contest in 1997. Jacques was our chairman for our 50th anniversary celebrations. Jacques considers the most important benefit he has gained from Toastmasters is increased confidence. This has allowed him to leave a major transportation corporation and start his own company, INFO-GRAF PLUS.

 

 

Wendy Marshall

Wendy joined toastmasters in September 1996.  She was the club President in 1998.  She has participated in Humourous Speech Contests up to the District level.  She was responsible for the start-up of the St. Lawrence web site and continues to be actively involved in all area of the club’s activities.  She was awarded her Advanced Silver Level in November 2003.  Wendy believes her experience in Toastmasters and especially in the St. Lawrence Club, has helped her professionally and she enjoys the continuing challenge of trying out new speech material and collaborating with her fellow members.

 

 

John Fowler

John joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1981 and became club president in 1988. He has obtained his ATM designation and participated in our district table-topics contest in 1992. He was chairman of our 40th anniversary celebrations. John considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is the ability to express himself confidently in public. He used this confidence to leave a major bank to complete his MBA in France. Upon his return, John rejoined St. Lawrence and is now president of his own management consulting company.

 

 

Colette de Moscovaki

Colette joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1989 and became club president in 1996. She obtained her CTM and participated in numerous club contests and district evaluation contests. Colette has been our treasurer continuously for 10 years and also acted as treasurer of our spring district conference in 1998. Colette considers the most important benefit that she has obtained from Toastmasters is the ability to properly give evaluations to others.

 

 

John P. Clarke

John joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1964 when we were meeting at the Naval Officers Club located on Dr. Penfield Street and became our club president in 1967. He obtained his ATM and was a keen evaluator, winning the district contest in 1976. He was our area governor and lieutenant governor in the central division and governor administration in District 61. John considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is the ability to communicate more effectively with both large and small groups.

 

 

Frank Hofstetter

Frank joined St. Lawrence in 1969 and became our president in 1974. He obtained his ATM designation and won a divisional speech contest. He has been our districtÕs governor of education and then governor in 1975. Frank considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is gaining increased self-confidence which enabled him to start his own business.

 

 

Jim McAlpine

Jim first joined Toastmasters in Baie Comeau in 1960 and became president of that club in 1962. He joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in January 1964 and became our club president in 1970. He obtained his ATM designation and won the district speech contest in 1975 and 1984 and represented the district at the regional contests. Jim considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident.

 

 

Vigi Gurushanta

Vigi joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1979 and became our president in 1982. He was chairman of the 1984 Regional Spring Conference in Montreal. He then moved to Toronto where he became District Governor in 1989. He achieved his ATM bronze and DTM designations. Vigi considers the most important benefit that he has obtained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident and improved communication skills.

 

 

Ragbhir Dhillon

Ragbhir joined St. Lawrence Toastmasters in 1976 and became our president in 1980. He obtained his ATM bronze, silver and gold and then his DTM designation. He also went on to compete at the district speech contest in 1961, placing second. He won the district contest in 1979 and placed second at the regional level. Ragbhir moved to Toronto and rose to District Governor in 1985. IN the year 1997 he helped his club place number five in the world and personally contributed 3,500 points and made over thirty speeches. Ragbhir considers the most important benefit that he has gained from Toastmasters is to be self-confident.

 

 

Harry Clark

Harry joined the club in 1961 and became President in 1965. Harry was always on the lookout for new members, approaching them on the basis of ” I want to do you a favour and invite you to my Toastmasters Club”. He always felt that anyone joining was doing themselves a favour by gaining the opportunity for self improvement. He recruited many members this way and many of them did the same with their friends. Thus many current and former members can trace their involvement in Toastmasters directly or indirectly to Harry Clark. Harry passed away in 2000 and will be missed by many.