Shanthi Flynn is the Chief Human Resources Officer and member of the EC since March 2016. She is a British national.

Shanthi Flynn joined the Adecco Group as Chief Human Resources Officer in March 2016.

She graduated as a Bachelor of Science with joint honours in Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Manchester in 1986. She is a graduate of the institute of Personnel Development (IPD), UK.

Shanthi Flynn built the foundation of her HR career at Ford Motor Company in the UK between 1986 and 1995. She joined the Boots Company in 1995 where she held positions of increasing responsibility becoming Director of HR for all of Boots International retail and FMCG healthcare businesses in 2000. In 2003, she joined the AS Watson Group, Hong Kong and was promoted to Group International HR Director. In 2006 she founded her own consulting firm, S Flynn Consulting. In 2010, Shanthi Flynn joined Walmart in Asia and became Senior Vice President Human Resources for the Asia region leading the HR team for Walmart’s retail businesses in China, Japan and India. In 2015 she returned to her own Leadership consulting practice until joining Adecco.

Shanthi Flynn is a Board mentor for Criticaleye, UK and Asia and serves on the council of King George V school, Hong Kong.

Florin Salvisberg was an under-23 European

Champion in 2013, Swiss Vice-Champion in 2016,

and trains up to 30 hours a week. Inspired to

focus on triathlon at the age of ten, when

cheering on his swimming teacher at an Ironman

contest, Florin’s open mind has also helped him

cope with adversity and plan for the future.

When injury struck and impacted his sports

performance during 2014 and 2015, he fully

concentrated on studying for a Bachelor degree

which he finished in the fall of 2016.

Following a suggestion by through a presentation by the Swiss Olympic team, he contacted the ACP

manager of the Swiss ACP to get support in looking for an internship. The opportunity arose to join the

Adecco Group in support of the global employee sports programme Win4Youth.

Through the Athlete Career Programme, he was able to secure an internship opportunity with The

Adecco Group’s Win4Youth team which provides him with another perspective on his future vision,

enabling him to see the working world at the same time as pursuing his sports career. Having solved

some health problems, Florin has his aim now set for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

Armin Kohli, a double below-knee amputee,

formalized his racing career by qualifying for

the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. His specialty

is long-distance and ultra-distance touring.

Between 2001 and 2003, he cycled hundreds

of kilometers in races against able-bodied

cyclists.

His passion for cycling, active campaigning

against landmines, editing, and journalism led

him to undertake further fundraising and

awareness-raising tours.

In 2004, he raced the Tour d’Afrique, which involved cycling 11,720 kilometers in 99 days. He came third

in that tour against able-bodied cyclists. Then came three successive landmine awareness-raising tours:

Geneva-Zagreb, 2005; Tour de Suisse, 2006 and Geneva-Dead Sea, 2007, followed by Pacemakers Ride

Against Nuclear Weapons in 2008. Along the way, he connected with many cyclists (both able-bodied

and disabled), and reports in the media of his tours have made headline news in countries affected by

landmine issues.

He has been working with the Swiss foundation Geneva Call since 2007 as Programme Manager Near and Middle East. Geneva Call is a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting respect by armed non-State actors for international humanitarian norms in armed conflict, in particular those related to the protection of civilians. Geneva Call is focusing its efforts on banning the use of anti-personnel mines, protecting children from the effects of armed conflict, prohibiting sexual violence in armed conflict and working towards the elimination of gender discrimination.

Read more on: www.tourdarmin.ch

Switzerland’s Chantal Cavin is ready to compete at IRONMAN Switzerland in Zurich for the second time after a great debut race in 2013. For more than a decade she has been one of the fastest blind swimmers in the world, competing in three Paralympics before she became an IRONMAN. Cavin set numerous world records in the pool and celebrated several world championship titles, too. Now the 36-year-old has another goal: She wants to improve on her 12:06L58 finish at last year’s race.

The amiable woman from Bern, the Swiss capital, lost her eyesight in a sports injury at 14. Despite the accident she became a crawl and butterfly specialist. Although the professional swimmer went into three consecutive Paralympics as a favorite, she missed out on a medal. Both in Athens (2004) and in Beijing (2008) she finished fourth twice and took seventh in the 400 meters free final in London 2012, her last competition as a swimmer.

Cavin competed in Zurich as an age group athlete and finished with some impressive splits: a 1:18:45

swim, 5:34:41 bike and a 5:06:13 run. Cavin isn’t the only visually impaired participant racing at IRONMAN Switzerland.

Silvan Lutz, a twenty seven year old Swiss track and field

elite athlete has reached already several Swiss

Championship titles over the 400m distance and also

participated in two European Athletics Championships as

part of the Swiss 4x400m relay team.

After finishing a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration in 2016, he was searching for a new job which gave me the flexibility to combine sport with work and experience the business world. He found out about the Athlete Career Programme (ACP) for Swiss elite athletes and found an internship at The Adecco Group in Zurich with the support of the Adecco Switzerland ACP manager. Working now in a part time position for the Global ACP team, supporting them in several projects such as the 8th IOC ACP Forum 2017 in Beijing. Whilst he missed actively participating in the Forum, he qualified for the European Athletics Team Championships in Vaasa, Finland, where he represented Switzerland in the 400m and the 4x400m relay. The Swiss athletics team for the first time reached a third place and ascended to the Super League being among the 12 best nations in Europe.

Ellen Sprunger is a member of the Swiss 4 x 100 m relay team and a heptathlete. She qualified for the Olympiad in Rio 2016 and had competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's heptathlon event where she finished in 18th place. Despite having two operations last summer, she only just failed to qualify for the heptathlon, an achievement that is testimony to her strong will and rigorous training.

Under the Swiss Olympic Athlete Career Programme (ACP), Ellen Sprunger procured an internship through Swiss Olympic Athlete Career Programme, in a crowdfunding platform for sports projects ‘I believe in you’ where she also takes the role of ambassador. After the internship, she was taken on in a part-time position at the crowdfunding platform.

Simon Vögeli, a left hand handicapped track and field

athlete started sprinting in 2007. In his first year, he

competed the 100 and 200 meters.

After a good season, he went on training harder to

get better. In 2008 he ran the 100 meters under 12

seconds and the 200 meters under 24 seconds. Later

in 2008, he qualified for the Summer Paralympic

Games in Beijing. Unfortunately, he got banned from

competing at the Paralympics.

For the past ten years now, he has been competing in

track and field as well as sprint events. Simon is still

motivated and shares the same passion as he did

when starting athletics. Despite the disappointment

in Beijing, he never gave up and still believes that

nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself.

He is a PluSport ambassador since 2016 with the

main objective to make PluSport more popular in

Switzerland.

Nicolas is a 36-year-old wheelchair basketball addict

living in Aarau. He is very passionate about sports

and became a professional athlete, and now a

coach. He is also responsible for sports marketing at

Swiss Wheelchair Sports for the Swiss National Team

in wheelchair basketball.

He studied media and communication and worked

for the mayor of Zurich during his studies for an ERP

project and the UEFA EURO 2008 Host City Zurich.

This was the beginning of his involvement in sports

marketing.

After his professional career as wheelchair

basketball player for Lahn-Dill Germany in 2007 and

2008 and Santo Stefano Italy in 2009 and 2010, he

started working for PluSport and became the Sports

Manager for the Swiss Paraplegics Association in

2014.

He believes in changing people’s mindsets by

providing the possibility to experience inclusive

sports. Nicolas does a lot of workshops in this area and for most able-bodied people it is a life changing

experience, which breaks down barriers.

He will be one of the coaches of the wheelchair basketball workshop and will also serve as a guide

leading interested people through the fascinating Nottwil Paraplegics Centre.

Jess Markt, a US wheelchair basketball coach spent the last seven years inspiring and providing opportunities for communities within war-torn countries to experience the positive impact team sports has. Markt broke his back in a car accident during the summer of 1996 after his first year at the University of Oregon. Having been an athlete, playing basketball as well as competing on the University athletics team as a high jumper, wheelchair basketball became very important to him. In 2000, Jess was first introduced to wheelchair basketball when he attended a training session for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association team, the Portland Wheelblazers. He immediately fell in love with the game and has been playing and coaching ever since. In 2009 he received a request to coach a team in Afghanistan which gave him an opportunity to inspire others.

provide physical rehabilitation services including India, Palestine, Cambodia and South Sudan, kick starting similar programs for wheelchair basketball. As they work to grow the programs, they also remain vigilant for new opportunities to bring wheelchair basketball and other adaptive sport athletes in countries dealing with conflict and war.

Rodrigo Garza is a three-time Olympian

and Silver Olympic medallist from the 2008

Beijing Olympic Games with the Spanish

National Field Hockey team. He played

professionally for 15 years and studied a

Master’s degree in Business

Administration and an Executive MBA.

After his hockey career, he worked for

several companies as Marketing and

Sponsorship’s Manager until he joined the

Athlete Career Programme to support the

IOC ACP Outreach team for one year as an

intern. Thereafter, he was hired by The

Adecco Group in Zurich to work as Professional Staffing brands manager as well as a responsible for

global Sponsoring.

Desta Daniel Kebede was born in Switzerland in 1989. His father is Ethiopian, his mother Swiss. Desta Daniel Kebede grew up in Kloten, he discovered his great passion, playing hockey at the age of five. He entered the Sports High School Rämibühl a fifteen years where he also studied for his Matura (school leaving examination). He played for two years in the national league A-cadre at the Kloten Flyers and additionally participated in the U18 World Championship in Finland with the Swiss National Team. Due to his surgery which was only moderately successful he had to give up his ice hockey career. In 2009 he began his studies at the University St. Gallen, which he completed in the year 2015. For the young entrepreneur Desta Daniel Kebede it has always been clear that he will start up his own company one day and that his independence has something to do with his fatherland Ethiopia. He dedicated his Matura work to Ethiopian coffee – from cultivation to export, making the foundation of the company DDKgroup Ltd.

Urs Kläger has been working for Adecco Switzerland for

more than 25 years. He loves his job and works part time

as the Hotel & Catering Branch Director in St. Gallen,

specializing in job profiles needed in the hospitality

sector.

His passions are his family and friends, his hand bike and

his role as goal keeper for the Swiss National Uni hockey /

Floorball team. He recently came back from the Para-

Games in Breda, Netherlands where they played against

ten other nations and ranked 6th.

He is a paraplegic since 2002, due to an illness called

‘spina bifida’.

Urs likes showing people the meaning of being in a

wheelchair, being active in sport and being an example

for anyone with and without an impairment.

Attending the GS&ID is a pleasure and privilege for him.

Joëlle studied Human Movement Sciences and Sport at

the ETH in Zurich. In 2012 she finished the Master with a

Major in Exercise Physiology. During the Master thesis,

she started working with supplements investigating the

influence of caffeine and sodium bicarbonate on 1500m

performance in wheelchair racing elite athletes.

Subsequently, she started working on a PhD thesis

entitled “To use or not to use? – Dietary supplement use

in able-bodied and spinal cord injured individuals.” The

thesis investigated in several different research projects

ergogenic supplements such as caffeine, sodium

bicarbonate, vitamin D and beetroot juice.

Since receiving a PhD in the beginning of 2016, Joëlle

continued to work at the Institute for Sports Medicine at

the Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil as an Exercise

Physiologist and Sports Nutritionist.

A former 800m and 1500m runner winning over 30

medals at Swiss Championships on the track and in cross

country running, Joelle still enjoys running mostly every day or riding her mountain bike.

Patrick Juvet Baka is from the Ivory Coast. Since he

was very young, dancing and drumming were a part

of his life. In 2011, he moved to Switzerland and has

since worked as Zumba instructor, chorographer,

African dancer and musician.

He loves entertaining people and teaches in the

Zurich area in many different fitness- and dance

studios.

Patrick is excited and happy to support the Global

Sports & Inclusion Day with a powerful warm-up

Zumba programme to get everyone in the spirit of moving and enjoying sports together.

To learn more: http://patrickjuvetbaka.zumba.com/