Born and raised in San Diego, California, Anne has lived for nearly 25 years as an expatriate in Belgium, Japan, France and Spain. Through her diverse expatriate experiences, Anne has learned to speak six languages, including French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.
Anne received her B.A. degree in French from the University of California at Davis, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Human Life Studies from Koriyama Women's University, in Fukushima prefecture, Japan. After conducting her doctoral research for six years in Japan, funded by a Monbusho Japanese government academic research scholarship, Anne returned to Europe in 2003, to work as a translator at NYSE Euronext, the international stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium.
At the same time, she began guest lecturing at United Business Institutes. Currently, in addition to consulting and leading training seminars for corporate clients, Anne is an MBA lecturer in Intercultural Business Communication at United Business Institutes in Brussels, Belgium, and a regular visiting lecturer at Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and VERN University of Applied Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia. She has taught seminars at various institutions in Europe, including the European Commission, the European Training Institute, and the International School of Protocol in Brussels.
Anne has been teaching graduate courses in Culture and Development, Leadership, Project Management and Communications at Boston University in Brussels since 2008, and teaches Creative Writing for Expatriates courses at the European Commission and the American Women's Club of Brussels. She is also a founding member of Caravan Press, a Brussels-based initiative to help expatriates publish their international stories. Photos from Anne's book, Scenes of Japan, have been exhibited in numerous locations, including both the Japanese and American Embassies in Brussels, Belgium.
Over 25 years of expatriate experience living in several European countries, Japan, and the USA have developed Anne's curiosity and appreciation for diversity. Her work as a cross-cultural trainer and leadership consultant requires her to facilitate interactive discussions and intercultural exchanges, and she relies on her strong interpersonal skills to interact effectively with individuals from extremely diverse backgrounds.
As a seminar facilitator in global companies and EU institutions, she regularly team-teaches, co-designs and co-facilitates seminars for clients and colleagues. She highly appreciates the synergy and creativity resulting from combining individual strengths and sources of knowledge and inspiration. She has an intense desire to motivate the participants in her seminars through interactive presentations, role-playing, self-assessment activities and teambuilding exercises.
Anne also strives to keeps abreast of the constantly evolving needs of multicultural teams and individuals from around the world. Therefore, in addition to leading training seminars and teaching at universities, she writes articles to promote intercultural awareness, and regularly participates in international panel discussions, forums, and radio programs.
