Committee 2023

Michelle Kremser, Chair

Michelle did her BA in Spanish in Chicago before moving to Seville, Spain, where she lived for 13 years working for 6 as a medical research translator for international publications. After doing a postgraduate certification in Translation at the University of Seville in 2006, Michelle turned her sights to teaching. She taught in private schools and did an intern scholarship in Teaching, while completing her master’s degree in secondary education English language teaching, also at the University of Seville in 2010. Michelle has been a self-employed teacher in private companies in Germany since 2014, as well as at the VHS in Ludwigsburg, and the Dual Hochschule Baden-Württemberg – Stuttgart. Her specialties include business, technical and medical English. She currently teaches and translates in several multinational companies in the Stuttgart area. Michelle became interested in ELTAS to maintain her own professional development, and to share experience and knowledge within the teaching community and has been a member since 2018.

Andy Yarahmadi, Deputy Chair & Advertising Manager

Andy was born in Brooklyn, NYC – USA from a Persian father and a Canadian/ American mom. He graduated from the City University of New York ( CUNY ) in Linguistics and Language Teaching. After working as a language teacher and cultural facilitator at the New York Intercultural Center, he decided it was time for a change and applied for the Masters program at the University of Stuttgart. He is also enjoying teaching business English at various companies and universities in the Stuttgart area. Teamwork and constant support of one another is what ties Andy to Eltas. He simply believes in the saying “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.” He hopes to be a small flint which together with Eltas makes a huge blast in aiding teachers to be more conscientious in the field.

Koi Burkart, Treasurer & Membership Secretary

Koi Burkart comes from Kenya and has a BSc & an MSc in Agricultural Economics from University of Kentucky in Lexington, USA. Koi teaches at companies and schools. Koi also supports the Events Team. She enjoys regularly attending Eltas workshops and networking with ELTAS members.

Haripriya Pareek, Secretary

Bio soon to come.

Cate Jakzta, Blog & Social Media

Cate did a BA in Japanese Studies at the university of Durham. Following this, she spent 11 years working as an English teacher in Japan, including teaching business English to a wide range of clients, such as Mitsubishi and Daikin. Having relocated to Germany in 2018, she currently works as an InCorporate Trainer with Target Training GmBH. She is CELTA qualified and is working towards her DELTA. She enjoys being a member of ELTAS because of the opportunity it provides to be part of and learn from a wider community of like-minded professionals, as well as to make new friends. She is looking forward to being on the committee this year and sharing what’s going on in ELTAS through social media and the blog.