EX:CHANGE 2026

Andy Benzo

President, American Translators Association

Andy Benzo is an international legal translator, lawyer, and speaker with over 35 years of experience inEnglish–Spanish translation. She holds degrees in Law and Translation from Argentina and is an ATA-certified translator and current President of the American Translators Association (ATA). A recognizedleader in the profession, she has chaired key ATA committees and contributes to language standardsthrough ASTM and ISO. Andy writes and speaks globally on AI, ethics, language, and law. Through herwork,she advances responsible, human-centered communication. Her expertise lies in legal translation,terminology, and the intersection of language, technology, and professional practice

: http://www.atanet.org/
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybenzo/

Jo Durning

Translator, and Chair of the Professional Development Committee

Jo Durning chairs ITI's Professional Development Committee and her role on the Advisory Group is to ensure that the conference works with the grain of ITI's development offer to its members and others. She has worked as a translator for 13 years, specialising in legal and social science texts. She draws on a long career in the UK civil service, working in Whitehall, Paris and Brussels. 

Christophe Fricker

Associate Professor in German and Translation, University of Bristol

Christophe Fricker has a decade of experience as executive of a research and consultancy firm,and has been teaching at leading universities in the UK and North America for more than twentyyears.At the University of Bristol, he serves as Director of the MA in Translation. Christophe is anaward-winning translator, author and editor of thirty books. He engages regularly with diverseaudiences as an event speaker andmediacontributor in both Britainand Germany. Christopheholds a doctorate in German literature from Oxford University. He is a Senior Fellow of the HigherEducation Academy

: www.christophe-fricker.com
: www.linkedin.com/in/christophe-fricker/

Fiona Gray MITI

Chair of the Board, Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI)

Fiona Gray MITI is the ITI chair, having served on the ITI board of directors since 2022. She helps brands and businesses based in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg to find their voice in English through creative copy and compelling content that makes their German words travel. Fiona won the ITI Mentor of the Year Award in 2023 and was named Linguist of the Year at the ATC Language Industry Awards 2024.

: www.fionagraycreative.co.uk
: fiona-gray

Dr Sonia Koller

Lecturer in entrepreneurship, King's College London

Dr Sonia Koller is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship/Innovation at King’s Business School(King’s College London). Sonia teaches and researches the Psychology of Entrepreneurship, with a focus on understanding the cognitive processes, emotions and affect that drive the creation of new ventures, as well as entrepreneurs’ well-being. Her research sits at the intersection between the cognitive sciences, psychology, and entrepreneurship. Sonia’s research has attracted funding from the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Fund. She has previously helped companies such as HireVue, RedBull, and UCL develop innovative,technology-based psychometric assessments to assess human potential.

: www.kcl.ac.uk/people/sonia-koller
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-koller-34528690/

Dr Samuel Läubli

CEO, Supertext

Sam Läubli graduated with an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Computational Linguistics from the University of Zurich, with a dissertation titled Machine Translation for Professional Translators. Following tenures at US tech companies Autodesk and Lilt, he co-founded Textshuttle, an AI translation company focused on data security. Sam currently leads a team of 100 Language AI experts in Zurich and Berlin as the CEO of Supertext.

: https://supertext.com/
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laeubli/

Joachim Lépine

Trainer and translator, LION Translation Academy

Joachim Lépine, M. Ed., C. Tr. is the author of the 5x international number one bestseller AI Resilient, which provides translators and other knowledge professionals with the tools to continue to thrive and prosper in the AI era.

Joachim taught university courses in translation for 15 years before founding LION Translation Academy. He has trained for NATO, the European Commission, Editors Canada, Magistrad, Training for Translators, and many other organisations worldwide. Previously, he was Coordinator of the Continuing Education Committee for OTTIAQ from 2013 to 2020.

He has been translating for academic and commercial clients since the late 2000s. 

Joachim holds a bachelor’s in fine arts from Concordia University, a bachelor’s in translation from Université de Sherbrooke, and a master’s in education from Plymouth State University.

His work today includes selective one-on-one mentoring for translators and interpreters who value reflection, strategy, and a human-first approach to business and marketing.

: Traductionslion.com
: joachim-lepine-translation-coach

Debbie Lewis

Accelerator Community Manager, NatWest

As a Community Manager for NatWest’s Accelerator team, Debbie is responsible for building and nurturing strategic relationships and regional stakeholder engagement opportunities to support SMEs to start, scale and exit their business.

An entrepreneur herself, she successfully scaled and exited a chain of hair and beauty salons (plus a salon industry recruitment company and social media education agency) over 17 years, before starting a career in coaching and mentoring.

Lena Marg

Language AI consultant and instructor

Lena Marg specialised for over 20 years in the deployment, evaluation and post-editing of machine translation for the localisation industry, supporting medium to Enterprise companies in their use of language AI. She is passionate about encouraging exchange between different stakeholders and mindsets - translators, engineers, research and implementation. Lena is joining the ITI Board as an affiliate member in May 2026. 

David Orrego-Carmona

Reader in Translation Studies, University of Warwick

David Orrego-Carmona is a Reader in Translation Studies at the University of Warwick, where he leads the MA in Translation and Cultures. His research focuses on translation technology, audiovisual translation and user experience. He brings an academic perspective on how universities can support the profession in navigating technological change. 

Dr JC Penet

Reader in Translation Industry Studies, Newcastle University

I am a Reader in Translation Industry Studies and the author of Working as a Professional Translator (London: Routledge, 2024). I am also a practising Level 7 Personal and Executive Coach (PG Dip, University of Warwick). My research explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are reshaping the translation industry, especially in terms of freelance translators'perceptions of their work and their well-being (see the 'Research' tab for more). This directly informs my work on how translator education and professional development must evolve to prepare practitioners for the demands of an ever-changing industry. By promoting more sustainable and psychologically informed approaches to both training and professional practice, my research aims to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals concerning decent work and mental well-being (SDGs 3 and 8).

: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/sml/our-people/profile/jcpenet.html
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcpenet/

Teemu Purmonen

Co-Founder and Chair of the Board, Youpret

Teemu Purmonen is a co-founder, entrepreneur, and Chair of the Board of Youpret Oy, the first BCorp certified language service company in the Nordics, specialising in public interpreting and translation services as well as language technology. Through its extensive interpreter network and proprietary technology, Youpret helps more than a thousand people every day to access essential public services smoothly. The company has succeeded in lowering the threshold to employment and making it easier to hire workers with an immigrant background. Youpret has also been listed on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 list in Finland for two consecutive years.

: www.youpret.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teemupurmonen/

David Stockings MITI

Translator / Lecturer (Teaching), Better Worlds Translation / UCL

David has been a full-time freelance French and German to English translator since completing his MA in Specialised Translation in 2019. His background is in accounting and finance, but he now specialises in various areas of sustainability. Within ITI, he is the Deputy Coordinator of the ITI EastAnglia Network and sits on the ITI Membership Committee. He also teaches on the master's programmes offered at UCL’s Centre for Translation Studies and produces a podcast for new and prospective translators called Source 2 Target.

: https://www.bwtranslation.co.uk/
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstockings/

Jennifer Vela-Valido

Global Language Quality Program Manager, Spotify

Jennifer is a Localisation Strategist with more than a decade of experience in Localisation Program Management and end-to-end language quality solutions. She currently serves as Localisation Quality & Innovation Program Manager at Spotify, where she leads multilingual AI evaluation, quality frameworks, and global-scale localisation initiatives. Jennifer holds a PhD in Localisation Quality Management and is an active researcher and speaker focused on localisation strategy, linguistic quality governance, and applied AI evaluation methods.A long-standing advocate for ethical and effective technology in language services, she has presented at GALA, TAUS, and LocWorld, and serves as Program Director for WeShape AI at Women in Localisation.

: www.spotify.com
: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifervela/