Annual Winter Dinner - July 28, 2010
The winter dinner was held at the fabulous Meson Nerudiano.The event was well attended by members and guests, who greatly enjoyed the food and the company.

Monthly Meeting – June 2010
Topic: 5th Annual Career Panel: Entrepreneurship: Finding your Niche in Chile
Panelists: Carina Löbel, owner of Cositas del Mundo (children's retail store); Jayne Morgan, owner of Japi Jane (erotic boutique); Andrea Lagarini, owner of Contact Chile (translation company)
Three successful business owners from diverse industries shared their experiences starting a company in Chile and the process of reinventing themselves and their careers.

Monthly Meeting – May 2010
Topic: What the Heck is an Ambassador Anyway?
Speaker: Ambassador Jon Benjamin
British Ambassador to Chile, Mr. Jon Benjamin, presented his diplomatic credentials to President Michelle Bachelet on 22 December 2009 at La Moneda Presidential Palace. Mr. Benjamin arrived in Chile after having served at the Foreign Commonwealth Office in London and several posts around the world, including in Indonesia and Turkey.

Annual Fall Cocktail Party - May 12, 2010
The cocktail party was a huge success with record turnout. Everyone had a fantastic time and the staff at Akarana once again went out of their way to ensure a great party.

Monthly Meeting – April 2010
Topic: The Science Behind the Chilean Earthquake
Speaker: Daniel Carrizo
Daniel Carrizo, one of four structural geologists in Chile, talked to the group on what happens inside the Earth during and as a result of a large earthquake. He shared a structural geologist's perspective and provided insight into the mechanisms of the earthquake and the resulting fractures in the Earth's crust.

Monthly Meeting – March 2010
IPWA Annual Business Meeting and Wine Tasting
Speaker: Liz Caskey
This meeting launched our 2010 year, which runs from March through February. We had a fantastic turn out. It was hosted at the British and Commonwealth Fire & Rescue Company J.A.S. Jackson. Liz Caskey led the group through a fun and informative session on wine tasting with wines donated by Emiliana Organico.

Monthly Meeting - February 2010
Topic: How to Grow Your Soft Assets: Connections, Knowledge, and Reputation
Speaker: Ben Casnocha
Ben is the author of the bestselling business book My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, which the New York Times called "precocious, informative, and entertaining." He founded Comcate, Inc., an e-government software company, at age 14. Ben's work has been featured in dozens of international media including CNN, USA Today, CNBC, and ABC's 20/20. At a conference in Paris Politics Online named him one of the "25 most influential people in the world of internet and politics." The Americas Business Council named him one of the top 20 leaders under 40 in North and South America. BusinessWeek recently named Ben "one of America's top young entrepreneurs."

Monthly Meeting - January 2010
Topic: Bottling responsibility: LATE is good for the body and the spirit
Speaker: Pedro Traverso
Pedro Traverso was the vision and leadership behind the founding of LATE as the first social company in Chile and currently serves as their General Director. Consumers around the world are speaking out and exercising the power of the purse by choosing to consume products made in a sustainable and socially responsible way. In Chile, LATE hopes to be the first company to capture the attention and purchasing power of more socially conscious consumers, as well as educating others about the win-win benefits of buying their bottle of water. LATE is the first “social company” started in Chile less than one year ago, and is based on the idea that all profits from the sale of their bottled water would go towards a local children’s foundation.

Monthly Meeting - November 2009
Topic: Elinor Ostrom and her Nobel Prize winning work on Collective Action
Speaker: Anthony Pezzola
Elinor Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. She was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize along with Oliver E. Williamson for her analysis of economic governance.  Anthony Pezzola, a professor of Political Science at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and board member of the Chilean Political Science Association, described for us in layman terms the details of Dr. Ostrom’s work on how communities manage their resources and are able to overcome barriers to collective action. He drew on Chilean examples to bring her work into a local perspective.

Monthly Meeting - October 2009
Topic: Toastmasters and the Virtues of Communication
Speaker: Michael Combes
Michael Combes is a Canadian born, UK educated, electrical engineer who has spent most of his life doing anything but electrical engineering. He introduced Toastmasters to Chile and today it is a thriving organization which is both educational and entertaining. Michael shared with us his vast experience in the public speaking field so we can feel more confident in front of groups of all sizes. He led a fun, interactive meeting where we were all asked to participate in short speeches and debates.

Annual Spring Cocktail Party - October 6, 2009
The spring cocktail party was a great success. Many new people contributed to making it a very fun evening.

Monthly Meeting - September 2009
Topic: Sexual Health in Chile
Speaker: Lauren Purcell
Lauren Purcell is an Australian Clinical Sexologist. She studied in Australia and now lives permanently in Chile since the year 2005. Since her arrival, Lauren has dedicated herself to improving the sexual and reproductive health of women in Chile. Also known as 'la sexperta' (the sexpert), she has a private clinic in Viña del Mar where she lives with her Chilean husband and three small children, and a smaller practice in Santiago for the English-speaking community only. Lauren works primarily with women in areas of sexual health & sexuality but also works with couples and children. Lauren runs a series of workshops in English & Spanish on a variety of sexual health topics ranging from the female orgasm and how to improve one's sex life to how to educate children in sex and sexuality.

Monthly Meeting - August 2009
Topic: Under Dark Skies: Astronomy in Chile
Speaker: Andrew Fox
Andrew Fox is a professional astronomer who completed his PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He then moved to the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris in France to work on a two-year research fellowship.  He is currently employed by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), whose Chilean Headquarters are in Santiago, and who run three observatory sites across the country.  His work involves operating the Very Large Telescope (VLT), located on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert, two hours drive from Antofagasta.  It is often considered the world's leading ground-based optical observatory.  His presentation introduced the science that is carried out at the VLT and the types of cosmic objects that can be observed.

Annual Winter Dinner - July 28, 2009
Great fun was had by all at this year's winter dinner at the Ocean Pacific's restaurant in Barrio Brazil.

Monthly Meeting - June 2009
Topic: 4th Annual Job-Seekers Forum: Career Reinvention Panel
Panelists: Claudia Raffo, Senior Business Coach; René Lara, VP for International Programs at Universidad Mayor; Gordana Stojkovic, Investment Executive for CORFO
Three diverse and dynamic professionals talked about how we reinvent ourselves and our careers by relating their own life experiences, challenges, and tips for how to succeed in this competitive marketplace.

Monthly Meeting - May 2009
Topic: The State of the Economy in Chile in the midst of the International Recession
Speaker: Diego Grunwald
Crises, recession, financial meltdown, economic mess, are just a few examples of the words used to describe the international phenomena occurring around us.  But, what’s going on in Chile and what should you know about the state of the economy as a professional working here.  At the IPWA May Meeting, Economist Diego Grunwald shared economic and political insights to inform us as professional women about this international recession in Chile and around the world.
Diego Grunwald is an Economist for the Department of Studies and Research at LarrainVial, a firm where he has worked since the year 2003. He is a Senior Economist for Fixed Income and Strategy as well as Vice President of the Department of Studies and Research.  Previously, he worked as an analyst for the firm WP Carey in New York.  He graduated from Gabriela Mistral University in Chile with a degree as a commercial engineer with a focus on economics.

Annual Fall Cocktail Party - May 12, 2009
We had a fantastic cocktail party with record turnout at Akarana on Reyes Lavalle 3310. Dell Taylor and her staff went out of their way to make this a memorable evening.

Monthly Meeting - April 2009
Topic: Slow Food Movement
Speaker: Francisco Klimshcha
Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Today, the organization has over 100,000 members in 132 countries. A representative for Slow Food, Francisco Klimshcha has now founded the Chilean-based group Slow Travel that highlights the good food, nature, and wine of Chile.

Monthly Meeting – March 2009
IPWA Annual Business Meeting and Wine Tasting
This meeting launched our 2009 membership year which runs from March to February at the Centre Catala (Av. Suecia 428).

For information on previous meetings and events, click HERE.