Our Coaches
Who We Are
Michael Pautsch
Founder & Club President
Michael is the host of all Debate London events and the regular chair of the It's Debateable public debate series. He is a sales and recruitment specialist focusing on the training of sales teams across a host of industries from direct sales to property to recruitment. Within the club's training syllabus, he connects the skills we teach to the professions you love so Debate London members can apply what they learn directly to their workplace.
Private Coaching Available
Tony Koutsoumbos
Head Coach
Tony was the Director and founder of the UK's first professional debate training programme and membership organisation, the Great Debaters Club. He has delivered over 500 hours of training across 4 continents for government bodies, multinational companies, inns of court, and international charities on how to apply the principles of adversarial debating to conflict resolution and strategic decision-making.
Private Coaching Available
Shaughan Dolan
Lead Coach
Shaughan's career has focused on political campaigning. He has won Parliamentary elections, had bills debated in Parliament and secured £750 million in spending on non-violent conflict resolution at a time of government cutbacks. Shaughan is a trainer for Idebate Rwanda. Rwanda’s first-ever debate training programme for young people. The programme has grown significantly since 2013 and has educated over 1,000 students across 5 countries in the art of debate, and trained over 100 coaches that continue year-round training at local schools throughout Rwanda. He has debated at the Oxford Union and is also the Debate Coach at Harrow School – one of the UK’s most prestigious public schools.
Private Coaching Available
Heather Robinson
Lead Coach
Heather Robinson has over ten years experience of competing in and coaching both debate and public
speaking. She has reached the Finals and Semi-Finals of numerous UK debating competitions, including at the Universities of Oxford, the New College of Humanities, University College London (UCL), Newcastle, and the London Business School’s 2019 World Open Debate Championship, at which she was ranked the Second Best Speaker.
Heather has provided debate and public speaking training workshops for King's College London (KCL), the London Business School, and several schools across the UK. In 2020, she was the lead coach on a debate tour of schools in Kolkata and Patna, India and also provided online train-
the-trainer workshops for IDebate Rwanda. Heather was UK Director for Debate Camp Canada 2021 and she is currently a senior trainer with Noisy Classrooms.
Private Coaching Available
Surya Kumaravel
Coach
Surya is a qualified solicitor who works with global names in the technology, financial and healthcare sectors. Specialising in employment law, he advises senior stakeholders in international businesses on complex legal and commercial issues ranging from discrimination risks to cross-border legal issues, as well as litigating disputes in front of Employment Tribunals. Underpinning his work is his extensive advocacy experience as a public speaker and debater, skills from which he now regularly utilises in a professional context. This experience includes competing in and adjudicating debating events at the highest level around the world, including the European and World Debating Championships.
Private Coaching Available
Paul Carroll
Coach
Paul Carol is a speaking and presentation trainer specializing in impromptu, short notice speaking and handling Q/A’s. He was also founding President of one of London's prominent Debate clubs.
Private Coaching Available
