Our Board of Directors
Anais Kneppers
(she/her)
Biannual DIRECTOR
Anais is currently in her 3L at the University of Ottawa, is the current president of the English Debating Society (EDS) and Co-Founder of the SEED Debate coaching company. She was a quarterfinalist at Imperial IV in 2022 a finalist at BP Champs and Berkley in 2023, as well as NAWGM & Colgate Open Champion in 2024. In addition to her immensely successful competitive debate career, she has done an immense amount of work for the CUSID community, including CA-ing Bp Champs in 2022 and running NA Spar as an Administrator. This is likely what lead her to be awarded the CUSID impact award in 2024, and is why we are so excited to have her as a biannual director!
Patrick Cowley
(he/him)
BIANNUAL DIRECTOR
Patrick is a 3L student at the University of Toronto and alumni/past president of the Queens Debating Union. He is a 2021 WUDC Korea Breaking Judge, two time NAUDC breaking judge, three time Norams breaking judge, 2019 BP Champs Quarterfinalist and 2024 Grand Finalist of Canadian Parliamentary Nationals. Other exeptional work he has done for the CUSID community includes his work as Treasurer of CUSID in 2020-2021, and VP Central of CUSID in 2019-2020, along Tournament Directing NAUDC in 2018. While Patrick works at a boutique Toronto law firm which specializes in representing unions and pursuing high profile class actions, we will be privileged to have him as an advisory voice on the Board of Directors for the next two years.
Daiyam Basharat
(he/him)
CO- Board Member
(he/him)
Daiyam is a recent graduate with a B.A. in International Development Studies and Sustainability at Dalhousie University. He has over 10 years of competitive debate experience under his belt (6 years in Pakistan and 4 years in Canada), which has provided him with numerous accolades over the years including 2nd speaker at Hill IV, 5th Speaker at Atlantics 2022, and a position as one of the top 20 speakers at BP Champs 2022. He also served as President of the SODALES debate society from 2022-2023, VP East of CUSID from 2023-2024, and is currently the Executive Director for the Nova Scotia Debating Society. We are ecstatic to have Daiyam on the Board this year and look forward to his contributions to the team!
Ethan
Curry
(he/him)
CO- BOARD MEMBER
Curry
(he/him)
Ethan has an extensive history at CUSID which has makes him an invaluable member of the board. He was CUSID president and UWODS president from 2019-2020, and continues to provide training and resources to debate clubs throughout CUSID in his spare time. He has also made it to HHIV finals, NAUDC finals, won 2 national championships and Broken/Judged outrounds at WUDC and Normams. Currently he is working on establishing a training system for the newly re-established Laurier Debating Union whilst pursuing his studies there, and there is no doubt he will be doing immense good for the circuit at large in the year to come!