The staff at Ethos embody our core values and teach essential skills for learning debate and speech.
Our instructors have debating and coaching experience all around the world, bringing in a rich diversity of perspectives. At Ethos Academy, our staff’s passion for coaching and debate shines through in everything we do.
STAFF
Our Administration
Head Coach, Founder
Jason Xiao
Jason Xiao is one of the most successful coaches in Canadian history. As the coach of Team Canada from 2019 to 2021, Jason coached his students to win the 2020 edition of World Schools Debating Championships, the most prestigious high school debate tournament in the world. Apart from that, Team Canada has won or made the finals at 10 out of the 11 other tournaments they competed at during Jason’s tenure as a coach, including ARGO Open, the Harvard World Schools Invitational, EurOpens, and more. Moreover, Jason has coached three students who placed in the top ten speakers of WSDC.
Jason’s coaching philosophy is influenced by his experience as a debater. As a high school student, Jason finished as the 5th best speaker in the world and a finalist at the World Schools Debating Championships. During his time at the University of Oxford, Jason won the World Universities Debating Championships and placed as the 5th best speaker, defeating over 350 other teams and 700 other debaters.
From Jason’s time as a law student at Oxford University, he brings a teaching philosophy that fosters intellectual and academic growth. Through emulating many aspects of the Oxford teaching system, he brings forward innovative teaching strategies like small tutorial groups which discuss a set of preassigned readings to further critical thinking and educational growth.
Aside from debating, Jason enjoys playing the guitar and ukulele.
STAFF
Our Instructors
Matt Hazell
Matt studied at the University of Cambridge, where he was head of debating. Since graduating he has been working as a professional debating coach around the world, and was assistant coach of the Hong Kong WSDC Team. He is now a full-time teacher at a private school in London, and is the co-founder of Doxbridge Debating.
In 2017 he was named the overall Best Speaker at the European Universities Debating Championships, and is the reigning WUDC Masters’ Champion. He will be the CA of the upcoming Zagreb European Universities Debating Championships 2022.
Matt competed (video here) on the BBC TV quiz show “University Challenge”, representing St John’s College Cambridge; importantly, they beat Oxford in the final!
Arth Mishra
Arth is a third-year economics student at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Arth is currently working on Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change at a specialist climate change advisory and investment firm.
Arth has a glittering debating CV. He was the second-best speaker, open semi-finalist, and a member of the top-breaking team at the 2020 World Universities Debating Championship. Arth was also the second-best speaker and a grand finalist of the 2019 European Universities Debating Championship. Additionally, Arth was an open grand finalist of the 2019 Oxford and Cambridge IVs and the 2020 LSE Open. Arth is also an excellent judge. Arth was an open semi-finals judge of the 2019 World Universities Debating Championship and the CA of the 2020 Cambridge IV. Finally, Arth is the co-coach of Team Philippines.
In his free time, Arth can be found watching just about all the sport he can find flicking through the TV.
Abhinav Bathula
Abhinav was part of the top breaking team at WUDC 2020 where he tabbed 3rd and was a Semi-Finalist. He was also on the 6th breaking team at EUDC 2019 and made the Quarter-Finals. He was top break, finalist, and best speaker at LSE Open and the HWS RR in 2021. He has made the final and/or tabbed top 10 at various other tournaments including Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, UCL, Oxford, and Cambridge IVs.
He has judged the Open Final of Asian BP, LSE Open, Queen Mary IV, and Cambridge Schools. He was also the CA of UCL IV, Sheffield IV, WDO, and Helsinki Open. Additionally, Abhinav coaches Team Philippines.
Abhinav has spent 10x more time playing chess than he has debating.
Anna Saint
Anna Saint has been a competitive debater for 10 years and has been coaching for 6. Outside of Ethos, she coaches the Danish National Debating Team and at Crofton House School, Canada’s most successful school for debate and speech. Anna has quickly become one of the top public speaking coaches in the world, coaching 7 students to a top ten finish at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships in the past two years alone. In the same period, she coached 8 teams to debate finals at various Canadian National Championships. Throughout high school, she also excelled in French Debate winning the French Stream of the Pan-American Debating Championships in 2016 and top-speaking Canadian French Nationals twice. Currently, Anna is pursuing a degree in International Relations at the University of British Columbia and continues to compete in the university circuit.
Hadar Goldberg
Hadar is currently a student at Tel Aviv University. In her time in university, she was the ESL Champion of WUDC 2020, an ESL finalist at EUDC 2019, and a top 10 speaker at Cambridge IV 2020. Hadar is also a phenomenal judge, having judged the ESL Finals of EUDC 2020 and the finals of Oxford IV 2019. She will be a DCA for Belgrade WUDC and Madrid EUDC.
As a coach, Hadar has been coaching students in Israel who have won numerous regional championships. Hadar is now a co-coach of Team Israel. Furthermore, Hadar is prolific in coaching and teaching in the university debate circuit, having helped organize and coach a number of training academies.
Naomi Panovka
Naomi is currently completing a BA in Political Science at McGill University. Naomi spent two years on the Canadian National Debate Team, placing both 7th speaker and reaching the finals of the World Schools Debating Championship. In high school, she won 8 tournaments and was a top speaker at over 10 competitions, including being a top speaker and two time champion of the Harvard World Schools Debating Championship. Naomi has continued debating in university. She has won 9 tournaments, and reached the finals of Doxbridge Worlds, and the Oxford IV. She presently coaches the Panamanian National Team.
Trenton Sewell
Trenton is currently completing an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy at the London School of Economics. He has also completed a Bachelor in Laws at the University of Cambridge. Trenton was on the Canadian National Debate Team in high school. During that period he won the Pan-American Debate Championship, top spoke the Canadian National Debating Championship, and won and top spoke the British Columbian Provincial Championship. Trenton has continued debating in university. During his three years of university debate, Trenton has won the 2019 European University Debating Championship, ranked second-best team at the 2019 World University Debating Championship, and made quarter-finals at the World University Debating Championship twice. He has coached debate in various settings and styles throughout the last four years.
Tyson Dennis-Sharma
Tyson is a 5th year student at the University of Toronto, studying in the Engineering Science program with a Major in Math, Statistics and Finance, and a minor in Artificial Intelligence. Tyson has been involved in debate for 6 years now. As a speaker, he is a Canadian National BP Quarter-finalist. As a judge, he has broken at numerous university and high school competitions including the North American University Debating Championships. He also has coached in various formats for many years now and has recently helped out with the WSDC Canada Development Squad. A fun fact about Tyson is that he does 10,000 calorie eating challenges once a month as cheat days from his strict bodybuilding diet.
TESTIMONIALS
What Our Students Say
