Directors
The Board of Directors establishes policy for Rotary International and provides guidance that helps our clubs thrive. Clubs elect the members of the Board every year at the Rotary International Convention, and each director serves for two years.
Read the latest Board decisions and minutes
-
Stephanie A. Urchick
President 2024-25
Rotary Club of McMurray
Pennsylvania, USAStephanie A. Urchick has been an RI director and Rotary Foundation trustee and has served Rotary in numerous capacities, including as training leader, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and RI president’s representative. In addition, Urchick was a representative and member-at-large at three sessions of the Council on Legislation.
Urchick has also served as chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and The Rotary Foundation’s Centennial Celebration Committee, as well as a member of various Rotary committees, including the Election Review Committee and Operational Review Committee.
A Rotary member since 1991, Urchick has participated in a variety of international service projects, including National Immunization Days in India and Nigeria. In Vietnam, she worked with clubs to help build a primary school and traveled to the Dominican Republic to install water filters. A student of several Slavic languages, she has mentored new Rotary members in Ukraine and coordinated a Rotary Foundation grant for mammography equipment and a biopsy unit for a hospital in Poland. In its commemorative book, the Rotary Club of Krakow, Poland, noted Urchick as a key figure for helping the rebirth of Rotary in post-Communist Poland. Urchick has also helped to pair clubs and districts in the U.S. with Rotary clubs in Albania, Kosovo, and Ukraine for humanitarian and educational services.
Urchick’s professional background is in the higher education, consulting, and entertainment industries. She received her doctorate degree in Leadership Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been recognized by The Rotary Foundation and numerous community and international organizations.
Read the president’s full biography
Read the president’s monthly message
-
Mário César Martins de Camargo
President-elect 2024-25
Rotary Club de Santo André
São Paulo, BrazilMário César Martins de Camargo is a business consultant to the printing industry and former director of Gráfica Bandeirantes, a printing company founded by his father. Under de Camargo’s leadership, the company expanded to be a supplier of printed material for clients in Brazil and elsewhere in South America.
De Camargo attended military school and graduated from a secondary school in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, during a Rotary Youth Exchange program. He had a yearlong internship at MAN Roland, a printing press manufacturer in Offenbach, Germany, before he earned his undergraduate degree at the Fundación Getulio Vargas’ São Paulo School of Business Administration. He also received his law degree from the Faculty of Law of São Bernardo do Campo.
He has led numerous professional associations, including as president of the Brazilian Association of Graphic Technology and ABIGRAF, the Brazilian Printing Industry Association. He was also delegate director of the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP) in the National Confederation of Industry, vice president of FIESP, and vice president of the Latin American Confederation of the Printing Industry. He received the Printing Leader of the Americas award from the Printing Association of Florida and the Global Presidential Print Award from NPES, the Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies.
De Camargo joined Rotary in 1980 at age 23. A past director and trustee, he will be the fourth RI president from Brazil. He has volunteered for numerous roles including RI learning facilitator, zone coordinator for the Avoidable Blindness Task Force, Latin American coordinator for the Health Concerns Task Force, RI president’s representative, and Council on Legislation representative. He has also served on committees including the RI Membership Growth Committee, The Rotary Foundation Programs Finance Committee, and the International PolioPlus Committee.
De Camargo says he is continually impressed by Rotary’s global reach. “With Service Above Self, Rotary has created a unique global identity that is unlike any other I know,” he says. “I think we all need to remember that we belong to an organization that opens up the world to us.”
During the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, de Camargo took on two projects: studying for (and passing) the bar exam — 38 years after attending law school — and learning Italian. He also enjoys reading history and biography books and appreciating good wine.
De Camargo has received The Rotary Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Denise, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.
Read the president-elect’s full biography
-
Hans-Hermann Kasten
Vice President 2024-25
Rotary Club of Aachen-Frankenburg
GermanyHans-Hermann Kasten is a lawyer and businessman. After earning his law degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Münster, he pursued a career in sales and marketing, working for three major insurance companies, Allianz, Provincial, and Generali Holding Germany. He also served on their boards of directors. He later left insurance to work as a lawyer for eight years before retiring in 2021 to dedicate more time to Rotary. He has served as a member of his local city council and chair of its school committee.
Kasten joined Rotary in 2003. He has focused on youth projects throughout his membership. With his club, he has supported literacy for young children and worked on projects that teach German language, beekeeping, and swimming to young immigrants and refugees in Germany. Supporting Rotaract is very important for him. As district governor in 2016-17, he was already stressing diversity and inclusion with his motto “Rotary is becoming younger, more female, more colorful, and more cheerful.” He focused on increasing membership in his district and chartered four new clubs with different club models.
In 2023, Kasten joined the RI Board of Directors. He has also served RI as learning facilitator and twice as representative to the Council on Legislation, coordinating the training and proposals of German-speaking districts in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. He authored the 2022 proposal to allow Rotaractors to attend Rotary club meetings, which was adopted. “Rotary and Rotaract should learn much more about each other,” he says.
Kasten and his partner, Nadja Picard, are multiple Paul Harris Fellows and Major Donors. He has received the Avenues of Service Award.
-
Rhonda "Beth" Stubbs
Treasurer 2024-25
Rotary Club of Maryville
Tennessee, USARhonda “Beth” Stubbs is a certified public accountant who earned her degree at Plymouth State College. After working as a CPA at a Maryville firm, she set up her private practice in 1994, focusing on consulting with small-business owners on account management, finances, and exit strategies. She also worked as chief financial officer for her husband’s business, Trinity Benefit Advisors, for 14 years. Stubbs is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Tennessee Society of Public Accountants.
Stubbs, who first started frequenting Rotary club meetings at age 8 with her father, joined the Rotary Club of Maryville in 1991. She has served her district in several capacities, including as chair of its finance, Foundation, and leadership development and education committees. Stubbs has attended 22 Rotary International Conventions, traveled to New York City for Rotary Day at the United Nations, served in a National Immunization Day in India, traveled to Mexico for club partnership projects, and attended various zone meetings around the country. Stubbs has served on the Administration Committee, the Council on Legislation Advisory Committee, and the Joint Audit Committee.
During a zone meeting in New Orleans that she attended with a Rotary friend — before either had yet served as club president — she learned about Ambassadorial Scholarships and Group Study Exchange. Inspired, she and her friend worked together to help set up these activities in her district. “We saw there was a whole world to Rotary, and we wanted to bring it to Maryville,” Stubbs says.
In addition to bagging and delivering food for schoolchildren with her “small but mighty” Maryville club, Stubbs has worked with her district to raise $1.3 million for polio eradication through the sale of “purple pinkie” donuts and other fundraisers. The satellite club she helped start in her district is still going strong. “I look forward to applying my skills as a CFO on the Board, and to working with clubs in my zones to build the knowledge base about Rotary and its possibilities,” she says.
Stubbs has served on the boards of local nonprofits, including the Michael Dunn Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities, and Asbury Place, a regional retirement community organization. She also served in officer positions in Toastmasters International and is active on several committees at her church. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, traveling, and attending football and basketball games at the University of Tennessee.
She and her husband, Tony, support The Rotary Foundation as Arch Klumph Society members.
-
Ghim Bok Chew
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Bugis Junction
SingaporeBorn in Singapore, Ghim Bok “G.B.” Chew graduated in 1981 with an honors degree in computer science from the University of Liverpool, England, before returning to his home country to launch a career as a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and private equities fund manager. After opening his first business, an IT systems integrator, he took a bankrupt food processing company to an initial public offering after turning it around. Now semiretired, Chew maintains real estate and real estate management companies in Singapore, in addition to his fund management holding company.
Chew joined Rotary in 1996. Immediately after serving as district governor in 2013, he took on several zone and international roles, including assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, assistant Rotary public image coordinator, Rotary coordinator, and chair of the zone institute committee. He is the Host Organization Committee chair for the Rotary International Convention in Singapore in 2024.
Outside of Rotary, Chew is active as a local volunteer, having served for nearly three decades with Singapore’s People's Association, a government organization that uses a grassroots approach to promote racial and social harmony among Singapore’s diverse population. Chew created synergy between People’s Association youth groups and Rotary when he helped start community-based Interact and Rotaract clubs that are still active today. For his contributions to Singapore’s communities, Chew was awarded the Public Service Award Medal in 2005 and Public Service Star Medal in 2012 by Singapore’s president. He also serves as a justice of the peace who volunteers in local prisons, chair of two religious organizations, trustee of three national trust organizations, and honorary consul for the Republic of Slovakia in Singapore.
Chew, who decided to join the Bugis Junction club after reading about the global polio eradication effort in a local newspaper, advocates for the power of partnering to accomplish great things. “As a business person, I strongly believe in creating synergy and leveraging partnerships,” he says. “One plus one can be more than two — it can be 11.”
Chew has applied this approach by partnering with Rotary clubs and outside organizations to support cleft palate surgeries in Indonesia and prosthetic limb fittings in Malaysia. In another project coordinated by his club, he helped raise funds for doctors in Indonesia who donate their time to provide cataract surgeries, implanting lenses for only about $50 each. “Imagine an older person who has never seen their grandchildren suddenly seeing them for the first time,” says Chew. “These are some of the life-changing experiences I have been able to witness through Rotary.”
Chew is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award. With his wife, Phyllis, he is a member of the Arch Klumph Society Chair’s Circle.
-
Eve Conway-Ghazi
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Redbridge
EnglandEve Conway-Ghazi is a multimedia journalist. After earning her bachelor’s degree in English from Queen Mary University of London, she worked as a newspaper reporter. Her editor, a Rotarian, was pleased when she received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism. She returned to London to launch a career in TV and radio journalism that included 20 years at BBC News as a reporter and producer.
Conway-Ghazi was invited to join Rotary in 2000, after doing a series of speaking engagements at London-area clubs. In 2012, she became the first female district governor for Rotary in London. She organized numerous Rotary activities in connection with the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, including a Rotary reception for the Jamaican Paralympians, all polio survivors. That year, she also worked with her counterpart in Mumbai to start a successful vocational training team project focused on preventing problems during childbirth in a community in rural Jawhar, India.
Conway-Ghazi served as president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland in 2016-17. That year, she launched and led the Purple4Polio campaign, engaging Rotarians across Britain and Ireland about polio eradication, one of her passions. The successful campaign had 80 percent of RIBI clubs participating, which yielded a 19 percent increase in giving for polio eradication over the previous year. In addition, it helped raise public awareness, with more than 900 media reports about the campaign. Conway-Ghazi has been a vice chair of the End Polio Now: Countdown to History campaign committee and previously served as director of the Rotary Action Group for Endangered Species.
She has traveled numerous times with British Rotarians to take part in National Immunization Days in India and has worked with leading journalists from the BBC and The Independent covering the topic. She produced a documentary for the BBC on fighting breast cancer in Pakistan, as well as more than 30 videos that RIBI used for a membership and marketing campaign. “Rotary helped me develop my skills as a journalist and it has been good to give back what Rotary’s given me,” says Conway-Ghazi. “We have to tell the story that what Rotary is all about is projects with impact that save lives.”
One of her proudest accomplishments was starting the Rotary Young Citizen Awards in association with BBC News in 2007, focusing on helping to promote positive stories about young people. Outside of Rotary, Conway-Ghazi chairs The Media Circle, part of The Circle nongovernmental organization founded by singer-songwriter and activist Annie Lennox to empower women and girls globally.
She met her late husband, Robert Ghazi, through Rotary. They support The Rotary Foundation as Major Donors and members of the Bequest Society.
-
Patrick Eakes
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Crescent (Greensboro)
North Carolina, USAPatrick Eakes, a professional engineer, is the owner of C.P. Eakes Co., a custom metal fabricator he formed in 1996 that supplies metalwork in construction and manufacturing. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University, having earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.
Eakes joined Rotary in 1998, on Rotary’s anniversary. He says he was initially drawn to Rotary for the service opportunities and stayed in part because of Rotary’s impact on him and his family. He has served Rotary as International Assembly learning facilitator, Rotary coordinator, assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, leadership seminar chair, innovative club advocate, and vice chair of the Carolinas’ Presidents-elect Training Seminar.
Eakes has also led membership development and success initiatives with the Membership Action Plan Committee for Zones 33 and 34, which hosts monthly peer-to-peer webinars and has developed web tools that use real-time data and predictive analysis to assist clubs in setting goals and gauging overall club health.
One of Eakes’ favorite roles was assistant governor, when he first experienced the power of Rotary beyond his club. “I saw Rotary in all its forms and made incredible friendships outside my club,” Eakes says. “To this day — and it’s been 20 years — if I walk into any of those clubs, I am greeted as if I were a member there.”
Eakes is proud of his club’s strong Rotary Foundation support. With his leadership, at one time, each of its 125 members was a Benefactor, a Sustaining Member, and a Paul Harris Fellow.
Eakes and his wife, Kristen, support Children of Vietnam, a local organization that provides education, nutritious meals, clean water, and medical support for thousands of children in Vietnam.
Eakes enjoys golf and served for two years as president of Sedgefield Country Club, where he helped move a PGA Tour event back to the course. His other hobbies include travel and appreciating wine.
Eakes has received RI’s Service Above Self Award and belongs to the Membership Society. He has also earned The Rotary Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award and Citation for Meritorious Service. He and Kristen are Major Donors and members of the Bequest Society and Paul Harris Society.
-
Christine Etienne
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Petoskey
Michigan, USAChris Etienne is an associate broker with Harbor Sotheby’s International Realty and director of leasing for the Village at Bay Harbor. With her husband, Dennis Lindeman, she also owns a retail business, Linde Furniture.
Etienne graduated from the University of Maryland after studying at its campus in Heidelberg, Germany, and earned her master’s degree in business administration from Lake Superior State University. She worked in the banking industry for 15 years before transitioning into real estate.
A recipient of the Realtor of the Year Award from the Emmet Association of Realtors, Etienne currently serves as president of that organization. She is also a trustee of North Central Michigan College and a board member of the North Central Michigan College Foundation. While chairing the Michigan Women’s Commission, she worked on projects that support female veterans and victims of human trafficking. Etienne received an Athena Award in 2007.
Etienne joined Rotary in 1990, when she relocated to a new community for work. “Most of my best friends today are people I met through Rotary,” Etienne says. “A lot of people like me join for the networking but end up staying because of the relationships and service.”
About three years into her membership, Etienne was invited to a district conference where she became aware of the international reach of Rotary and its Foundation. She championed the sponsorship of her district’s first inbound Ambassadorial Scholar from Afghanistan, who she says became a part of her family. That scholar later earned a master’s degree from Grand Valley State University, returned home to teach at Nangarhār University, and joined a Rotary club.
Etienne has volunteered during National Immunization Days in India and Nigeria, which she found to be life-changing experiences. She says, “It’s so rewarding to see what you accomplish by being part of an organization like Rotary.”
Etienne has served Rotary as a training leader, president’s representative, Rotary coordinator, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and Convention Promotion Committee member. She has also moderated the Global Support Seminar and Global Philanthropy Seminar. She currently serves on the steering committee of the Haiti National Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Initiative, through which her district has a partnership with the Rotary Club of Memorial des Gonaives, Artibonite, Haiti.
Etienne has received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Award. She and her husband are Major Donors. When they’re not working, they enjoy sailing on the Great Lakes.
-
Daniel C. Himelspach
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Denver Mile High
Colorado, USARaised on a sheep and cattle ranch in southeastern Montana, Dan Himelspach earned his chemistry degree from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. He worked briefly at DuPont as a chemical engineer before joining the U.S. Army as an officer with the Army Corps of Engineers. He later earned his law degree from the University of Denver College of Law and a Master Negotiation Certificate from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.
After working as an attorney at one of Denver’s larger firms and practicing law at a firm he founded with three other attorneys, Himelspach formed Dispute Management Inc., a full-service dispute resolution firm, where he mediated more than 7,000 lawsuits and conducted more than 100 arbitrations.
Himelspach joined Rotary in 1993 and has served in multiple district and zone leadership positions after serving as district governor, including End Polio Now coordinator, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and zone institute education week trainer. Himelspach was instrumental in proposing club flexibility provisions that became Enactment 16-21, adopted at the 2016 Council on Legislation. He also served as a representative to the Council on Legislation from 2017 to 2020.
Himelspach has been involved in many local and international service projects, including a long-standing partnership with Rotary clubs in Kathmandu to provide water to a mountain community in Nepal. Himelspach says he was amazed during an in-person site visit to see how the initiative had grown to become an economic empowerment project for women, who were freed up from carrying water and are now entrepreneurs. “I realized the magic of The Rotary Foundation is how we work with local Rotary clubs as partners,” says Himelspach. “I don’t know of any other organization that has the global reach, in quality and extent, that is available to Rotarians through Rotary’s club network.”
Himelspach serves on the boards of two Denver-based nonprofits: WorldDenver, which promotes greater understanding of world affairs and cultures throughout the community, and BrainWise, which develops curricula to teach critical-thinking skills to youth and adults.
He and his wife, Leslie, are members of the Paul Harris Society and the Bequest Society and are Major Donors. Himelspach has received several awards for his Rotary service, including The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service.
-
Naomi Luan-Fong Lin
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Taipei Lily
TaiwanNaomi Luan-Fong Lin is general manager of Lite-Puter Enterprise Co. Ltd., a leading brand of energy-saving lighting control systems she established in 1978. The company manufactures and distributes products such as dimmers for hotels, shopping malls, and museums in more than 60 countries. It has earned numerous awards, including the Good Design Award and the PLASA Award for Product Excellence.
A speaker of four languages (Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, English, and Japanese), Lin holds bachelor’s degrees in Japanese literature and international trade from Chinese Culture University in Taipei. She also earned academic credits in the master’s program in business administration at National Taipei University and has served as president of the alumni association of its Department of Business Administration. Lin served as president of the Northern District Fellowship for the Council for Industrial and Commercial Development. Her professional recognition includes the Model of Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs Award and the Taiwan Excellence Award.
Lin joined Rotary in 2004 as the first president of the Rotary Club of Taipei Lily. She enjoys mentoring new members and clubs as well as organizing fundraisers for Rotary. Working with seven districts, she helped organize an End Polio Cycling Tour in Taiwan that raised more than US$271,000 for The Rotary Foundation and the PolioPlus Fund. As district governor, Lin helped establish 17 Rotary clubs and 16 satellite clubs, welcoming 565 new members. That year, she also led her district in raising US$1.5 million for The Rotary Foundation.
She has served in senior leadership roles in the Taiwan Rotary Clubs Association and the Taiwan Rotary Council of Past Governors. She has also been active in Rotary internationally in numerous roles, including as RI president’s representative, assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, assistant Rotary coordinator, Peace Major Gifts Initiative Committee member, endowment/major gifts adviser, and Rotary institute vice chair and convener.
Lin says one of her most fulfilling assignments in Rotary so far was serving as endowment/major gifts adviser for Zone 9. “This role allowed me to contribute to Rotary’s global initiatives and work closely with leaders from diverse backgrounds,” she says.
In her leisure time, Lin is an avid reader and walker.
Lin has received the Service Above Self Award. She and her husband, Louis Hsu Kun-Pai, a past district governor, support The Rotary Foundation as Arch Klumph Society members and Major Donors.
-
Isao “Mick” Mizuno
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Tokyo Tobihino
Tokyo, JapanIsao “Mick” Mizuno is president of Chiyoda Unyu, which supplies parts to the automobile and trucking industries with branches throughout Japan. He assumed leadership of the company in 1986. His father had founded it in 1953.
After graduating from Keio University in 1975, Mizuno earned his master’s degree in business administration from the same institution. He worked for three years in the planning division at Seven & i Holdings, the largest retail company in Japan and the operator of 7-Eleven stores in the U.S. He then worked as secretary for the company’s founder, Masatoshi Ito, for two years. “Ito-san taught me so many things,” Mizuno says.
At age 44, Mizuo chaired the Japan Automobile Transporters Association, making him the youngest chair in the association’s history at that time. He currently serves as vice chair of the Tokyo Trucking Association. Previous roles with professional associations have included chair of both the Japan Trucking Association and the Japan Automobile Transport Technology Association, where he helped initiate a nationwide education and accreditation system under the sponsorship of the Japanese government for the development of skilled drivers. Mizuno received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, decoration from the emperor of Japan in recognition of his contributions to the transportation industry.
Mizuno joined Rotary in 1989 as a charter member of his club, which was sponsored by his father’s club. He has served RI as assistant Rotary coordinator, Rotary coordinator, training leader, regional membership plan project leader, and RI president’s representative (nine times). Since 2018, he has served as the host area coordinator for the Rotary Peace Center at International Christian University in Tokyo.
Mizuno says that he strongly believes in the power of making connections in Rotary. “There are so many people doing good all over the world — it makes me happy,” he says. “That is part of the magic of Rotary.”
He was asked by Hino’s mayor to lead a spring cherry blossom festival in the city, and he enlisted his club to support the event as volunteers. Mizuno is also a donor and past vice chair of the Rotary Yoneyama Scholarship for Overseas Candidates, a large scholarship program for international students in Japan. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling, playing golf, and food crawls.
Mizuno supports The Rotary Foundation as a Major Donor and Paul Harris Society member.
-
Salvador Rizzo Tavares
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Monterrey Carlos Canseco
Nuevo León, MexicoSalvador Rizzo Tavares is CEO of Grupo Rizzo, which he established in 1987 as an office equipment wholesaler. The group now has four companies and specializes in supplying hardware and software for private companies, educational institutions, and governments. Among his professional accomplishments is the creation of Aula Inteligente technology that has been used to equip more than 120,000 classrooms in public elementary schools in Mexico and, in collaboration with Intel, the development of the Classmate student laptop, more than 200,000 of which have been sold in Latin America.
Rizzo Tavares joined Rotary in 1989 at age 27. His mentor was past RI President Carlos Canseco, who imparted extensive knowledge about Rotary during their travels throughout Mexico and the region. Rizzo Tavares has focused on connecting Rotary members, engaging young professionals, and enhancing members’ understanding of the organization. He has served RI as a Rotary coordinator, member of the New Generations Committee, and training leader. He also established Rotary Leadership Institute in 11 countries and led them for 10 years, training more than 5,000 Rotary members.
He is also dedicated to helping strengthen Rotary in his region. “I want to promote the growth and development of Rotary in Latin America and Spanish-speaking countries,” he says.
Rizzo Tavares has also led global grant projects to address eating disorders, resolve environmental problems, and provide equipment to detect prostate cancer, among others.
He has also served his community in the metropolitan area of Monterrey as a member of an arts organization that combats pediatric cancer. He volunteered for Acciones en Cadena (“Chain Reactions”), which runs programs to protect at-risk youth from alcoholism, tobacco, drugs, and eating disorders.
An avid sports fan, Rizzo Tavares is a former golf and soccer player, and multiple marathon runner.
He and his partner, Esmeralda, are Rotary Foundation Major Donors, Benefactors, Paul Harris Fellows, and Bequest Society members.
Rizzo Tavares has three children, Anna María, Salvador, and Paulina, and three grandchildren, Enrique, Regina, and Santiago.
-
Anirudha Roy Chowdhury
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Calcutta Mega City
IndiaAnirudha Roy Chowdhury is an electrical engineer and first-generation entrepreneur. In 1980, he took out a small loan to form the Zoom 16 Color Film Laboratory. Today, the Zoom enterprise (not related to the online meeting platform) employs more than 250 people and specializes in digital imaging, 3D printing for medical applications, and large-format printing. Roy Chowdhury’s enterprises also span other business segments, including electrical motors and drives, health care diagnostics, and pharmacies.
Roy Chowdhury joined Rotary as a charter member of his club in 1995. During his tenure as district governor, he added 450 members and 11 new clubs and helped raise district contributions to The Rotary Foundation to $613,000. He has since served RI as Rotary public image coordinator, assistant Rotary coordinator, assistant Rotary Foundation coordinator, and a five-time RI president’s representative, and as a member of The Rotary Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers. He also served on the board of trustees of the Eastern India Rotary Welfare Trust.
During his first years in Rotary, he was involved in social mobilization and working with the Muslim community on National Immunization Days in India. While out in the community, he observed problems such as the lack of potable water and children who were not in school. “That experience transformed me quickly to be a service-oriented person,” says Roy Chowdhury.
Passionate about promoting literacy through Rotary, he is serving as a member of the executive body of the Rotary India Literacy Mission, which provides free digital content and is targeting 27 million school students. He has also helped lead Rotary Foundation global grant projects to train doctors in Lesotho in orthopedics and eye surgery. Roy Chowdhury says he is eager to take the next step in Rotary leadership as a director, but that it is important to stay humble. “At the end of the day, I am just a Rotarian, and my passion is to serve the community in the capacity I can,” he says. “We are all working with the same objectives in mind.”
Roy Chowdhury has been active in regional business organizations, including Bengal National Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small and Medium Industry, and the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce, where he currently serves as a board member. He also established the Zoom Foundation, which promotes health causes such as funding a hematology diagnostic center to treat children with thalassemia.
Roy Chowdhury is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award as well as The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Award. He and his spouse, Shipra, support the Foundation as Level 3 Major Donors and Bequest Society members.
-
Suzan Stenberg
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Östersund Åre
SwedenSuzan Stenberg owns a consulting business dedicated to business development and management training for university students. She also runs summer school programs for teenagers and teaches them entrepreneurship, innovation, economics, and business law.
A former Rotary Youth Exchange student in Manhattan, Kansas, USA, Stenberg took sales and marketing courses at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., before returning to Sweden to work in information technology. At Microsoft, she worked in business development before moving into learning and training, where she helped start the Microsoft University program and establish the certification industry for IT professionals in Sweden. She ended her 20 years at Microsoft serving on the company’s leadership team in Sweden and overseeing small-business marketing as well as education and certification programs in the Nordic countries.
Stenberg developed a business incubator in Åre in conjunction with Swedish universities as well as a science park that coaches startups and drives innovation in local companies. She has served on the boards of many Swedish startups and publicly listed technology companies. “I want to help build a culture of innovation to revitalize Rotary,” Stenberg says.
A member of Rotary since 2009, Stenberg has served Rotary as a representative to the Council on Legislation, district trainer, Rotary coordinator, learning facilitator for a governors-elect training seminar, and regional Rotary Foundation coordinator.
Stenberg organizes the annual Åre Rotary Wild Camp, which invites all of the Rotary Youth Exchange students in Sweden to enjoy Jämtland County’s natural beauty. “These are the things that make me proud of Rotary because I know we change lives, one person at a time,” she says.
Stenberg is also a part of Women in Action, a group of female Rotary members from the Nordic region who meet and work on projects together and have helped supply incubators to hospitals in Lithuania. Her mascot teddy bear, Benny, has his own Instagram account and helps her raise funds for End Polio Now.
Outside of Rotary, Stenberg is active in scouting and volunteers to help refugees find jobs. She loves skiing, kayaking, and biking.
She and her husband, Göran Stenberg, support The Rotary Foundation as Major Donors and members of the Paul Harris Society, District 2230’s PolioPlus Society, and the Bequest Society.
-
Trichur Narayan “Raju” Subramanian
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Deonar
IndiaTrichur Narayan “Raju” Subramanian is a senior counsel, working in India’s High Court and Supreme Court systems. He earned degrees in economics and law from Mumbai University. His civil law clients have included multinational corporations, state and local government, Board of Control for Cricket, and educational institutions. He has also taken on pro bono work representing clients in AIDS discrimination cases as well as environmental cases.
Subramanian joined Rotary in 1987 as a charter member of his club. He has volunteered in club projects ranging from administering polio vaccine during National Immunization Days to supporting his club’s global grants project that provides free pediatric heart surgery in low-income communities.
One of his greatest Rotary moments was seeing the children who were positively impacted by one of the club’s school projects, which teaches English, computer literacy, and life skills to kids who would otherwise have limited opportunities to learn outside their native language. “It was satisfying to see how some moved on to graduate to become chartered accountants, architects, and engineers,” says Subramanian. “It helped them see that there is a large life ahead of them.”
He has served RI as a member of the Election Review Committee, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and the Council on Legislation Organizing Committee. Subramanian also served as Rotary institute chair, training leader and support training leader, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and director of the Rotary Fellowship for past district governors. His two most challenging Rotary roles have been serving as training leader and as vice chair of the 2022 Council on Legislation, when he had to lead the meeting after the chair fell ill with COVID-19.
Subramanian and his wife, Vidhya, support The Rotary Foundation as Paul Harris Society members, Arch Klumph Society members, and Benefactors. Subramanian is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service.
-
Daniel V. Tanase
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club Suceava Bucovina
RomaniaDaniel V. Tanase is managing partner of Assist Software SRL, a software research and development company that he co-founded in 1992 and now has 360 employees. The company specializes in outsourced projects, including developing mobile and web-based custom business applications for e-commerce, security, health, and gaming. In 2016, the Romanian Chamber of Commerce ranked Assist Software as the top information technology research and development firm in Romania.
A graduate of the University of Bucharest, Tanase earned his master’s of science in civil and environmental engineering. He holds a master’s in business administration from the Open University in the UK.
Tanase joined Rotary in 2002 as a charter member of his club. He has served as assistant Rotary coordinator, Rotary coordinator, chair of the Rotary institute in Bucharest, and six times as an RI president’s representative. Passionate about training, he has served as training leader or general trainer at the International Assembly, governors-elect training seminar, and Rotary institute. He is also a member of Rotary’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Council and Participant Experience Committee.
As club president, he led the club’s first community service project helping at-risk children and orphans, which grew to be a district initiative that has helped more than 3,000 children across Romania. His club sponsors Autumn Symphonies, an annual open-air concert of classical music in downtown Suceava that attracts about 10,000 attendees. At intermission, the club screens a video that showcases Rotary’s community projects while volunteers in Rotary vests collect donations. “In seven or eight minutes, we usually raise between 12,000 and 15,000 euros,” Tanase says. “It’s also a great opportunity to show the city what Rotary is all about.”
Tanase says that as he has grown in Rotary, so has his humility. “When you visit the clubs and see so many people who are more generous than you, you see their dedication and motivation, and you are amazed,” he says.
Tanase co-founded the Assist Humanitarian Foundation, an organization that has collaborated with Rotary on disease prevention projects and received a certificate of appreciation from The Rotary Foundation. He also served on the board of the Blijdorp Romania Association, a day care facility for children with severe disabilities.
Tanase enjoys climbing, hiking, and skiing in the Carpathian Mountains and playing the board game Go. He has written books about management, a collection of short stories, and a Rotary pocket handbook that he distributes at events.
Tanase has received the Service Above Self Award. He and his spouse, Marlena P. Tanase, support The Rotary Foundation as Major Donors.
-
Alain Van de Poel
Director 2024-26
Rotary Club of Wezembeek-Kraainem
Brabant, BelgiumAlain Van de Poel is the owner of Cocoonpoel SRL, a distributor of bathroom supplies and fixtures. He established the company in 2005. His previous experience includes management positions in banking, publishing, and human resources. He also ran a consultancy focused on management programs within the European Commission.
Van de Poel holds a degree in commercial management and marketing from Institut Supérieur de Commerce Saint-Louis in Brussels. He completed management courses and earned a certificate in manager coaching at the Institut Catholique des Hautes Études Commerciales (ICHEC) in Brussels. During the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Van de Poel resumed law school studies. He is a former member of the general assembly of Collège Saint-Michel, a Jesuit secondary school in Etterbeek, and a member of the Export Commission of the Brussels Chamber of Commerce.
In 1992, Van de Poel chartered the club where he is still a member. He is proud of club projects that include hosting Christmas dinner for elderly people who are alone and raising more than 100,000 euros in less than 48 hours to help purchase respirators for a Brussels hospital during the COVID pandemic.
Van de Poel has chaired district membership and Rotary Foundation committees and has been active in regional Rotary groups, serving as director of the Coordination Center for French-speaking Governors and as honorary chair of Rotary BeLux Services, the publisher of Rotary Contact, Rotary’s official regional magazine in Belgium and Luxembourg. He also served as a Council on Legislation representative and co-chair of the Rotary Leadership Institute in Europe.
As a reserve officer in the Belgian armed forces, Van de Poel helped teach illiterate recruits how to read and write, an act that taught him the power of humility. “If everyone were more humble, the world would be much better,” Van de Poel says. “Just because I am an RI director does not mean I know Rotary better than anyone else, so I must always learn from the members of Rotary.”
Van de Poel says he is passionate about three things in Rotary: regional adaptability, Rotary’s core values, and The Four-Way Test, which was always on display in his offices.
For years, he was active as a scout leader in Belgium’s scouting association. He enjoys golf, Alpine skiing, reading philosophy and history books, and listening to classical music.
A recipient of the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, he supports the Foundation as a Paul Harris Fellow.
-
Henrique Vasconcelos
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Fortaleza-Alagadiço
BrazilHenrique Vasconcelos holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Fortaleza. He is the owner of three businesses operating in the construction and engineering business sectors.
Born in 1969, the same year his Rotary club was chartered, Vasconcelos grew up surrounded by Rotary, inspired by his father who served twice as a district governor. His Rotary Youth Exchange in Pennsylvania created lifelong friendships that run deep in his family: 22 years after his experience, one of his daughters went to live with the same host family during her exchange.
Vasconcelos joined Rotary in 1996, seeking an opportunity to give back and to see his father more regularly. At 38, he served as governor of District 4490. Since then, he has taken on many roles for RI, including training leader, Rotary coordinator, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, Council on Legislation representative, Rotary zone institute chair, RI president’s representative, and member of the 2020 RI Convention Promotion Committee. He has supported The Rotary Foundation as regional coordinator and endowment/major gifts adviser. In Brazil, he has served as a board member of the Brazilian association of The Rotary Foundation since 2009 and was a columnist for Rotary Brasil magazine for six years.
One of his most memorable moments in Rotary was when he and his club traveled in four-wheel-drive cars to a remote area in the state of Ceará to deliver goods and services. There, his club presented a wheelchair to a polio survivor who had wanted one for 40 years. He coordinated the delivery of 2,000 ShelterBoxes in the aftermath of massive mudslides and floods in the state of Rio de Janeiro in 2010. Vasconcelos, who lost his mother to COVID-19, also led the Information Saves Lives campaign, engaging Rotary and Rotaract clubs throughout Brazil to promote the importance of vaccinations through social media, traditional media, outdoor ads, and more.
“Rotary’s greatest challenge now is for us to be more active in our communities,” says Vasconcelos. “When we have greater projects in our communities, we will add more members to our ranks, our public image will grow, and donations to The Rotary Foundation will increase.”
Vasconcelos holds the title of Honorary Consul of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Ceará. In his spare time, he enjoys riding a motorcycle throughout Brazil and the U.S.; he was director of the Fortaleza chapter of the Brazilian Harley-Davidson owners group in Ceará.
A Paul Harris Fellow, he supports The Rotary Foundation with his wife, Renata Macedo, as Benefactor, Bequest Society member, and Major Donor. Vasconcelos is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award.
-
Yeong Ho Yun
Director 2023-25
Rotary Club of Masan South
KoreaYeong Ho Yun is chair of the Korea Tourism Association, the country’s premier organization representing the tourism industry. A graduate of Seoul Digital University who earned his master’s degree in business administration from Kyungnam University Graduate School of Business, Yun now owns several businesses that employ more than 400 people. In addition to owning and serving as chair of Hotel International Changwon, his other ventures include transportation, cargo, and rental car companies.
He served as the president of two professional associations, the South Gyeongsang Province Tourism Association and the Korea Trucking Association. Yun is a recipient of two South Korean government awards: the Silver Tower Award for his work promoting tourism and the Stone Tower Award for his contributions to the trucking industry.
Yun joined Rotary in 1983 at the recommendation of a friend. Soon thereafter, he was volunteering with the Masan South club to provide food for older people in the community during holidays. As governor in 2013-14, he led an initiative that resulted in the district’s first $1 million contribution to The Rotary Foundation.
During his three-year term as endowment/major gifts adviser, he helped find 51 additional Arch Klumph Society members in his zone. In addition, he served RI as assistant Rotary public image coordinator and twice as training leader, an experience that he cherishes. “At the International Assembly, I learned how important it is to gather participant ideas and perspectives when making decisions,” Yun says.
Yun is a recipient of the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award. He and his wife, Hae Suk Lee, are Trustees Circle members of the Arch Klumph Society.
-
John Hewko
General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
Rotary Club of Kyiv
UkraineJohn Hewko is the general secretary and chief executive officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. From 2004 to 2009, Hewko was vice president for operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries.
Read General Secretary Hewko’s full biography.
Follow @johnhewko on Twitter. Visit John Hewko on Facebook.
-
2024-25 RI Board Committees
Executive Committee
Acts on behalf of the Board according to established policy, advises the Board with respect to governance and other significant issues, and reviews recommendations for report to the Board from the RI Finance Committee.
Chair
Daniel C. Himelspach
Members
Mário César Martins de Camargo
Hans-Hermann Kasten
Rhonda E. Stubbs
Trichur Narayan Subramanian
Stephanie Urchick
Henrique Vasconcelos
Administration Committee
Reviews recommendations for report to the Board from the following committees: Election Review Committee, Districting Committee, Council Operations Committee, and Constitution and Bylaws Committee.
Chair
Trichur Narayan Subramanian
Vice Chair
Charles Patrick Eakes
Members
Ghim Bok Chew
Christine Etienne
Luan Fong Lin
Salvador Rizzo Tavares
Suzan Stenberg
Programs (Participant Experience) Committee
Reviews recommendations for report to the Board from the Membership Growth, RI Programs, Convention, Joint Technology, Joint Communications and Joint Learning Committees and the Joint DEI Task Force.
Chair
Henrique Vasconcelos
Vice Chair
Alain Van de Poel
Members
Anirudha Roy Chowdhury
Eve S. Conway-Ghazi
Isao Mizuno
Daniel V. Tanase
Yeong Ho Yun
Board Council Legislation Advisory Committee
Advises the Board with respect to Council on Resolution and Council on Legislation matters.
Chair
Trichur “Raju” Narayan Subramanian
Vice Chair
Daniel C. Himelspach
Members
Salvador Rizzo Tavares
Suzan Stenberg
Rhonda E. Stubbs
Read the latest Board decisons