UPCOMING EVENTS
SPEAKER SERIES: CREATING A FAMILY FRIENDLY VIBE IN ROTARY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024 1 PM PST
Join us as we welcome Rotary Powerhouse Brittany Arthur and Zone 28 & 32 RI Director Drew Kessler for an exciting conversation on how we can create a more inclusive Rotary that welcomes children and celebrates families! Drew and Brittany will be sharing stories about how being a young parent in Rotary is not just possible, but can actually add to the experience not just for kids but for our fellow Rotary members.
This event will be moderated by the Vice-chair of the Rotary International Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Brian Rusch.
ABOUT DREW KESSLER
Drew Kessler is the Rotary International Director for Zones 28 & 32 and serves as the Treasurer for Rotary International Board of Directors. He is the youngest person to ever serve as a Rotary International Director.
Kessler joined Rotary in 2001, at the age of 20. He went on to serve as President of the Rotary Club of North Rockland at age 25 – at that time the youngest president in the club’s than 80-year history. At age 32, he served as District Governor for Rotary District 7210. “For anyone who says that you have to be retired to serve in these positions, I’d like to show that there is another path,” says Kessler.
Professionally, Drew is Senior Vice President of the Commercial Real Estate division at M&T Bank, where he manages a large loan portfolio of real estate and commercial ventures with major businesses in the New York City area.
As a husband and father to five children, Kessler prioritizes finding a way to incorporate family into Rotary events, projects, and meetings whenever possible; all of his children have been touched by Rotary either through Earlyact, Interact, RYLA and Rotary Youth Exchange. Kessler and his wife, Vicki – also an Active Rotarian – reside in Hopewell Junction, New York.
ABOUT BRITTANY ARTHUR
Having been associated with Rotary for many years, Brittany is a member of the Rotary Club of Berlin-International. Past Rotary Foundation Scholar, Past President of Rotaract Club Berlin and Past Vice-Chair of the Rotary International Joint Committee for Young Leaders and Alumni Engagement. In 2018, Brittany served as the emcee for the Rotary International Convention in Toronto, Canada.
Professionally, Brittany specialize in innovation, Design Thinking and Design Sprints in Japan and in Japanese. She founded the Business Karaoke Podcast - the only English-Japanese, innovation podcast in the world. Brittany also founded the ToYoko Design Thinking Network, the only English-Japanese innovation MeetUp. Brittany is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
Brittany lives in Tokyo, Japan with her husband and their young son.
SPEAKER SERIES:
MÁRIO CÉSAR MARTINS DE CAMARGO
ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT NOMINEE
FEBRUARY 10, 2024 - 9 am PST
The Rotary Club for Global Action is thrilled to be welcoming Rotary President Nominee Mário César Martin as part of our ongoing speaker series on this February. This event will be conducted via Zoom, and we welcome guests and Rotarians from other clubs to join us for this special event. This event will be moderated by our club's past president, Brian Rusch.
A member of the Rotary Club of Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil, Mário has been a Rotarian since 1980. He has served Rotary as director, trustee, RI learning facilitator, committee member and chair, and task force member.
Mário was president of Gráfica Bandeirantes and has been a consultant to the print industry in Brazil. He has also served as president and chair of several printing and graphics trade associations, including the Brazilian Association of Graphic Technology and ABIGRAF, the Brazilian Printing Industry Association.
He has served on the board of Casa da Esperança (House of Hope), a hospital sponsored by his Rotary club that serves 150,000 children with disabilities every year.
Mário studied in the U.S. and Germany and holds degrees from EAESP-Fundação Getulio Vargas in business administration and Faculdade de Direito de São Bernardo do Campo in law. He was a Youth Exchange participant to Minnesota, USA, in 1974-75, which inspired a lifelong commitment to the program.
Mário and his wife, Denise, live in Brazil and are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.
SPEAKER SERIES:
IGNACIO "NACHO" DEAN
NATURALIST & EXPLORER
APRIL 3, 2024, 9 am PDT
“There is no border more impassable than the one that prevents us from believing in something.” - Nacho Dean
In honor of Earth Month in April and Rotary's 7th Area of Focus, the Rotary Club for Global Action is honored to welcome naturalist and explorer Nacho Dean as part of our ongoing speaker series. This event will be conducted via Zoom, and we welcome guests and Rotarians from other clubs to join us for this special event. This event will be moderated by our club's past president, Brian Rusch.
Nacho Dean is a well-known adventurer. He is the first and only person in history to have successfully walked around the world and swum between 5 continents (there have been more people on the moon)
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From 2013 to 2016 he walked around the world, an expedition he called EarthWideWalk. It took him 3 years to travel 4 continents, 31 countries and 33,000 kilometers on foot, solo and unassisted, in support of the environment.
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Between 2018 and 2019 he completed the Nemo Expedition, a challenge in which he swam between the 5 continents to send a message about ocean conservation.
Nacho is the author of 2 books “Libre y Salvaje” (Free & Wild) and “La Llamada del Océano” (The Call of the Ocean) published with Planeta publishing house, he has spoken at more than 150 international conferences and has been the subject of countless interviews and reports in the media.
Nacho lives in Spain with his wife Sara and their two daughters.
