The Board of Trustees manages the business of The Rotary Foundation, the charitable arm of our organization that funds service activities. The RI president-elect nominates the trustees, who are elected by the RI Board to four-year terms.
Read the latest Trustee decisions and minutes
Jennifer Jones
Chair 2026-27
Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland
Ontario, Canada
Jennifer Jones served as president of Rotary International in 2022-23 and in doing so became the first woman to hold our highest elected office, 117 years after Rotary’s founding.
A communications executive, Jones is the founder of Media Street Productions Inc., an award-winning media company in Windsor, Ontario, that helps corporations and nonprofit organizations tell their stories with conviction and credibility.
As an ambassador for Rotary, Jones has strengthened our reach and impact. She regularly collaborates with world leaders, celebrities, and well-known thinkers, and she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to eradicate disease, elevate education, support peace, and provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.
As president, Jones embarked on the Imagine Impact Tour, bringing top-tier media professionals and social influencers with her to showcase stories of sustainable, large-scale projects by Rotary’s people of action around the world. Messaging from the tour reached more than 1.3 billion people.
Jones is also a leader in cultivating experiential fundraising opportunities, such as Rotary’s golfing event with Jack Nicklaus in Jupiter, Florida, USA, which raised more than US$5.25 million for polio eradication in one day. Another example is the innovative virtual COVID-19 #RotaryResponds event that raised critical funds for COVID-19 relief projects and showcased Rotary’s response across the globe.
Jones has served the Windsor-Essex community as chair of the University of Windsor Board of Governors, Maryvale Adolescent and Family Services, and the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce.
Jones has received Rotary’s Service Above Self Award, The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, and the Sylvia Whitlock Leadership Award. She has also been recognized for her service with numerous honors including the YMCA Peace Medallion, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Wayne State University’s Peacemaker Award, a first for a Canadian. She holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of Windsor and one from Queens University.
Jones is married to Nick Krayacich, a family physician. They share a love for Rotary, travel, cycling, golf, and relaxing at their family cottage on Lake Erie.
R. Gordon R. McInally
Chair-elect 2026-27
Rotary Club of South Queensferry
West Lothian, Scotland
R. Gordon R. McInally was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and at the University of Dundee, where he earned his graduate degree in dental surgery. He is a fellow of the International College of Dentists and operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh until 2016. McInally was chair of the East of Scotland branch of the British Paedodontic Society and has held various academic positions. He has also served as a presbytery elder, chair of the Queensferry parish congregational board, and commissioner to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland.
McInally joined Rotary in 1984 at age 26. He has served as president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He has also served RI as a director and on several committees, including as chair of both the 2018 Toronto Convention Committee and the Operations Review Committee. McInally served as RI president in 2023-24.
McInally takes special pride in the way Rotary members all around the world embraced the focus on mental health and well-being that was initiated during his presidency and the fact that this focus is continuing.
McInally is a patron of the UK-based nonprofit Hope and Homes for Children and led a partnership between that organization and RIBI to support children in Rwanda who had been orphaned by the 1994 genocide . He against the Tutsi. He is a patron of Trade-Aid, an initiative of the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven, England, which provides sustainable humanitarian aid to individuals, families, and businesses in the developing world. He is also an ambassador for Bipolar UK, a national mental health organization. In August 2022, he was made the humanitarian laureate of the Sino Phil Asia International Peace Awards Foundation.
In his free time, McInally enjoys rugby, good food and wine, and stick dressing, the traditional Scottish craft of making walking sticks.
McInally describes The Rotary Foundation as “the engine that creates the energy to do Rotary service.” He and his partner, Heather, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Borderlands (Passport Group), are Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors, Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation, and members of the Bequest Society.
Vicki Puliz
Vice chair 2026-27
Rotary Club of Sparks
Nevada, USA
Vicki Puliz earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s in business administration from the University of Utah before becoming a partner in a commercial electrical contracting business in Nevada in 1984. She helped lead and expand the business until it merged with a publicly traded entity in 2003, and then she retired.
Puliz joined Rotary in 1992 as the first woman in her club. She has served Rotary as director, learning facilitator, and Rotary public image coordinator. She has been helped lead several presidents-elect and governors-elect training seminars. “I see Rotary as a leadership organization that provides service,” she says. “Leadership development is one of our key benefits to members.”
Puliz is also interested in leadership development for young people. It was when she witnessed more than a hundred Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) participants supporting one young woman who was struggling that her vision of the power of Rotary expanded. She has co-chaired RYLA events in her district, facilitated them in Benin, and co-created a district youth leadership program for 12- and 13-year-olds based on RYLA concepts. She also served on the inaugural Youth Advisory Council for Rotary International in 2022, which was composed of young leaders from all Rotary programs and reported directly to the RI Board of Directors.
Rotary’s peace initiatives are another passion for Puliz. She serves on the Rotary Peace Centers Committee and has participated in events at the peace centers in Bradford, England, and in Istanbul, Türkiye. She also completed Positive Peace Activator training offered through Rotary’s partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace. She helped form a community of practice on building social cohesion and combating polarization, skills that she has applied in work with adults and young people.
For Puliz, it is critical for each member to know why they are in Rotary. “If each Rotary member could tap into that purpose and share it with others, it would be so powerful for our organization.”
Puliz and her husband, Tim, who is also a Rotarian, live in Reno, Nevada. Their blended family includes seven children, 12 grandchildren, and three Rotary Youth Exchange daughters. They enjoy outdoor activities in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and general aviation. Both are active members of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.
They support The Rotary Foundation as Arch Klumph Society members and members of the Paul Harris Society, the Bequest Society, and the PolioPlus Society.
Francesco Arezzo
Trustee 2026-30
Rotary Club of Ragusa
Italy
Francesco Arezzo is an orthodontist in private practice and owns an agricultural enterprise that produces extra virgin olive oil in Sicily.
A graduate of the University of Padua and the University of Cagliari, where he received a master’s in lingual orthodontics, Arezzo is a member of Italian, European, and American orthodontics associations.
Arezzo served as vice president of the National Association of Italian Dentists for the province of Ragusa. He founded and for seven years headed the Ragusa delegation to the National Trust for Italy.
The Arezzo family has produced olive oil for more than a century. Francesco Arezzo has served as vice president of the administrative council that oversees quality production in the Monti Iblei region and owns two boutique hotels there.
Arezzo was Rotary International president in 2025-26. A Rotary member since 1991, he has served as vice chair of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee and as RI director, chair of the 2023 Melbourne Convention Committee, learning facilitator, and district conference presidential representative. He also served as president of Fondazione Rotary Italia, making it easier for Italian citizens to support Rotary’s humanitarian projects worldwide.
When his fellow members proposed that he become club president, Arezzo was reluctant. He had a stutter and was terrified of addressing his club. But he accepted the challenge. And then he accepted another in becoming district governor. It all led to profound personal transformation. “When I speak onstage in another language, I understand how much Rotary has changed me in a positive and lasting way,” he says.
During his presidency, Arezzo focused on spreading peace through Rotary and on his vision for our long-term success. “The future of Rotary is one of growth,” he says. “We should have a more agile structure that is able to make decisions more quickly to match our rapidly changing world.”
Arezzo’s partner is Anna Maria Arezzo-Criscione, an entrepreneur in the tourism field. They have two daughters and two grandchildren. His daughter Raffaela spent a year in Florida, USA, through Rotary Youth Exchange. Francesco and Anna Maria are Benefactors and Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation.
Arezzo enjoys classical music, particularly that of Sicilian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini.
Ann-Britt Åsebol
Trustee 2024-28
Rotary Club of Falun-Kopparvågen
Sweden
Ann-Britt Åsebol retired as a member of the Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, in 2022 after several terms as county councilor for Dalarna County. As a member of parliament, she served on several committees, including the Committee on the Constitution and the Committee on Education.
Before she entered politics, Åsebol worked as a teacher, a principal, and a trainer at the Teachers Training College in Falun, her alma mater. She later founded a private secondary school and served as its CEO. She holds a master’s degree in Swedish and history from Uppsala University and did coursework in history and German at Heidelberg University.
Åsebol joined Rotary in 1993 as the first female member of her club. She has served Rotary as learning facilitator, RI president’s representative, and regional Rotary International membership coordinator. Åsebol also served as RI director and as vice chair or chair of several RI committees, including the Rotary Peace Centers Committee, 2021 RI Virtual Convention Committee, Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and Joint Young Leaders and Alumni Engagement Committee.
One of her favorite roles was regional Rotary Foundation coordinator for Zone 15, which gave her a chance to work with diverse groups. “Members want to do something in the Foundation but then don’t always know how, so I look forward to talking to them about how to get involved,” Åsebol says. “Through the Foundation, we can do good for so many around the world and make the world a better and more peaceful place.”
One of her first international projects was a children’s home that helped children who had formerly lived in the sewer tunnels of St. Petersburg, Russia. Åsebol also led a global grant project with sponsors from all of the Nordic countries and Taiwan that provides clean water for a rural hospital in Nepal. She has also led Rotary projects in the Baltic states and Ukraine, and she helped Ukrainian refugees in Sweden.
Åsebol is an active member of her church and volunteers at World Cup skiing events in Sweden. She enjoys skiing, reading about history, gardening, and spending time with her five grandchildren.
Åsebol is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor, a Major Donor, a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, and a member of Paul Harris Society. She has received the Citation for Meritorious Service.
Cynthia W. Covington
Trustee 2026-30
Rotary Club of South Jacksonville
Florida, USA
Cynde Covington is CEO of Monument Leasing Corp., a family-owned commercial real estate company. Covington brings more than 40 years of business and financial planning experience to her role as trustee.
Covington joined Rotary in 1999, when a friend invited her to a newly forming club and she served as the charter president-elect. “From the moment I said yes to Rotary, it’s been a nonstop adventure,” she says.
Covington has held numerous Rotary leadership positions, including chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, Rotary’s representative to the CDC Foundation’s Polio Eradication Heroes Fund, learning facilitator, and End Polio Now coordinator.
Inspired by Mother Teresa’s assertion that “Love has to be put into action and that action is service,” Covington led several National Immunization Day teams in India, which showed her the transformative power of collective action through Rotary.
Covington traveled to Nicaragua to work alongside locals digging trenches for water pipes and continues to advance clean water and sanitation initiatives as a founding board member of the Haiti National Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Initiative, known as HANWASH. Through HANWASH, she traveled to Haiti to work with community members and local Rotarians who are committed to bringing clean water and sanitation to an entire country, one commune at a time. Covington also recently helped establish an aquaponics training center in South Africa. These experiences reflect her conviction that enduring and sustainable change starts with solutions led by local communities.
Active in her community beyond Rotary, Covington serves as a director for the National POW/MIA Memorial & Museum in Jacksonville, is an alumna of Leadership Jacksonville, and has served as chair of the Church of Our Saviour Foundation.
Covington has received The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award, the Citation for Meritorious Service, and Rotary International’s Service Award for a Polio-Free World.
Covington and her husband, Barry, a third-generation Rotarian, enjoy travel, the outdoors, and time with family. They have hosted several Rotary Youth Exchange students, who remain part of their extended family. They are also Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and members of the Paul Harris Society, PolioPlus Society, and Bequest Society.
Frank Ching Huei Horng
Trustee 2024-28
Rotary Club of Panchiao West
Taiwan
Frank C.H. heads the Trojan Orthodontic Clinic, which he founded in 1988. He earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Taipei Medical University. He also holds a master’s degree in craniofacial biology and a certificate in orthodontics from the University of Southern California.
Horng has served in leadership roles in professional associations for orthodontists in Taiwan and has served as the school dentist at Pan-Chiao Primary School for more than 30 years. Outside of dentistry, he has been active in local civic affairs as a member of the New Taipei City Election Commission since 2010.
Horng joined Rotary in 1993 as a charter member of his club. Inspired by a quote attributed to Archimedes, “Give me a fulcrum, and I shall move the world,” he worked with his club to establish the Fulcrum Education Scholarship Project for New Taipei City Primary Schools.
Horng has served Rotary as a Peace Major Gifts Initiative adviser, Water and Sanitation Major Gifts Initiative Committee member, endowment/major gifts adviser, and RI president’s representative. He has also been a learning facilitator and governors-elect training seminar team leader.
Horng is a strong advocate of the power of vocational service in Rotary. “I can use Rotary as a channel to expand my service,” he says. “I can use district and global grants to bring the Rotary community and the dental community together.”
As a member of The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers, he connected craniofacial surgeons in Bali and Taiwan and led a vocational training team in Mongolia. That project eventually became a Rotary Foundation global grant initiative to promote oral health that helped train 360 Mongolian health workers. Horng’s district received a Presidential Citation in 2014-15 in recognition of this project.
Horng enjoys hiking and golf. His partner, Shu-Yann Chuang, is also a member of the Rotary Club of Panchiao West. Horng and Chuang are members of the Arch Klumph Society. He has received the Service Above Self Award and The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service.
Chun-Wook Hyun
Trustee 2023-27
Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo
Korea
Chun-Wook Hyun is senior partner at Seoul-based Kim & Chang, one of the largest law firms in Asia, where he has worked since 1981 as a head of the labor and employment practice group. Born and raised in the island province of Jeju, Hyun received his law degree from Seoul National University and was admitted to the Korean Bar in 1978. He also earned a master's degree from Harvard Law School, was admitted to the New York Bar, and participated as a visiting lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York.
Hyun has been published in numerous books and journals, including the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. He is widely recognized as an adviser to the largest and most reputable global and Korean companies doing business in Korea.
Hyun has worked as commissioner of the Seoul Labor Relations Commission, legal counsel to the Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea, and adjunct professor at Korea University Law School. He currently serves as director of Save the Children Korea, the Amway Korea Foundation, and United Nations Global Compact Korea. He is also an auditor of the BMW Korea Future Foundation. He served as chair of the Korean Bar Association's Legal Aid Foundation and adviser and member of Korea's Peaceful Unification Advisory Council. Hyun received a commendation from the president of Korea in 1997.
A charter member of the Rotary Club of Seoul-Hansoo in 1991, Hyun has served as a mentor to younger leaders. He volunteers with his club in community service projects such as helping older people, making kimchi for people who face food insecurity, supporting a primary school in Tanzania, and organizing music events to raise funds for PolioPlus. “Rotary changed my life, and I see how much it can change others’ lives, too,” says Hyun. “Each of us can be a gift to the world and to each other.”
Hyun has served Rotary as training leader, RI president’s representative, and Host Organization Committee member and legal adviser for the Rotary International Convention in Seoul in 2016. He also serves as director of Rotary Foundation Korea.
Hyun’s leadership motto is “passion, innovation, and execution.” As district governor, he helped increase membership and Rotary Foundation giving. He innovated a memorandum of understanding among district governors, governors-elect, and governors-nominee that fosters continuity of sustainable district goals and growth, a practice still in place in District 3640.
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro
Trustee 2024-28
Rotary Club of Port Harcourt
Rivers State, Nigeria
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro has over 30 years of experience leading transformation, market development, and management efforts in the insurance industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in theater arts and a postgraduate degree in management and also studied at the Lagos Business School.
In memory of her late father, Pearl founded the Romanus Emeanuru Foundation for Empowerment and Education Development, which is dedicated to the empowerment of women and local communities. She volunteers for the Sir Emeka Offor Foundation, a humanitarian organization. She was the charter president of AMP 24 of the Lagos Business School and a patron of Egbu Women Organisation and has been recognized for her philanthropic work. She sits on several boards, including that of an insurance company in Nigeria.
Pearl joined the Rotary Club of Port Harcourt in 1999. She has served as RI learning facilitator, assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, endowment/major gifts adviser, End Polio Now coordinator, regional vice chair of the End Polio Now: Countdown to History Campaign, member of the International PolioPlus Committee, and board member of the Reproductive, Maternal, and Child Health Rotary Action Group. She has been on numerous Rotary International committees, including the Nigeria PolioPlus Committee. Passionate about preserving Rotary history, she helped create the Africa zone group of the Rotary Global History Fellowship and has a stone raised in her honor at the Paul Harris Memorial walkway in Chicago.
Pearl will never forget the day the World Health Organization certified Nigeria as polio-free during her term as End Polio Now coordinator. “This was a defining moment for me,” she says. “We introduced strategies to create awareness and raise funds.” She is passionate about creating lasting change and says, “Giving is not an exclusive right of the rich.”
Pearl was called one of the “five Rotary women leading the fight to end polio” in 2019 and received a certificate of appreciation from the Foundation for her efforts. She has received Rotary’s Distinguished Service Award and the Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World.
She is a charter member of the Paul Harris Society and a Benefactor. She and her husband, Kingsley, are both Rotary Foundation Major Donors and Bequest Society members. They and their two children are all Paul Harris Fellows.
Carlos Sandoval
Trustee 2023-27
Rotary Club of San Nicolás de los Garza
Nuevo León, Mexico
Carlos Sandoval is CEO of Orsan Corp., a leading company in the energy sector and the main distributor of Exxon Mobil in Mexico, with more than 270 service stations and over 3,000 employees throughout the country. He is also a regional consultant for BANORTE, the multinational financial institution. He graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s School of Architecture and earned his MBA from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education.
Sandoval joined Rotary in 1975. He has served RI and The Rotary Foundation as regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, member of the Fund Development and Rotary Peace Centers committees, and adviser to the Endowment and Major Gifts Initiative. He has also been an adviser to the Community Economic Development Major Gifts Initiative.
Sandoval has participated in and led numerous projects that reflect his Rotary philosophy that “we are here to change the lives of people for the better.” One project, supported by grants from the Foundation, helped provide baking equipment and professional baking training to people recovering from drug addiction. In memory of Carlos, his late son, he made a donation to The Rotary Foundation aimed at supporting economic and community development projects focused on women entrepreneurs in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Sandoval is an enthusiastic promoter of Foundation giving and has hosted Million Dollar Dinners on six occasions.
Sandoval’s philanthropic work outside of Rotary includes the creation of the Orsan Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes health initiatives among disadvantaged groups and provides assistance after disasters. He also participates in a program to award 37 master’s degree program scholarships in conflict resolution and peace in collaboration with the University of Monterrey. And he sponsors three addiction rehabilitation centers in the Monterrey area and serves on the boards of the Monterrey branch of the Mexican Red Cross and the Foundation of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León. In his free time, he enjoys watching car races and exercising and running to stay in shape for his three daughters, 15 grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.
Sandoval has received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service. Both he and his wife, Martha, support the Foundation as members of the Arch Klumph Society’s Platinum Trustees Circle.
Dennis J. Shore
Trustee 2023-27
Rotary Club of Hawthorn
Victoria, Australia
Dennis J. Shore is a chartered chemical engineer with bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of New South Wales. After a career as a senior executive, culminating in international business development and management for Australian Paper Manufacturers (later Amcor) in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, he established his own consulting business before retiring in 2021 to focus on Rotary.
Shore is a fellow of the Australasian Pulp and Paper Industry Technical Association and a recipient of its Distinguished Service Award. He served in several Australian industrial advocacy groups, including as a council member of the Australian Standards Association and a member of the Business Council of Australia’s Environment Committee. He is a past director of the Australian Shareholders’ Association.
Shore served for more than 20 years as a community council member of a regional Monash University campus and also on the council of Monash University, Australia’s largest university. He was an inaugural director and continues as a trustee for a foundation of Monash University, which awarded him the Sir John Monash Medal for distinguished service to engineering education.
Shore, who joined Rotary in 1980, has served as endowment/major gifts adviser and is vice chair of Rotary Foundation Australia. He has served twice as Council on Legislation representative. He was a vice chair and promotions director of the Host Organization Committee for the 2023 Rotary International Convention in Melbourne.
Shore’s greatest passions in Rotary are supporting education and peace initiatives, part of a new world of opportunities he found at the 2003 Rotary International Convention in Brisbane as club president. “The convention was like Rotary on steroids and imbued me with enthusiasm,” he says. “I realized what you can do when you have a leadership opportunity in Rotary — and that you can have a ‘Rotary moment’ every day.”
With his club, he has supported projects including scholarships and water tank installations in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a hospital in Cambodia, and mental health initiatives in Australia. He has also contributed to the club’s signature Rotary Safe Families program. Shore, who has done a lot of grassroots work to grow Rotary Foundation grants in his zone, also convened a Million Dollar Dinner in 2017 that raised over US$3.5 million for the Foundation.
Shore and his wife, Lynda, are Major Donors and Bequest Society members. He is a member of the District 9800 Paul Harris Society and PolioPlus Society and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award and the Citation for Meritorious Service.
Katsuhiko “Kats” Tatsuno
Trustee 2025-29
Rotary Club of Tokyo-West
Tokyo, Japan
Katsuhiko “Kats” Tatsuno serves as the CEO of Tatsuno Corp. He joined the company, founded by his father, after earning his law degree from the University of Tokyo in 1964. Under Katsuhiko’s leadership, Tatsuno Corp. expanded beyond its specialty in textiles into new sectors such as real estate and electrical supplies.
Tatsuno joined the Rotary Club of Tokyo-West in 1982 and has served Rotary as club president, Council on Legislation representative, and RI learning facilitator, a role he says was both meaningful and fun. He has been a member of both the RI Membership Committee and the Nominating Committee for RI President, among others. He also was a member of the Japanese Rotary committee that supported recovery efforts and survivors after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, one of the most powerful earthquakes recorded in Japan. He served as RI director 2020-22.
Tatsuno says that when he saw how his daughter’s life was transformed by the time she spent in Wisconsin, USA, through Rotary Youth Exchange, he realized how truly great Rotary is. Another unforgettable moment for him was at the 2011 district conference, when, as governor of District 2750, he invited all 95 club presidents to take the stage and briefly present their club activities, shifting the focus away from governors to the accomplishments of club presidents. “The club presidents still remember that moment,” Tatsuno says. “Even now, when we meet, they talk about it.”
He established the Tatsuno Environment Foundation, which provides scholarships to university students pursuing studies related to environmental conservation, with the goal of fostering future global leaders in that field.
Tatsuno is a lifelong golfer and student of shodō, the art of Japanese calligraphy. He supports The Rotary Foundation as a member of the Arch Klumph Society.
Francis F. “Tusu” Tusubira
Trustee 2026-30
Rotary Club of Kampala-North
Uganda
Francis F. “Tusu” Tusubira is a chartered engineer and the senior founding partner of Knowledge Consulting Ltd. He holds a PhD in electronics from the University of Southampton in England and is the current patron of the Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers. His work focuses on information and communications technology for development. He earned his Bachelor of Science (Engineering) with first-class honors (summa cum laude) from Makerere University in Uganda, where he also worked as an academic for 32 years.
In Uganda, Tusu has chaired the National Information Technology Agency and served on boards including the Uganda Communications Commission and the Electricity Regulatory Authority. He was founding CEO of the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking, a regional data network that now spans from southern Africa through East Africa to South Sudan, interconnecting universities across the region.
A Rotarian since 1988, Tusu’s defining project came through one of Rotary’s early global grant projects: Nkondo Adopt a Village. Over seven years, his club worked on capacity building, improvement of primary education, access to water and electricity, health services, micro-irrigation, and microcredit. “This was the first time we really engaged the community, got to know the people, and talked to them as individuals,” he recalls. “Then you know the people, not simply as beneficiaries, but by name — I think that touched me a lot.”
A pivotal moment in Tusu’s service occurred as an incoming club president when the district governor appointed him district treasurer and recommended him for an advance site visit in Tanzania for a major Rotary Foundation grant application. Tusu credits this experience with inspiring his commitment to empowering younger generations, emphasizing the importance of trust and intergenerational leadership within Rotary.
Tusu has held several Rotary leadership roles. As vice chair of the RI Board’s Strategic Planning Committee, he helped develop Rotary’s current strategic plan. He has also served on The Rotary Foundation’s Programs Committee and Participant Experience Committee and as a member of the Foundation’s Cadre of Technical Advisers, with assignments in diverse settings, including the Kalahari Desert. Beyond Rotary, Tusu has twice served on evaluation panels for the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change program, which periodically awards a single competitive US$100 million grant for a bold, transformative initiative.
Tusu has received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service. He and his spouse, Dorcas, a member of the Rotary Club of Sunrise-Kampala, are Major Donors.
Stephanie A. Urchick
Trustee 2025-29
Rotary Club of McMurray
Pennsylvania, USA
Stephanie A. Urchick led Rotary as its president in 2024-25. Previously, she served as an RI director and Rotary Foundation trustee and in numerous other roles, including training leader, regional Rotary Foundation coordinator, and RI president’s representative. In addition, Urchick was a representative or a member-at-large at multiple 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 she traveled to the Dominican Republic to install water filters.
Urchick 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 Kraków, Poland, noted Urchick as a key figure for helping with 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 Kosovo, Romania, and Ukraine for humanitarian and educational services. In 2025, she hosted a peace conference in Istanbul with the theme “Healing in a Divided World.”
Urchick’s professional background is in the higher education, consulting, and entertainment industries. She received her doctorate in leadership studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has been recognized by The Rotary Foundation and numerous community and international organizations.
Ananthanarayanan S. “Venky” Venkatesh
Trustee 2026-30
Rotary Club of Chennai Mambalam
Tamil Nadu, India
After earning an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Ananthanarayanan S. Venkatesh entered civil construction at age 23. He now leads a firm that employs more than 1,400 people.
Known in Rotary as “Venky,” Venkatesh joined in 1999, initially for networking and friendship. But during his first service project, a conversation with a young girl transformed his perspective. His club had donated benches to a school, and he noticed one girl sitting alone.
“I asked her why she wouldn’t budge, and she told me that this was the first time in her life she was sitting on a bench and not on the ground,” Venkatesh says. “That changed my entire perspective of what I wanted to do in Rotary.”
Since then, he has championed literacy and the empowerment of girls and women. “By educating a girl, we’re educating a family and generations thereafter,” Venkatesh says. “The return on investment is very high.”
Venkatesh has played a key role in the India Literacy Mission as joint secretary and national executive committee member, supporting teacher training and literacy programs across 2,964 schools. He has also served as director of two Rotary Action Groups.
Venkatesh served as RI director from 2021 to 2023 and as treasurer in 2022-23. He has also served as Rotary membership coordinator and learning facilitator. A frequent speaker at presidents-elect learning seminars and club leadership learning seminars, Venkatesh has attended more than 10 Rotary International Conventions and chaired the South Asian receptions at the conventions in Montreal and Seoul.
Venkatesh is passionate about the connection between Rotary’s public image and membership growth. “One day, people will ask us more often ‘Can I join Rotary?’ rather than us going around asking ‘Will you join Rotary?’”
For Venkatesh, part of Rotary’s appeal comes from how it affords its members a streamlined way to make an impact. “Rotary gives me a conduit, a platform, and an organized set-up where not only do I give back to the community, but my contribution becomes manifold when it reaches the community,” he says. “It’s a multiplier.”
Venkatesh enjoys competitive bridge and traveling to Malaysia and seaside destinations. His wife, Vinita, is a member of the Rotary Club of Chennai Anchorage. They are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation.
John Hewko
General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer
Rotary Club of Kyiv
Ukraine
John 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 (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries. At MCC, he was the principal negotiator for foreign assistance agreements to 26 countries in Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. During his tenure, he completed the negotiation of assistance agreements totaling US$6.3 billion to 18 countries for infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education projects.
Prior to joining MCC, Hewko was an international partner with the law firm Baker & McKenzie, specializing in international corporate transactions in emerging markets. He helped establish the firm’s Moscow office and was the managing partner of its offices in Kyiv and Prague.
While working in Ukraine in the early 1990s, Hewko assisted the working group that prepared the initial draft of the new Ukrainian post-Soviet constitution and was a charter member of the first Rotary club in Kyiv.
Hewko has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has published papers and articles in leading U.S. and international publications, and he has spoken extensively on political and business issues dealing with the former Soviet Union, Central Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is a trustee emeritus of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine.
Hewko holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from Oxford University (where he studied as a Marshall Scholar), and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York.
As general secretary, Hewko leads a diverse staff of more than 800 at Rotary International’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and six international offices. He and his partner, Marga, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation. They live in Evanston.
Read General Secretary Hewko’s full biography.
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2026-27 Trustee Committees
Executive Committee
Acts on behalf of the Trustees according to established policy, advises the Trustees with respect to governance and other significant issues, and reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Investment Committee, Fund Development Committee, Programs Committee, Stewardship Committee, and TRF Finance Committee.
Chair
Vicki Puliz
Members
Jennifer Jones
Dennis J. Shore
Stephanie A. Urchick
R. Gordon R. McInally
Ann-Britt Åsebol
Venky Venkatesh
Participant Experience
Reviews recommendations for report to the Trustees from the following committees: Joint Learning, Joint Communications, Joint Technology, Peace Centers Committees, and Joint DEI Task Force.
Chair
Francesco Arezzo
Vice Chair
Chun-Wook Hyun
Members
Ching-Huei Horng
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro
Carlos E. Sandoval
Katsuhiko Tatsumo
Francis Tusubira
Cynde Covington
Foundation Finance Committee
Advises the Trustees with respect to all finances of the Foundation, including the annual review and recommendations on the budget and the five-year forecast.
Chair
Dennis J. Shore
Vice Chair
Vicki Puliz
Members
Venky Venkatesh
Cynde Covington
Stewardship Committee
Advises the Trustees and General Secretary with respect to matters of stewardship, compliance, and oversight of grants, fundraising, and recognition.
Chair
Stephanie A. Urchick
Vice Chair
Ijeoma Pearl Okoro
Members
Carlos E. Sandoval
Francesco Arezzo
Venky Venkatesh