2023 PETS – THE DETAILS
EVENT BASICS
PACIFIC NORTHWEST PRESIDENTS-ELECT TRAINING SEMINAR
Febuarry 17 – 19th 2023
If you are in District 5010, 5020, 5030, 5040, 5050, 5060, 5080, 5100, 5110, or 5400, please contact the Registrar, who will send you a registration link.
If you are in any other district, please complete the “Contact Information Template” by CLICKING HERE and send it to the Registrar, who will send you a registration link.
Kees van der Pol
registrar@pnwpetsdev.wpenginepowered.com
2023 SPEAKERS
Plenary Session I
RANDY HARVEY
Dr. Randy J. Harvey, Rotarian, Paul Harris Fellow, and former President of Kruse Way Rotary. He has been married to Shelly for 46 years, with four children, and eleven grandchildren. He holds a PhD from the University of Oregon, a Juris Doctorate from Concord-Purdue Law School, a Master of Arts in theology from Western Seminary, a Master of Science in Education from Eastern Oregon University and a couple of bachelor’s degrees in history-political science, and education.
Vocationally, Randy spent thirty-years in public education as a teacher, administrator, and Human Resources Director. He has taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon, Oregon State, and Lewis and Clark, teaching Human Resource Management, Policy, and Ethics. He is the author of a novel co-authored with his Dad and he has written and produced numerous works on public speaking and leadership. He is the 2004 Toastmasters International World Champion of Public Speaking, prevailing over 25,000 contestant’s world- wide. Clearly, he is a lifelong learner.
For the last fifteen years he has been the owner of an employment law firm representing plaintiffs and small businesses in Oregon and California. His speech today is “Four Essentials of Leadership.”
Plenary Session II
CHRIS HUGHES JR
Maj-General US Army (Retired)
Major General (R) Hughes and his wife, Marguerite, recently retired from the U.S. Army in July of 2018, after 35 years of active duty. They have created NWC-M&C, LLC and are working with multiple clients in academia and the defense industry. They have three children and five grandchildren.
EDUCATION Mr. Hughes has Master’s Degrees in Business Management & National Security Strategies and is the award-winning author of War on Two Fronts: An Infantry Commander’s War in Iraq and the Pentagon. He is also a 2008 recipient of the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award for Excellence in U.S. Army History Writing.
MILITARY SERVICE Mr. Hughes brings 35 years’ leadership experience, from platoon to Two Star Command. Having served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Hughes’ most recent military service includes his appointment as the Commanding General United States Army Cadet Command and Fort Knox where he oversaw the Army’s largest officer commissioning program, the Reserve Officers Training Corps. He has also served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army Pacific Command and is the co-founder and first Provost of the Army University.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Hughes has served as the Executive Officer to the Secretary of the Army and the Army Senior Liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C. He gained national recognition while commanding an Infantry Battalion from the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Moreover, Mr. Hughes has assisted in the creation of five major organizations within the Department of Defense and served as an investigator on the USS Cole Commission in 2000.
MEMBERSHIPS AND OTHER AFFILIATIONS MILITARY: Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army (CASA) for Iowa, Distinguished Member and Honorary Colonel of the 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment, life member of ROCKS and AUSA, and 2017 ROCK of the Year. CIVIC: 2016 National Merit Award Winner Phi Sigma Kappa, 2017 Citizen of the Year National Association of Black Broadcasters of America and the 2013 Northwest Missouri State University Distinguished Alumni of the year.
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS His primary military awards include the Distinguished Service Medal (OLC), Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 OLC’s), Bronze Star (OLC), Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (6 OLC’s), Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, Master Airborne and Air Assault wings and multiple sets of foreign jump wings.
Plenary Session III
DREW KESSLER
Zones 28-32
RI International Director 2022-24
Drew Kessler 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.
Kessler has led numerous professional real estate organizations, serving as president of both the Rockland County Board of Realtors and the 10,000-member Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR) as well as director for both the New York State Association of Realtors and the National Association of Realtors. As a sign of his stature in the real estate community, Drew regularly appeared on Fox Business News from 2008-2013 for his expertise on the finance industry and the real estate market.
While At HGAR, he launched the HG Realtor Foundation. A passionate fundraiser, Kessler has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for organizations including The Rotary Foundation, Habitat for Humanity March of Dimes and Feeding Westchester.
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.
He has served Rotary International on the Young Past District Governor’s Committee as well as representative to the Council on Legislation and RI president’s representative. Kessler also has served in numerous Zone leadership positions, including general chair of the Zone 28/32 Summit & Symposium, assistant Rotary coordinator for Zone 32 and general chair for the Mid-North East president’s elect training seminar. Committed to continuity and collaboration, he is a member of the District 7210 Executive Board, a committee he helped establish that is made up of both past and present district leaders that collaborate to the lead the District.
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.
DANIEL HIMELSPACH
Zones 26-27
RI International Director 2023-25
Dan Himelspach was raised on a ranch in southeastern Montana and holds a BS in Chemistry from the SD School of Mines and Technology, a JD from the University of Denver College of Law and a Master Negotiation Certificate from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Dan is the principal of Dispute Management Inc. located in Denver, Colorado.
Dan is married to Leslie Lawson, a former Denver District Court Judge. Dan and Leslie have two children, Mariah and Jonathan, who have participated in a wide variety of Rotary projects and events.
Dan joined the Denver Mile High Rotary Club in August 1993 and has served in many leadership positions, including President for the Rotary Year 2005-06. Dan has traveled to and been instrumental in many of Club’s international and local projects. Dan was the Grants Subcommittee Chair for District 5450 for three years. He served as District 5450 Governor for Rotary Year 2013-14. Dan trained the DGNs at the 2014 Zone Institute. He served as the Zone 27 End Polio Now Coordinator for Rotary Years 2015-16 and 2016 -2017. Dan has served as a RI Council on Legislation Representative and as the Zones 26-27 Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator.
Dan is a member of the Paul Harris Society and the Bequest Society and is a Major Donor. He has been awarded several awards for his Rotary service including The Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service.
Plenary Session IV
GORDON McINALLY
RI President 2023-24
R. Gordon R. McInally is president-elect of Rotary International. He 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 operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh until 2016. Gordon 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.
Gordon joined Rotary in 1984 at age 26. A member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, he has served as president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI). He has also served RI as a director and on several committees, including as an adviser to the 2022 Houston Convention Committee and chair of the Operations Review Committee.
Gordon says he looks forward to working with members to build new Rotary clubs and groups. “My vision is that Rotary should exist everywhere in a style to suit everyone who has the desire to be part of us and to help us do good in the world,” he says.
Gordon 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 in the genocide there. He is a patron of Trade-Aid, an initiative of the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England, that 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 his free time, Gordon enjoys rugby, good food and wine, and stick dressing, the traditional Scottish craft of making walking sticks.
Gordon describes The Rotary Foundation as “the fuel that provides the energy to do Rotary service.” He and his spouse, Heather, also a Rotarian, are Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors, and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation. They are also members of the Bequest Society.
Gordon wishes to dedicate his presidency to making the world a better place for his granddaughters, Ivy and Florence, to live and thrive.
Plenary Session V
LORELEI HIGGINS
Mrs. Canada Globe
Rotary Peace Scholar
Lorelei Higgins is a Métis Canadian Cultural Mediator, a Rotary Peace Fellow and Positive Peace Activator as well as a Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Program alumna. She has worked on community-based projects locally and internationally with government agencies, non-government organizations and the business sector. These projects centre on peace and conflict transformation, Indigenous matters and the elevation of female voices in leadership. Lorelei has worked across the globe in communities in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.
Lorelei is the Community Lead for the City of Calgary’s Anti-Racism Program and is working to advance The City of Calgary’s commitments to anti-racism and Truth and Reconciliation. Lorelei is also a consultant with Mediators Beyond Borders International and Canadian Equity Consulting, cultivating projects that focus on Indigenous relations and enhanced diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Lorelei has an MBA, with a specialization in leadership. She is passionate about creating bold, open spaces for building peace through cross-cultural learning and the establishment and nurturing of enduring, positive relationships.
As Mrs. Canada Globe 2021 and a Women in Need Foundation Ambassador, Lorelei is leading efforts to increase female leadership in peacebuilding efforts locally and globally. She is often found adventuring around the world with her family.
JOHN HEWKO
General Secretary – CEO
Rotary International &
Rotary Foundation
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 United States 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 $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 of Foreign Relations.
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 800 at Rotary International’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. He and his partner, Marga, are major donors to the Foundation. They live in Evanston.
2023 WORKBOOK
To download the 2023 Workbook (CLICK HERE)