Events

Abel Núñez joined CARECEN as its Executive Director in March 2013. Prior to CARECEN, he was Associate Director of Centro Romero in Chicago, IL, and was primarily responsible for the day to day operations, fiscal management, program administration, and communications.

Mr. Núñez migrated from El Salvador to the United States with his family in 1979 and grew up in the District of Columbia.  Mr. Núñez has a Bachelor’s of Business Administration from Hofstra University. Before he moved to Chicago, he worked in D.C. for the Latino Civil Rights Center. From 1998 to 2000, he was also on the staff of CARECEN serving first as its Citizenship and Civic Participation Project Coordinator and later as its Deputy Director.

Mr. Núñez’ volunteerism reflects his lifelong pursuit of justice and empowerment for immigrants in the U.S. He served as Co-President of Organization of the Northeast (ONE), a nonprofit agency that aims to build a successful multi-ethnic, mixed-economic community on Chicago’s northeast side. He also served as Community Co-Chair of the Alliance for Research in Chicago Communities, a project of Northwestern University that supports community-based participatory research. He worked tirelessly with city and state coalitions to pass the Illinois Dream Act.

Nationally, Mr. Núñez has been one of the founding members of the Residency Now campaign which was launched in January 2012.   He also co-founded the DC-MD-VA Coalition in Support of Children Fleeing Violence which responded to the incoming wave of unaccompanied children in the summer of 2013.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of La Clinica del Pueblo and also serves on the Community Advisory Board of Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS).  In 2017 Mr. Núñez has been the recipient of Georgetown University’s John Thompson, Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award and the Hispanic Bar Association of DC Hugh A. Johnson Jr. Memorial Award.

Linda Mathes is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region which includes the District of Columbia; Virginia counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William; Maryland counties of Montgomery and Prince George’s; and cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park, VA. Ms. Mathes is charged with responsibility to carry out the mission of the American Red Cross throughout this regional community and to support other communities across the country and around the world.

Ms. Mathes was recently named in Washington Magazine's "100 Most Powerful Women." She was selected for the Influential Women of Virginia Award in 2014. She was selected for the Women Who Mean Business Award 2013, a Most Admired CEO Award, and Readers' Choice Award for Most Admired CEO of Nonprofit Organizations all sponsored by the Washington Business Journal. Ms. Mathes was the 2006-2008 elected Chair of the Association of Metro Managers, the 45 largest Red Cross chapters in the USA. 

Ms. Mathes began her career with the Red Cross in 1973 at the Dallas County Chapter/Northeast Texas Division. She served in several leadership positions at the national headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington, DC from 1978-1986; Executive Director of the Pittsburgh-Allegheny County Red Cross Chapter in Pennsylvania from 1986-1991; and was appointed CEO of the American Red Cross of the National Capital Area in 1991. Ms. Mathes is a cum laude graduate of Vanderbilt University and received her master’s in public administration from the University of Southern California, Washington Public Affairs Center.

Professor Joan Meier is a nationally recognized expert on domestic violence and the law, appellate litigation, and clinical law teaching. In her more than 20 years at George Washington University, she has founded three interdisciplinary domestic violence clinical programs, two of which provided legal representation, advocacy, and counseling to victims of domestic violence and have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice as leading national models. In addition to her years of litigation and teaching, Professor Meier has co-written several significant pieces of federal and state legislation, and frequently delivers presentations and trainings to attorneys, judges, and other professional organizations. She has published widely on domestic violence, and received the Cahn Award from the National Equal Justice Library for her article on domestic violence and welfare reform. Professor Meier's scholarship focuses on custody and abuse litigation, in particular the misuse of psychological science in custody litigation.

In 2003 Professor Meier founded the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP), which provides pro bono appellate representation in compelling domestic violence cases, including Supreme Court cases, and trains attorneys and courts around the country. In 2009, Professor Meier received the Inaugural Sharon Corbitt Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. She has also received Doris Buffett’s Sunshine Lady Peace Award, and DV LEAP has received Justice for Children’s Leadership Award, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation Leadership Award, and the Mary Byron Foundation Celebrating Solutions Award in 2006, In 2011, DV LEAP received a two-year $450,000 grant award from the Dept of Justice Office on Violence Against Women to provide trainings on the misuses of science in custody and abuse litigation, in partnership with the Leadership Council on Interpersonal Violence and Child Abuse.

Professor Meier is regularly interviewed in the media on domestic violence issues and was one of the featured commentators in the groundbreaking PBS documentary, “Breaking the Silence: Children’s Voices.” She previously practiced in two national law firms and in two public interest organizations providing legal services and freedom of information litigation. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1980, cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983, and clerked on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

At the law school, Professor Meier teaches the Domestic Violence Project, a clinical course in which students work with community organizations on domestic violence legal advocacy. She has also taught criminal law and family law at GW and as a visiting professor at Washington & Lee. Her research and publications focus on domestic violence, criminal procedure and civil rights, child custody, and misapplication of social science theories.

In her role as Senior Environmental Educator, Maddie facilitates classroom visits with students, assists with river restoration projects, provides unique on-river experiences for community members of all ages, and runs the Master Naturalist program. Maddie has spent her life in the greater Washington, D.C. area. She believes that all kids (and grownups, too!) should have easy access to healthy and vibrant outdoor spaces. Maddie is excited and grateful for the opportunity to share the river with others.  She holds a dual graduate degree in Park and Resource Management and Environmental Education.

The Anacostia Watershed Society was awarded a Major Grant by the Rotary Club of Washington, DC in 2018.

Colonel Scott Jensen, USMC (ret.) is the Chief Executive Officer of Protect Our Defenders. Commissioned in 1989 and designated a Naval Aviator in 1992. Col Jensen served in various command, operations, maintenance, and logistics assignments in operational units where he participated in peace keeping operations in Somalia, noncombatant evacuation operations in Rwanda, Operation Southern Watch in Kuwait, and combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

He commanded at various levels to include: Platoon; Headquarters Squadron; Light Attack Detachment; Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron; Marine Aircraft Group; and Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward). Additionally, he served as an instructor and staff officer in various positions to include: The Basic School; the Aide-de-Camp to the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps; the Joint Staff J-8; and as an Assistant Wing Commander.

Col Jensen completed his military service by serving as the Chief of the Marine Corps’ Behavioral Programs at Headquarters Marine Corps where he was responsible for developing and leading a portfolio of programs that included the Marine Corps’ Sexual Assault Prevention and Response, Suicide Prevention, Domestic Violence Prevention and Response, Community Counseling Services, and Substance Abuse and Drug Demand Reduction Programs. Upon his retirement and prior to joining POD, Col Jensen served as the Assistant Vice President for Leadership Development Programs at the American Council on Education in Washington, DC.

Col Jensen holds a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from the United States Naval Academy, a masters degree in military studies from Marine Corps University, and a masters degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.

His personal decorations include two Legion of Merit medals, three Bronze Star Medals, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Air Medal with strike/flight numeral “22”, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals one with combat “V”, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Francisco Daniel Gutierez presented his credentials as ambassador from Belize to President Donald Trump on July 21, 2017. Gutierez also serves as Belize’s ambassador to the Organization of American States.

Gutierez was born in 1974 in San Ignacio, Cayo district, in the western part of Belize, not far from the border with Guatemala. He attended primary and secondary school in San Ignacio before going to Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala. He earned a degree in communications and advertising in 1997. Gutierez then came to the United States to continue his education at Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s University. There, he earned an M.S. in international marketing in 1999.

Gutierez returned to Belize to lecture in business, marketing and communications at Sacred Heart College, a high school and junior college in San Ignacio. In 2003, Gutierez was named dean of the junior college.

Gutierez left his post as dean in 2006—while taking a seat on the school’s board of governors—for a job as manager of marketing, logistics, corporate communication and business development for Belize Natural Energy (BNE), an oil company.

He left BNE in 2015 and in January 2016 took his first ambassadorial post, serving as his country’s representative to Caricom, the Caribbean Community, headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana. In addition, Gutierez served as executive director of Belize’s Economic Development Council.

Daniel Mathews was sworn in as Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Public Buildings Service (PBS) on Thursday, August 3, 2017.

As PBS Commissioner, he manages the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States and six territories.

Prior to joining GSA, Mathews served as the Republican Staff Director of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. This committee has jurisdiction over federal buildings and courthouses, the General Services Administration, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, the National Gallery of Art, and numerous other federal facilities.

Prior to serving on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mathews worked for the House Rules Committee and several California Members of Congress.

Mathews holds a bachelor’s in government and philosophy from Georgetown University.

Dr. Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy joined AU in 2016 as the Dean of the School of Education. In concert with her colleagues in the College of Arts and Sciences, she concentrates her efforts on recruiting and supporting a more research-active and diverse faculty, developing outstanding new curricula in education, and building bridges to school districts and education industries around the globe.

Previous to this role, Dr. Holcomb-McCoy served as the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Vice Dean of Academic Affairs and Chair in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. She has held appointments as Associate Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Maryland, College Park and Assistant Professor and Director of the School Counseling Program at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.

Professional colleagues have recognized her with many awards for outstanding multicultural/diversity research, excellence in teaching, and exemplar service. She served as a Faculty Lilly Fellow at the University of Maryland and in 2016, she was selected as an American Counseling Association (ACA) Fellow for her significant contributions in scientific achievement and teaching/training. Because of her expertise in college advising and counseling, Dr. Holcomb-McCoy was selected to participate as a consultant to the Obama Administration's Reach Higher Initiative. In July 2014, she was one of the plenary speakers at the White House's Summit on Higher Education held at Harvard University.

Elisa Lees Muñoz is the Executive Director of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) which supports women journalists in developing their careers. IWMF recognizes the tremendous contribution of women journalists through the annual Courage in Journalism and Lifetime Achievement Awards and the Courage in Photojournalism Award. Elisa is charged with expanding the IWMF’s programs into new geographies; introducing new initiatives such as Hostile Environments and First Aid Training (HEFAT); partnering with other organizations; and driving communications and outreach to our core constituents. Her support, and that of IWMF, were essential to the effort by Club members to bring the World Press Photo exhibition to Washington DC last year. In June of this year the IWMF received the prestigious Atlantic Council Freedom Award for its work on behalf of women journalists and its support of the principle that the press cannot truly be free without the equal voice of women.

Elisa has been a human rights activist since graduating from the University of Maryland with an MA degree in International Relations. Before joining the IWMF as Director of Programs, Elisa lead the Crimes of War Education Project and before that monitored the human rights of scientists for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and served as an election monitor for the OSCE in the Balkans.

Atlantic Council freedom award presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RFi81PPIqE
Video related to WPP: https://vimeo.com/239495390

Michelle Peterson is the Chief Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia.  She has been with the D.C. Federal Public Defender’s Office since 2000.  The Office represents indigent clients accused of committing Federal crimes.  She recently defended Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the first person charged with the deaths of Ambassador Stevens and other Americans in the attacks on the Embassy in Libya in 2012.  Prior to coming to the Federal Public Defender’s Office, she worked as an Associate Counsel in the Clinton White House, responding to congressional investigations and was one of the White House lawyers who worked on the impeachment trial.  She is a graduate of Georgetown Law and she started her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Hogan, followed by two years at the law firm of Covington and Burling where she did primarily white collar criminal defense and two years at the D.C. Office of Corporation Counsel where she worked on a number of policy issues, including juvenile justice reform.

Please join President Lisa for an update on Club activities in the 2018-2019 Rotary year.

Through the course of his 25 year career as a featured presenter, Dr. David Campt (@thedialogueguy) has helped groups focus on a variety of topics including strategic planning, conflict resolution, creating more inclusive decision-making, leadership succession, cultural competence, and many others. His clients have varied widely, and have included the US military, The White House, large corporations, international organizations, foundations, governments, universities, national associations, and non-profit groups.

David is considered a national expert in the areas of inclusion and equity, stakeholder engagement, and conflict resolution and dialogue. His insights about the keys to more effective institutions and communities have been sought by small executive boards of fewer than a dozen to large-scale summits involving thousands of people. In addition to speaking on these topics to live audiences, he also has numerous appearances media expert, appearing on national media outlets as well as local television, radio, and print media in local outlets all across the United States.

David is in the process of completing a trilogy of books about distilling the wisdom of groups. His first book focused on the dynamics of small effective small group dialogue; it was called The Little Book of Dialogue for Difficult Subjects and was published in 2007. In 2015, he published the first book about using audience polling to make meetings better; It was called Read the Room for Real: How A Simple Technology Creates Better Meetings. He is currently working on his third book, tentatively called Dialogue @ Scale, which is about how small group dialogue can combine with audience polling to create important innovation in the way that groups of people find consensus on important topics. 

Lieutenant Colonel David O. Treadwell, U.S. Army (Retired), was born in Atlanta, GA and graduated from Decatur (GA) High School.  He graduated from Wheaton (IL) College in 1965 with a B.A. degree in history and was commissioned in the U.S. Army as an Infantry second lieutenant.  His military service included two tours in The Republic of Viet Nam, ROTC instructor duty at his alma mater, Wheaton College, four years with the 9th Infantry Division at Ft. Lewis Washington, two years with Headquarters, U.S. Army Europe, and seven years in the Pentagon on the Army and Joint Staffs.  He received training at the Infantry and Armor Schools, the Armed Forces Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.

In 1987, Dave retired to assume duties as the Director of Administration of the Christian Legal Society, a national membership organization which promotes religious freedom.  After serving for eight years, he joined the staff of Advocates International as Executive Vice President.  Advocates organizes and assists national attorneys in promoting religious freedom through support of even-handed legal systems in countries where a fair legal system is often not the tradition.

From1998 to 2018, Dave served Washington’s Central Union Mission as Executive Director (now in emeritus status).  The 134-year old mission, Washington’s oldest social service agency, continues to serve the disadvantaged people of the city with shelter, training, food, furniture, clothing and the message of Christ’s love as it has throughout its long history. He served as the Association of Gospel Rescue Mission’s (AGRM) Mid-east District President and on its national board for nine years, the last two as Board Chair.  Dave is a former chair of the elders at Immanuel Bible Church, Springfield, Virginia, served on the advisory board of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (DC), chaired the Ministry to Disabled Persons for Promise Keepers’ Stand in the Gap and the compassion activities for the Luis Palau DC Festival, serves on the board of Project Bridges, chaired the Board of Assist Pregnancy Center, was founding treasurer of Christian Service Charities and Oakseed Ministries, and served as 2015-16 Washington, DC Rotary Club President and currently as its foundation chair.  

Dave lives in Burke, Virginia with his wife of fifty-three years, Charlotte.  They have three grown children, a son- and a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters and a grandson.

Among Dave’s military and community service awards are the Silver Star, two awards of the Legion of Merit, two awards of the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.  He is a White House Champion of Change, has received the Abe Pollin Award for Outstanding Dedication to the Community, AGRM’s Russ Reid Rescue Award for Lifetime Achievement, and is a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow.

Stephanie Sinclair is an internationally acclaimed photographer and tireless humanitarian. Recipient of numerous awards including the CARE International Award for Humanitarian Reportage, the Overseas Press Club’s Olivier Rebbot Award, a Pulitzer Prize, two Visa D’Ors, three World Press Photo awards and the Anja Niedringhaus award for courage in photojournalism, she has worked for the Chicago Tribune and is a regular contributor to National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine. 

Stephanie is known for gaining unique access to the most sensitive gender and human rights issues around the world. She has documented the defining conflicts of the past decade with a fearless persistence and has also helped shape policy debates, especially as pertains to child marriage. Her organization Too Young To Wed was featured in the June edition of the Rotarian Magazine. 

Early this year Stephanie brought two young women who had been captured by Boko Haram to Washington to meet with members of congress to maintain the pressure to ensure the release of all the girls still held in captivity. 

Last year Stephanie was one of the keynote speakers at the inaugural DC World Press Photo Exhibition.

Dr. Kobbe is the Rotary International Foundation District 7620 Chair. She served as District Governor in 2016-2017. She was inducted in to the Rotary Club of College Park in 2000 and served as Club President in 2008-2009. Her district experience includes serving on numerous district committees. 

Her district experience includes serving as Administrative Assistant to DG Bette Lewis and DG Jay Kumar, Area Governor, District Trainer, member of the District Global Grant Scholarship Committee, member of the Rotary/Gallaudet Scholarship Committee, and serving as the District Paul Harris Society Chair.  Anna-Mae is a Rotary Leadership Institute graduate, a Paul Harris Fellow, a Paul Harris Society member, and a Major Donor.

Her career was with the U. S. Department of Agriculture/Land-Grant University System’s Cooperative Extension Service.  She began her career with the University of Missouri Extension Service, was on the faculty with the University of Tennessee Extension Service, and served as a National Program Leader and Division Director at the United States Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.  She retired from the Federal government in 2006.  She served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Kentucky, School of Human Environmental Sciences from 2006 to 2008.

Anna-Mae was born and raised in Iowa.  She holds a B.S. Degree in Secondary Education from Northwest Missouri State University, a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Anna-Mae is married to Doug Newell, also a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of College Park.  They live in University Park, Maryland.  They are members of University Christian Church in Hyattsville, Maryland. 

Gil Klein, 67, a long-time journalist and journalism educator in Washington, D.C., is the author of "Trouble in Lafayette Square: Assassination, Protest & Murder at the White House," published in May 2018. For 22 years, he was a national correspondent for the Media General News Service, writing for 23 newspapers in the South. His deep interest in American history has led him to explore past stories of where he lives and work. As he often walked across Lafayette Park on his way to work, he began collecting the tales in this book, even as he covered the White House during the George H.W. Bush administration.

He was the 1994 President of the National Press Club and wrote its centennial history in 2008, “Reliable Sources: 100 Years at the National press Club.” He toured the United States for the Club, holding forums on the First Amendment, Freedom of the Press and the Future of Journalism, and he remains the Club’s historian.

After leaving Media General, he was a journalism professor at American University’s Washington Semester Program, and now he is working with the University of Oklahoma to create a Washington program for its journalism school.

A graduate of Rollins College, he earned a Masters degree at American University before launching his journalism career. He lives with his wife, Gail, in Arlington, Va. and they have two grown children.

Richard Rubin created and founded the Alexander Kartveli Association in the former Soviet country of Georgia in 2013 to promote and encourage high school students to pursue STEM and undertake professions that bring them into closer contact with European and American educational scientific and science based organizations.   The story of Alexander Kartveli, a pioneering aviation engineer and innovator who became a US citizen after emigrating from Europe in the late 1920’s and is considered one of the most important aircraft designers in US history, reinforces the need for the development and growth of entrepreneurship and innovation skills both in the scientific community and among students with an interest in STEM in Georgia in today’s world.  In early February 2018, the Alexander Kartveli Association opened the Kartveli Learning Center at the Embassy of Georgia in Washington DC.  

Mr. Rubin is a developmental and emerging market economist and financial expert with over twenty-five years of experience working for private consulting firms, investments banks and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a United States export credit agency.  Mr. Rubin is founder of his own consulting firm, Project Finance Advisors, that engages in technical and financial diligence for U.S. based companies as well as providing financial diligence service to multilateral credit agencies seeking to structure and verify the creditworthiness of various programs and loans. Mr. Rubin has arranged financing for clients from private equity funds, multilaterals banks, export credit agencies and other sources of capital.

Mr. Rubin’s geographic expertise includes the Caucasus region and Georgia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Northern Africa, Central America, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and areas within the Russian Federation.  Mr. Rubin was OPIC’s Senior Finance Office for Russia and the NIS for four years and performed economic diligence and loan negotiations with a number of Russian enterprises as well as Russian government entities.

Mr. Rubin holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, an MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Stanford University. 

Nicole Lynn Lewis serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Generation Hope, an organization which she founded in March 2010. As CEO, Nicole oversees all aspects of Generation Hope’s operations.

Nicole founded Generation Hope because after completing college as a teen mother despite tremendous obstacles, she wanted to help other teen parents earn their college degrees and achieve stable and successful futures. She named the organization Generation Hope because in her own words, "Hope is the number one, necessary, secret ingredient to anyone’s success."  Generation Hope reduces poverty one family at a time by providing direct sponsorships, one-on-one mentoring, and case management to D.C. area teen parents who are attending college.

In just six years, Nicole has created a truly unique and thriving organization that is gaining national attention for its sole focus on college completion for teen parents.  As a testament to her work, Nicole was named a 2014 CNN Hero in June 2014.  She is emerging as a leader in the youth, higher ed, and teen pregnancy/parenting fields.

Prior to founding the organization, Nicole worked for five years with other nonprofit organizations dedicated to youth and/or poverty, providing expertise in the areas of strategic planning, fundraising, and marketing/public relations. Before her nonprofit work, Nicole was a communications and public relations professional for two years with companies in the Washington DC area, such as GEICO. She is also a nationally known author and speaker on topics such as teen pregnancy and parenting, youth development, goal achievement, and self empowerment.

Nicole holds a Master’s degree in Social Policy and Communication from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William & Mary. She was named the 2013 Distinguished Alumna by George Mason University's School of Public Policy for her innovative work with youth through the founding of Generation Hope and was elected to the William & Mary Alumni Association Board of Directors in that same year.  Also in 2013, Nicole was selected and inducted into the National Leadership Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa.  In 2014, she was named a CNN Hero, an honor only given to two dozen changemakers across the globe annually.  She is also a two-time TEDx speaker, a member of the 2016 Leadership Greater Washington Signature Class, and a member of the 2017 Leadership Montgomery Core Program.  In 2016, she was named a finalist in the 13th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business for Female Executive of the Year for Government or Non-Profit -- an international recognition.  Nicole previously served on the Board of Directors for Healthy Teen Network, a national organization focused on teen pregnancy, parenting, and prevention.

Nicole and her husband, Donté Lewis, live in Maryland with their two daughters and son.