2019 Speakers
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The 2019 Conference Committee is building a list of informative and exciting speakers. Check below for individuals who will help you be the inspiration and who will reinforce the concept that Together We Serve.
More speakers will be added frequently. Check with us regularly to see the latest.
Plenary Speakers
Winnie Chepkemoi Mutai
Winnie Chepkemoi Mutai’s passion for fostering women in leadership roles in Africa led her to participate in a six-month pilot program of the Commonwealth Women’s Mentorship Scheme in 2017. She was also a delegate to the East African Youth Summit in 2017 and attended the Commonwealth Women’s Forum in London in 2018.
A native of Kenya, she was awarded a full scholarship in 2017-2018 for her Masters in Research and Public Policy at Egerton University, Kenya, where her thesis is focused on free maternal health care policy. She also holds a Bachelor degree in Development Studies from Jommo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
Winnie was on the program committee for the World UN Rotary Convention held last November in Nairobi.
Razia Jan
Born in Afghanistan, Razia Jan is the founder of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in Afghanistan through community-based education.
She was nominated as a Top 10 CNN Hero of 2012 for her work on the Zabuli Education Center, a school that she founded in rural Afghanistan that provides a free education to about 350 girls.
Razia has spoken on women and children’s issues at venues across North America, Europe and Afghanistan. In 2015 she was awarded a Woman of Action award from Rotary International at the United Nations in New York City. In 2016, she was honored with Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award.
Brittany Arthur
After being a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Brittany Arthur joined the Rotaract Club of Berlin in 2014 and has since held various board positions, including president. Passionate about engaging alumni, Arthur was also on the organizing committee for the Rotary Zone Institute in Berlin in 2014. Arthur works as a workshop facilitator and consultant for companies in Australia, Japan and Germany.
Summer Lewis
Summer began her Rotary journey as a college student, thanks to a volunteer service grant to Guatemala – a lifechanging experience that sealed her commitment to a career in international development and philanthropy, building global relationships for the greater social and economic good.
She was selected as a Rotary Peace Fellow and completed a Master of International Studies, Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland, Australia in 2012, focusing her studies on the connection between economic development and peace.
Summer currently manages The Rotary Foundation’s strategic partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace, overseeing the creation and messaging of tools and activities to make peace tangible and actionable for 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide.
Jeffry Cadorette
Rotary International Director 2018-20
A Rotarian with the Rotary Club of Media, PA since 1977, Jeff served as Governor of District 7450 in 1998-1999. In September of 2016 he was the selection of the Zones 24/32 Nominating Committee for Director to serve on the Rotary International Board of Directors in 2018-2020.
Active in international service projects, he has traveled to South America as part of a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant project to set up a Village Bank in Lima, Peru; to Madagascar participating in a polio NID; to Yaroslavl, Russia to assist in fund development initiatives for their YMCA; and to Uganda to view the substantially completed Global Grant Project to the benefit of Brain Tree Primary School.
In January 2015 he was appointed as one of two Seminar Leaders worldwide at the International Assembly in San Diego. Seminar Leaders are tasked with training, coaching, and motivating the 40 International Training Leaders who in turn train the 547 incoming District Governors for the upcoming Rotary year. He was reappointed to that position for the 2016 International Assembly.
He is a recipient of the Rotary International Service Above Self Award, Rotary International’s highest honor for individual Rotarians and a recipient of The Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award, the Foundation’s highest distinction.
Jeff retired from healthcare in 1999 after a 25-year career as a physical therapist. He had been President and CEO of Physical Therapy Associates of Delaware County in Pennsylvania. He now serves as Associate Broker and Executive Vice President at Media Real Estate Company.
Dean Rohrs
Rotary International Vice President 2017-18
Rotary International Director 2016-18
Dean, her husband Rhino and their 3 children emigrated to Canada from South Africa 26 years ago. Dean grew up in Zambia and after marrying Rhino lived in Malawi, Namibia and South Africa. Dean was born into a Rotary family and when Rhino joined Rotary in 1986 became an active Rotary Ann until she joined Rotary in 1989. On arriving in Vancouver both Dean and Rhino joined the Rotary Club of West Vancouver and at present are members of the Rotary Club of Langley Central in District 5050.
Dean has had a varied career from the early days of being an Operating Room Nurse on Professor Christiaan Barnard’s first heart transplant team to running a Nursery School in Malawi. Together with Rhino they now owner manage a company that is involved in soil stabilization during road construction.
Dean has served on District and Zone committees; which include: Regional Rotary Coordinator and Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, Pacific Northwest PETS Chair, District Governor in 2007/2008 and Rotary International Director 2016-2018,
However, her best experience is leading teams of Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors to Africa and seeing how this volunteer experience changes their lives.
Featured Speakers
John Anderson
A Past District Governor (2015-16) John has been a Rotarian for over 20 years and is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Tsawwassen where he served as president in 2012-13. From 1990 to 2002, he was a member of the Rotary Club of West Vancouver and served as its president in 1998-99.
In addition to numerous club level positions, John has served on the District Board, the Youth and Foundation Committees as well as chairing the Scholarship Committee. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow, and a member of the Paul Harris Society. John is a proud graduate of all three levels of the Rotary Leadership Institute and an RLI Facilitator.
John is retired after many years working in the public school system, most recently as the Superintendent of Schools Delta.
Bob Blacker
Bob Blacker has been a Rotarian since 1996. A Past District Governor, Bob is a Paul Harris Fellow and member of the District 5040 Paul Harris Society. A former police officer and aide-de-camp to BC’s Lieutenant Governor, Bob has been deeply involved in the Write To Read project since its inception.
Shirley-Pat Chamberlain, PhD (c), Med, BA
Dubbed the ‘original champion sparkplug’ by His Honour, Steven L. Point, former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, Shirley-Pat is a proud Rotarian committed to social action literacy initiatives and community development innovation in rural and remote British Columbia in both indigenous and non-indigenous communities through the Write2Read (W2R) project.
She has been honoured for her work by being formally adopted by Tl’esqox, the Toosey Indian Band, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Award in 2012 for outstanding volunteerism.
Shirley-Pat has an undergraduate degree in history and classical languages and literature and masters of education in leadership studies. She is currently doing a doctorate at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Canadian Studies.
Kevin Evans
From broadcast journalist to association executive to CEO, the common element of Kevin’s professional career has been communication and – specifically – facilitating community conversation.
A familiar face in the 1990s as a news anchor for CBC British Columbia, Kevin then applied his communications skills to government relations as a senior executive with a national trade association.
He moved to government in 2007 as Chief Executive Officer of the Industry Training Authority – a provincial crown corporation responsible for BC’s apprenticeship system.
Kevin then moved on to health care as CEO of the Physiotherapy Association of BC – from which he retired at the end of last year.
Kevin is a past president and member of the North Vancouver Rotary Club.
Thomas Miller
Thomas is President of the Vancouver Young Professionals Rotaract Club.
A former journalist and corporate communications/PR professional, in 2017 he started Go Public Social a full-service social media agency specializing in social media marketing for publicly traded companies.
He sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Public Relations Society.
Chris Offer
PDG Chris Offer is currently District 5040’s Chair - Peace Major Gifts Initiative Committee. A recipient of the Rotary Foundation Distinguished Service Award, Chris served as the Governor or District 5040 in 1999-2000.
He has also served as a Rotary Membership Coordinator for Zone 22 and as the Chair of the RI Membership Development and Retention Committee. He served as a Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator for three years in Zone 24 working with districts in western Canada, Alaska, Washington and Russia. He also served on the PolioPlus fundraising zone committee in the zone.
Chris was introduced to Rotary in 1981 as a member of a Group Study Exchange Team to India and in 1993 he led a team to the UK.
Chris has served as a Rotary volunteer in the Philippines, Russia, China and Sudan. His trips to Sudan in 2011 and 2012 were to represent The Rotary Foundation with the WHO (World Health Organization) on an evaluation of polio vaccination initiatives.
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