Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert is in her third term as Mayor of Omaha. First elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021, she is the 51st mayor of Omaha and the city's first woman to be elected to the office.
"Thank you for electing me to a third term. To serve as our city’s first female mayor, and to begin an unprecedented third term in office, are both incredibly special and very humbling. It is an honor that I will live up to, and one I am very excited to begin. I will work hard every day to earn your trust, make you proud of our work, and even more proud of our city."
Mayor Stothert's priorities are public safety, managing the city budget, job growth and economic development and improving the taxpayer experience., so every citizen receives excellent customer service when they interact with city government.
Mayor Stothert has reduced the property tax rate three times, improved city services, worked with the Omaha City Council to grow the city's population and tax base through annexation, and increased funding for the police department to increase the number of officers to 906, a record high number. This historic high number of officers is helping to make Omaha safer and establishing one of the best large-city police departments in the country.
She proposed and voters approved "A Road Map to Better Streets", a $200 million bond issue to improve aging city streets.
She serves on the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) Board of Directors and the Salvation Army Advisory Board. She is the honorary Chair of the Omaha Sister Cities Association and Co-Chair of the Smart Cities Initiative.
Stothert grew up in the St. Louis area and worked as a critical care nurse and later as head nurse and department head of cardiovascular surgery at St. Louis University.
In 1993, Mayor Stothert and her family moved to Omaha.
She became involved in the Millard Public Schools as a volunteer. Later, she was appointed and then elected to the Millard Board of Education and served 11 years, including three as President. In 2009, she was elected to the Omaha City Council, representing District 5 in southwest Omaha.
In 2022, Mayor Stothert married Dr. Kevin O'Rourke. She has two children and four grandsons.
Mayor Stothert believes in open, transparent government and gets the most satisfaction from helping people solve problems.
Recently, Chris Barone introduced our newest Rotarian Chad McKown. Chad McKown joined Revolution Group as a Wealth and Relationship Advisor in early 2022. He joined Revolution Group because of its uniqueness in providing clients with private and hard to source investments that were not available, and he believes Revolution’s methodology truly puts clients first as a Real Fiduciary™.
His prior years as a probation officer as well as his 10+ years of experience in investments and insurance planning with a national firm has helped him learn good communication and organizational skills. He has a deep passion for helping others and a keen interest in helping clients meet their financial needs and goals.
Chad earned his Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. He holds certifications on Series 66, CLTC® (Certification in Long-Term Care), and CAIA-FA.
Chad is married to his wife Erin, and they have two children, Cora and Evan. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, spending time with his friends and family, running half-marathons and playing golf. Chad and his family currently reside in Elkhorn.
Chad McKown with his Rotary sponsor Chris Barone and President Katie Henry
We are excited to announce that we will be hosting another Rotary Guest Day on February 1, 2024. This extraordinary Rotary meeting will feature none other than Jean Stothert, the esteemed Mayor of the City of Omaha. Mayor Stothert, a trailblazing leader and visionary, has left an indelible mark on our community through her exceptional leadership.
As the 51st Mayor of Omaha and the first female to hold this prestigious position, Mayor Stothert's legacy speaks volumes. Her double re-election underscores her unwavering commitment to our city. Join us for an enlightening session where Mayor Stothert will share insights into her visionary approach, highlighting achievements in infrastructure development, job creation, public safety, and responsible budget management. Under her guidance, Omaha has blossomed into a city we can all take pride in.
Don't miss the chance to engage directly with Mayor Stothert and it is Rotary Guest Day so don't forget to bring a guest. Register your guest with Membership Chair Barb Rebrovich at check-in.
Thanks to the generous contributions from Rotarians to the Suburban Rotary Charitable Foundation, we have the opportunity to make a significant impact by providing 41,800 meals through a multi-club grant with funds matched by the Rotary International Foundation through the District Designated Fund. We invite you to join us in packaging these meals on February 24, 2024.
For any inquiries or further information, please contact our Project Lead, Eli McNichols, at elimci@cox.net. Your participation and support contribute to the success of this impactful endeavor.
Earl Knauss got a lesson in food waste when he received a neighbor’s gift of three bushels of red peppers that had been cast aside by a farm because they were misshapen. “I discovered that odd-shaped, blemished, and imperfect vegetables were dumped or destroyed,” says Knauss, of the Rotary Club of Hamburg in western New York state. He asked the farm’s owner for more of the unsalable produce and collected 18-gallon totes of vegetables that he sent to food pantries. The Farm to Family project has since expanded to include three farms, and the Hamburg club formally adopted it in 2018. From May to December, Rotary members and friends work alongside Knauss delivering vegetables to about 3,000 families. In 2022, they provided more than 100,000 pounds of vegetables to 23 distribution sites. Among them is the Resurrection Life Food Pantry in Cheektowaga, where pantry director Kim Reynolds says the site would not have many fresh vegetables without the program. “Our clients rely on Farm to Family to fill that gap,” she says.
Peru
Much of the milk produced in Peru never leaves the farm: It’s consumed directly by farming families, fed to calves, and used to make artisanal cheeses. The Rotary E-Club of Fusión Latina Distrito 4465 teamed up with the nonprofit CEDEPAS Norte to help subsistence farmers in the country’s northern highlands. Last year the club delivered stainless steel presses and molds to open two cheese production facilities. A global grant of more than $50,000 helped pay for the equipment, training, management, and marketing. “So far there are 21 new employees and 63 families served, and 25 pregnant cows were gifted” through the Peruvian government program Agroideas, says Club President Fernando Barrera, who lives in Trujillo.
In June 1999, a year after I joined the staff of Rotary International, I attended my first convention. It was then that I first witnessed the global power of Rotary and made my first batch of Rotary friends. And it was then that I was introduced to Singapore for a second time.
My first trip to Singapore occurred five years earlier when, as a journalist, I covered the third Europe-East Asia Economic Summit. At that time, Western financial media were referring to Singapore as the 20th century’s most successful development story, which meant that the summit lured scores of policymakers, economists, and businesspeople from across Europe and Asia.
Once a British Crown colony which subsequently merged with Malaysia, Singapore broke away and was founded as an independent sovereign nation in 1965. Despite predictions that a string of small islands that lack natural resources to survive, Lee Kwan Yew, who was referred to as the founding father of modern Singapore, turned the tattered outpost of the faded empire into a thriving modern nation. The archipelago of 64 islands that was once plagued by malaria and rife with ethnic conflicts among its Chinese, Malay, and Indian populations, now stands as a gleaming city state, known in the 1990s throughout the world as one of the four Asian Tigers for its robust economic transformation along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Having grown up in China, where decades of Mao’s draconian rule had impoverished the country, I, along with millions of other Chinese, became enamored of the Singapore model of economic success. My first impression of Singapore in 1994, which will forever be associated with the brightly illuminated skyscrapers that dotted the banks of the Singapore River, confirmed my belief that this was a place of modernity and prosperity.
R. Gordon R. McInally is president 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. Read President McInally's biography.
Watch the video below of President McInally's address to the Rotary International Assembly:
Consider visiting another Rotary club for a make-up! Rotary.org has a club finder for locations around the world. Please see the District website at rotarydistrict5650.org for details on local clubs. Visit one of the following Metro-Area Clubs!
Monday: Omaha Millard Rotary, 12:00 pm, German American Society, 3717 South 120th St.
Tuesday: Omaha Morning 7:00 am, First Responders Foundation, 10605 Burt Circle, Omaha, NE 68114
Tuesday: Omaha Northwest, 12:00 pm, New England Fare, 655 North 114th Street. Omaha, NE 68154
Wednesday: Omaha Downtown, 12:00 pm, Field Club of Omaha, 3615 Woolworth Ave.
Wednesday: Council Bluffs Centennial: 7:00 am, Hy-Vee Community Room 1745 Madison Avenue Thursday: West Douglas County, 12:00 PM Elkhorn Public Schools Foundation 20272 Veterans Drive
Thursday: Council Bluffs, 12:00 pm, Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center, 1001 South 6th Street
Friday: Omaha West, 12:00 pm, Biaggi's, 13655 California St.
Email Yolanda for make-up/attendance credit at yolanda@suburbanrotary.org.
Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert is in her third term as Mayor of Omaha. First elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021, she is the 51st mayor of Omaha and the city's first woman to be elected to the office.
Recently, Chris Barone introduced our newest Rotarian Chad McKown. Chad McKown joined Revolution Group as a Wealth and Relationship Advisor in early 2022. He joined Revolution Group because of its uniqueness in providing clients with private and hard to source investments that were not available, and he believes Revolution’s methodology truly puts clients first as a Real Fiduciary™.
Peru
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