2023 Learning to Lead

Dr. Stephanie Urchick is a member of the Rotary Club of McMurray, Pennsylvania and will serve as President of Rotary International in 2024-2025. She has served Rotary as an RI Director and Chair of the Board’s Executive Committee, a Foundation Trustee, Chair of the Rotary Strategic Planning and TRF Centennial Celebration Committees, member of the Atlanta RI Convention Committee, RLTI Moderator, International Training Leader, Regional Foundation Coordinator, President’s Representative, District Governor, District Delegate and Member-at-Large for three Councils on Legislation, and as a member of various RI Committees and in many club, district, and Zone roles. 

 

A Rotarian since 1991, Stephanie has participated in a variety of international service projects, including National Immunization Days (polio prevention) in India and Nigeria, the building of an elementary school in Vietnam, water filter installation in the Dominican Republic, and mentoring new Rotarians in Ukraine.  Securing mammography equipment and a biopsy unit for a hospital in Poland was the district-wide TRF matching grant that Stephanie coordinated with the Rotary Club of Krakow.  In its commemorative book, the Rotary Club of Krakow noted Stephanie Urchick as one of the agents helping the re-birth of Rotary in post-Communist

Poland.  Currently, Stephanie is helping to partner clubs and districts in the U.S. with Rotary clubs in Albania, Kosovo and Ukraine for humanitarian and educational services. 

 

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.