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John Hewko
Term of office - 2011 - |
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RGHF member since
August 2012 |
 RI
General Secretary John Hewko spelled out five priorities for
strengthening the organization during the fifth plenary session
of the International Assembly. Rotary
Images/Monika Lozinska
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 The
RI Board of Directors announced today that John P. Hewko will
replace retiring General Secretary Ed Futa on 1 July.
"Rotary is fortunate to have attracted a candidate with John
Hewko's proven ability and extensive international experience,"
said RI President Ray Klinginsmith. "His leadership will be an
important asset for Rotary in the next few years."
John will inherit a position first held by Chesley R. Perry
and will provide the same visionary leadership and effort so
that Rotary can continue to grow in membership, stature, and
involvement in making the world a better place for all people,"
said RI President Ray Klinginsmith.
Hewko is a former vice president of the Millennium Challenge
Corporation and a past partner with the international law firm
of Baker & McKenzie, where he focused on Eastern European
nations. He currently works with the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace as a researcher and writer concentrating on
international development issues.
Hewko was selected for the general secretary position after
an exhaustive yearlong search process conducted with the
assistance of Korn/Ferry International, one of the world's
largest international executive recruiting firms. In addition to
the RI Board search committee, chaired by RI Director John T.
Blount, the search process included input from the RI Board of
Directors and the directors-elect, The Rotary Foundation Board
of Trustees, and the Rotary general management team.
But it was Hewko's father, Lubomyr, a longtime member of the
Rotary Club of Clarkston, Michigan, USA, who alerted his son to
the opportunity after seeing the position advertised in The
Rotarian magazine.
Hewko holds a JD from Harvard Law School, a master's degree
in literature from Oxford University, and a bachelor's degree in
government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in Clinton,
N.Y.
A former Rotarian, Hewko was a charter member of the first
Rotary club in Kiev, Ukraine. He lives in Washington, D.C., with
his wife, Margarita, who is a native of Argentina, and their
daughter.
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John Hewko, speaking at the United Nations (undated photo from
RI) |
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Address to the 2011 Convention, New Orleans...
General Secretary-elect’s Remarks
John Hewko, General
Secretary-elect
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
25 May 2011
I can’t tell you how absolutely thrilled I am to be joining
the Rotary community next month as your new general secretary,
and I would like to thank the Board of Directors and the
Trustees for your faith and trust in me.
With the
frequent change in leadership in Rotary, the general secretary
represents, in many ways, the link between administrations and
the vehicle for institutional continuity. This is an enormous
responsibility, and I want to assure you that I will do all that
I can to fulfill that role with integrity, good judgment, and
enthusiasm, and with a deep appreciation of our past, yet
coupled with a keen desire to explore and implement new, bold,
and innovative measures to take Rotary into its second century.
I would also like to thank my wife, Margarita, and my
18-year-old daughter, Maria, for their steadfast support and
enthusiasm as we embark together as a family on this new and
exciting adventure. Margarita — or Marga, as we affectionately
call her at home — will be my partner on this journey. She is
originally from Argentina and brings to our relationship a broad
international perspective, and is very much looking forward to
using the platform of the general secretary’s spouse to make her
own unique contribution to this great organization.
And
finally, I would like to recognize my parents, Lu and Natalie
Hewko, who are able to join me on the stage today, and thank
them for all they have done for me. I could not have asked for
better and more loving parents. Although they currently live in
Clarkston, Michigan, a small town north of Detroit, they came to
the United States after the Second World War from Ukraine by way
of a displaced persons refugee camp in Bavaria. The example of
their lives, and their ability to overcome the hardship of that
terrible war, the tragedy of losing everything, and the fear of
coming to the United States with nothing — the values of
honesty, decency, and hard work that they instilled in their
three children — these are the gifts they have given to me and
for which I am deeply grateful.
Now, I am particularly
thankful for the opportunity to address you, the members of
Rotary. The number and diversity of Rotarians at this gathering
is in itself a testament to the strength and global reach of one
of the world’s great institutions. I am well aware that I have a
great deal to learn, to absorb, and to understand, and I would
like to thank Ed Futa for his assistance in educating me about
the many facets of Rotary and in making the transition as smooth
as possible. Ed has done an absolutely fantastic job over the
past 11 years as your general secretary, and I look forward to
building on all that he has achieved.
During the past
several months, I have received a large number of e-mails and
calls from family, friends, and acquaintances — and also from
Rotarians around the world — with their congratulations. A
number of the messages asked why I would leave the world of law
and move
to Evanston to assume this prestigious, yet
challenging, opportunity. Although the reasons were many, there
are five that were particularly meaningful and relevant.
First, the mission of Rotary and its focus on integrity, and the
promotion of goodwill, peace, and understanding through
fellowship. For me, this will not be so much a job as a passion.
Second, there is not an organization in the world better
positioned to carry out that mission. The 1.2 million leaders
and 34,000 clubs in over 200 geographic locations create an
incredible and unmatched platform to make the world a better
place. What this organization, what you as Rotarians, have been
able to achieve over the past 106 years is simply extraordinary.
Third, Rotary has been a part of my family for many years.
My father has been a committed Rotarian for almost 30 years, and
my mother has been a steadfast supporter of his life in Rotary.
My dad is a past club president and a four-time Paul Harris
Fellow, and was very active in helping to establish the first
Rotary clubs in Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union. It
was thanks to him that I became a charter member of the first
club in Kyiv. My mother continues to be active in a number of
community service efforts, both in Clarkston and the Ukrainian
American community, and was also recently named a Paul Harris
Fellow. Thirty years of watching my parents practice Service
Above Self has had a profound impact on me.
By the way,
as an interesting aside, I first found out about the position
when my father sent me a copy of an announcement in The Rotarian
magazine that Rotary was looking for a new general secretary. I
think the lesson here is clear: Very good things happen when you
read The Rotarian magazine.
Fourth, this, quite frankly, is a
very exciting time to be coming to Rotary. The goal of
eradicating polio is close at hand. Rotary International has
just launched a new strategic plan, and The Rotary Foundation is
rolling out the Future Vision Plan. There is a saying that
“timing is everything,” and for me, the timing for joining
Rotary could not be better.
And finally, the
internationality of Rotary dovetails with my own professional
and personal background and experience. My many years as a
partner with Baker & McKenzie, a global law firm; studying and
working in the UK, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Russia,
Ukraine, and the Czech Republic; serving as a senior official in
a U.S. government agency charged with delivering development
assistance funding to the world’s poorest countries; writing
extensively on international issues — these experiences give me
a perspective on the world that will allow me to better serve
Rotary and its tremendously diverse membership.
Now, as I
have gotten to know Rotary more intimately in the last four
months, I am struck by how little many Rotarians know about the
function and work of the Secretariat, and its talented
professional staff in Evanston and in the seven regional Rotary
offices outside the United States. My team — the Rotary
professional staff — is vital to the success of this
organization. I want to assure you that one of my top priorities
will be to better connect Rotarians with the Secretariat, to
increase awareness as to what the Secretariat can offer, and to
make sure the Secretariat is an effective, efficient, and useful
resource for the clubs, so that clubs are able to grow and carry
out the mission of Rotary.
I look forward to supporting
President-elect Kalyan Banerjee and Trustee Chair-elect Bill
Boyd in their service to Rotary. The new strategic plan and
Future Vision Plan strike the right balance between maintaining
continuity with the past while outlining a unified, coherent,
and ambitious roadmap for measured change, and I look forward to
working with all of you to implement these plans.
The
future for Rotary is bright indeed. We will rid the world of the
terrible scourge of polio — we will rid the world of this
terrible disease — and then we will be bold and aggressive and
identify and conquer the next big global challenge. We will
redouble our public relations efforts to enhance our brand and
image so that the world better appreciates and understands the
great works of Rotary and the value of connecting through
fellowship. During this second Rotary century, we will
successfully use the power and passion of Rotarians to bring
water, sanitation, and basic education to millions, to reduce
child mortality, to prevent disease around the world, and to
promote peace and sustainable economic development.
More
and more, we will partner with others in order to better
leverage our resources. We will make a meaningful contribution
to the current ongoing global debate on how best to address the
needs of those less fortunate. We will promote the ideas of
community service and volunteerism among our youth and bring the
world closer together through our scholarship and exchange
programs. New technologies will strengthen our image among the
world’s next generation of leaders. We will work hard to
strengthen clubs and increase Rotary membership around the
world, with a particular focus on attracting a younger and more
diverse membership. And we will do all of this in the spirit of
friendship, goodwill, and fellowship that has been the hallmark
of Rotary.
So again, thank you for the opportunity to be
here. Marga and I have been privileged to meet so many of you
this week and have been deeply moved by the warm welcome that
you have extended to us. As I look out from this stage and see
the faces of thousands of Rotarians, united by the call to
service and good works, I feel a sense of wonder and amazement
at who you are and what you have accomplished. And today I
pledge to you that, as your new general secretary, I will invest
every ounce of my energy to ensure the Rotary flame burns ever
brighter so that, working together, we can continue to make the
world a better place — for our families and friends, for our
communities and countries, and for future generations to come.
Thank you. |
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Source: Rotary International, posted 10 January 2011 by
Jack Selway |
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