Speakers

Master of Ceremonies:
Michael Angelo Caruso: President of Edison House and  Zone 28 Public Image Coordinator.
 
Michael Angelo Caruso: Troy MI Rotary Club.
Master of Ceremonies
 
Michael Angelo Caruso teaches people how to be better speakers and presenters so they can help more people and amp up their careers. He utilizes his unique background in the technology sector and a separate career in the entertainment business to deliver keynote speeches that feel like a combination of your best teacher and your favorite comedian.
 
Caruso is founder and President of Edison House, an international consulting firm specializing in corporate and personal improvement. Edison House clients include Hallmark, Bank of America, Verizon Wireless, Rayovac, Citgo, Nissan and the United States Navy. Michael also has authored Work Hacks, an audiobook Dear Michael Angelo -- A Father's Life Letters to His Son and the Present Like a Pro DVD. All are available at www.MichaelAngeloCaruso.com.  He has a highly rated online speaker coaching masterclass titled, Present Like a Pro.
 
A member of the Troy Rotary Club since 1998, Michael is a Past District 6380 Governor (2016-2017) and the current Zone 28 Public Image Coordinator. Although well-known to many District 6380 Rotarians, here are some facts that you may not know about Michael:
  • Exercises every day
  • Hasn't eaten ketchup in over 25 years
  • Paid for his own college education by working in a grocery store
  • Has flown a million miles on one airline 
  • Doesn't comb or brush his hair EVER
  • Has uploaded 1,000+ videos to his YouTube channel
  • Got to attend the Academy Awards (in 1998)
  • Has spoken on 6 continents and in 49 of the 50 states
  • Has spoken at hundreds of Rotary conferences around the world, but never emceed his own D680 District Conference -- until this year!
 
Debbie Dingell:  Congresswoman for Michigan's 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
Debbie Dingell:  Congresswoman for Michigan's 12th
Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Speaking on Friday at 7:15 PM.
 
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell represents Michigan’s 12th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives and serves in House Leadership as a Co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. She is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, and chairs the Great Lakes Task Force, a testament to her advocacy for the outdoors and to protecting the environment.
 
Dingell is a self-proclaimed car girl who worked in the auto industry for over three decades, where she was President of the General Motors (GM) Foundation and a senior executive responsible for public affairs. She was also Chairman of the Wayne State University (WSU) Board of Governors.  She is a respected voice in Michigan and has been named multiple times to Crain’s Detroit Business’ 100 Most Influential Women in Michigan list.
 
An active civic and community leader, Dingell is a recognized national advocate for women and children.  She is a founder and former chair of the National Women’s Health Resource Center and the Children's Inn at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 
 
Debbie currently resides in Dearborn. She holds both a B.S.F.S. in Foreign Services and an M.S. in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University.  She is not a stranger to the impact of Rotary’s service.  Her work both in Michigan and in Congress align and support Rotary’s Seven Areas of Focus.
 
Jackie Huie: Rotary District 6360 Chair for Career Mentoring.
 
Jackie Huie: Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor.
Speaking on Saturday at 10:00 AM.
 
Jackie Huie has been a Rotarian since 1994, Jackie has worn many hats in Rotary including the District 6360 Chair for Career Mentoring. A member of the Rotary Club of St. Joseph-Benton Harbor, MI, Jackie also is CEO of JohnsonRauhoff, a creative agency founded in 1969 by her career mentor and father Don Johnson. Starting her advertising career at Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, then Tracey-Locke, Los Angeles, Jackie is best known for her 1985 redesign of the McDonald’s Hamburglar. In 1990, she returned to Michigan to help her father build the business he started in the basement of his home. Jackie is married to Rotarian Mike Huie.  Together they have three children, all Interact and Rotaract members, and have hosted two Rotary Youth Exchange students, from Brazil and Poland respectively.

Jackie is the Chair of the Rotary Student Program.  No matter the country, ethnicity, or financial status, the need is the same everywhere.  Students are entering college and the workforce with visions of their future but no real way to verify the fit or the right steps to take.
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The Rotary Student Program was designed to help young people connect with business professionals living their dream career. By exploring the possibilities in the earliest stages of the career development and selection process, 15–18-year-olds have the chance to confirm or redirect their dreams.
 
In reverse interview settings, participants gain rare access to professionals—from CEOs of global corporations to small-business owners and startup entrepreneurs. Through the program, students explore dreams from every possible direction—from becoming an NFL football player to becoming a global peace leader, from becoming a medical professional to going into the entertainment business, from working as a public servant in politics to starting a private family business. With the Rotary Student Program, the exploratory opportunities and possibilities are endless.
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Since the release of the April 2017 issue of Rotarian Magazine and online Rotary.org features, interest in the program has increased dramatically. More than 138 countries now feature the Rotary Student Program website which has had more than 53,000 unique visitors.
 
Kevin Kelly: Major Gifts Officer, Zone 29.
 
Kevin Kelly: Rotary Club of Northville.
Speaking on Saturday at 2:00 PM.
 
Kevin Kelly joined The Rotary Foundation in January of 2016 as a Regional Major Gifts Officer. He resides in Metro Detroit and is a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Northville. Kevin is responsible for major gift cultivation and stewardship in Zone 29 which includes Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, West Virginia and Ontario, Canada.
 
Prior to his role with The Rotary Foundation, Kevin served as the Director of Development for Easter Seals Michigan as well as a Major Gifts Officer for Starr Commonwealth. While Kevin is a Michigan native, he spent 8 years living in Charlotte, North Carolina working for Pi Kappa Phi National Fraternity as the Director of Risk Management and their philanthropy called Push America as the Director of Development. 
 
John Hewko: General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
 
John Hewko: Rotary Club of Kyiv.
Special video message at Saturday's Dinner, 7:00 PM.
 
John Hewko (Due to COVID talk will be on video) is the General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.
 
From 2004 to 2009, Hewko was vice president for operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world’s poorest countries. At MCC, he was the principal United States negotiator for foreign assistance agreements to 26 countries in Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union. During his tenure, he completed the negotiation of assistance agreements totaling $6.3 billion to 18 countries for infrastructure, agriculture, water and sanitation, health, and education projects.
 
Prior to joining MCC, Hewko was an international partner with the law firm Baker & McKenzie, specializing in international corporate transactions in emerging markets. He helped establish the firm’s Moscow office and was the managing partner of its offices in Kyiv and Prague.
 
While working in Ukraine in the early 1990s, Hewko assisted the working group that prepared the initial draft of the new Ukrainian post-Soviet constitution and was a charter member of the first Rotary club in Kyiv.
 
Hewko has been a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has published papers and articles in leading U.S. and international publications, and he has spoken extensively on political and business issues dealing with the former Soviet Union, Central Europe, Africa, and Latin America. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.
 
Hewko holds a law degree from Harvard University, a master’s in modern history from Oxford University (where he studied as a Marshall Scholar), and a bachelor’s in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York. 
 
As general secretary, Hewko leads a diverse staff of 800 at Rotary International’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. He and his partner, Marga, are major donors to the Foundation. They live in Evanston.
 
Rebecca Chamberlain-Creanga: Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 2000-2001, studied conflict on the former Slavonian war front in northeastern Croatia.
 
Rebecca Chamberlain-Creanga: Rotary
Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 2000-2001.
Speaking at Saturday's Dinner.
 
Rebecca Chamberlain-Creanga served as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in 2000-2001, selected by International Rotary District 6290 (from northern Michigan and Canada) to study conflict on the former Slavonian war front in northeastern Croatia. She is an economic anthropologist, whose career has spanned philanthropy, academia and international development.
 
With decades of experience working in conflict-affected countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Rebecca served as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Social Development Unit (Social Cohesion and Violence Prevention Group), where she provided knowledge and expertise on strategy and operations in conflict-affected countries. Rebecca was also previously named a U.S. Department of State Title VIII Research Scholar at the Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
 
In 2014, Rebecca returned to her home-state of Michigan to join The Kresge Foundation, using her anthropology and development background in service of Kresge’s mission to expand opportunities for people with low-incomes in America’s cities. At Kresge, one of the leading private foundations in the United States, Rebecca spearheads strategic communications and special projects, while contributing to change management.
 
She holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. As a Marshall Scholar, she earned a Master of Science from the London School of Economics and a Master of Arts from University College London. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.
 
Rebecca is passionate about giving back to her local community – Troy, Michigan – one of the most diverse cities in Michigan. She was elected to Troy City Council in 2020 and previously served as an appointed member of the city's Downtown Development Authority and Global Troy Advisory Committee. She is also a member of Leadership Oakland Class XXIX, a program for regional leaders that focuses on creating awareness of key issues affecting the metro Detroit region.