Speakers

Machel is an African stateswoman who has devoted her decades-long public life to Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and women’s and children’s rights. She was a freedom fighter in Mozambique’s FRELIMO movement and the country’s first Minister of Education. Machel is a member of the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s High Level Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group. A founding member and deputy chair of The Elders, she played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She founded and serves as president of the Foundation for Community Development and the Zizile Institute for Child Development. In 2010 she founded the Graça Machel Trust, which advocates for women’s economic and social empowerment, food security and nutrition, education for all, and good governance. Machel has received the UN’s Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work. In 2018, she was awarded the World Health Organization’s highest honor, the WHO Gold Medal, for her enormous contributions to the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents.

R. Gordon R. McInally is the Rotary International President. He owned and operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh, Scotland, before stepping back from full time practice in 2016. He has served as president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He is a patron of Hope and Homes for Children and led a partnership between that organization and Rotary to lift orphans of the Rwandan genocide out of poverty and into stability.

Jennifer Scott is chair of the 2024 Singapore International Convention Committee. As a Rotary member she has led volunteer project teams to Cambodia and Mongolia. A lawyer specializing in environmental and conflict resolution, she is passionate about peace building and ecological sustainability.

Manisha Tank is an award-winning journalist who has worked for top broadcast outlets including CNN International (Hong Kong and London), BBC World TV (London and New York), BBC News 24 (UK), and Reuters Financial Television (New York and London). Currently, Manisha continues to cover breaking news in Southeast Asia for CNN, and counts CNN International, the Singapore Fintech Festival, and Standard Chartered Bank as some of her clients. Apart from her work on screen, she is a leadership and public speaking coach. She serves on the outreach committee of Singapore's Dover Park Hospice, is a committee member of the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Singapore, and is a special advisor to Kala the Arts, a South Asian Arts foundation.

Join us on an epic adventure as we take a whistle-stop tour around the world. With the guidance of our encapsulating 'Bird of Mother Nature,' we meet some weird and wonderful creatures along the way. This show is a colorful combination of elegant acrobatics and dynamic movement set to a bespoke soundtrack. It is a celebration of self discovery, acceptance and hope as we find our way back home.

Get ready for a breathtaking Lion Dance in the Opening Session. Since 2000, He Xin has been active in the Canberra area, partnering with the community centre. Members consist of lion and dragon dance enthusiasts who are professionally trained and have attained numerous international awards. He Xin is a well-known troupe in Singapore, working mainly in corporate events, community and international competitions, and public performances.

With the arrival of his 2018 debut album Only Human, U.K.-based singer-songwriter Calum Scott landed at No. 1 on the iTunes album chart in over 20 countries worldwide, approaching 10 billion total global streams and counting. Only Human includes his five-times-platinum smash “You Are The Reason,” a track that cracked the top 25 on Spotify’s US Viral 50 and hit the top 10 on iTunes single charts in 38 countries. The album also features Calum’s stripped-back, three-times-platinum cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” which earned a Brit Award nomination for Best British Single and has amassed over one billion streams globally. Calum released a new single “Lighthouse” and is now on the road with Ed Sheeran for his extended “Mathematics Tour” of Asia and Europe. We can’t wait to welcome him to our stage.

Born and raised in sunny Singapore, 22-year-old singer-songwriter Shazza grew up surrounded by music at home, with the odd combination of Norah Jones and the Black Eyed Peas becoming the soundtrack to her childhood. Making full use of the freedom that music offers, she seeks to explore with sounds and aims toward a discography that speaks to just about anyone. The hijabi songstress has her heart set on breaking boundaries and sparking change. Growing up, Shazza hardly saw anyone who looked like her making music the way she dreamed of doing. She aims to be the change, and to be that person for future generations, bringing more representation to the table with her music and her presence in the industry. Shazza will be singing the National Anthem at our Opening Session.

At age 13, a gunshot to the head left Freddie Almazan paralyzed on the right side of his face and body. Finding himself repeatedly on the brink of despair, he learned to grow through his challenges and turned his life lessons into an opportunity to share knowledge as a youth speaker. Through his authentic style of delivery and ability to speak with authority, he relates to teens and young adults, teaching them that they too can overcome life’s challenges and live a “ridiculously good life.”

Claire Chiang is a Singaporean entrepreneur, activist, and former Nominated Member of Parliament. She co-founded Banyan Tree Holdings Limited and is known for her advocacy work in social issues, receiving national and international awards. She was the inaugural Women Entrepreneur Award Supernova Winner in 2017 and is one of the first two women admitted to the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Claire received the Asia’s Top Sustainability Superwomen Award in 2018 and was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of The Conference Board Global Sustainability Centre, Europe and the Climate Governance Singapore Advisory Board.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Nacho Dean is the first and only person to have walked around the world and swum between five continents in defense of the environment. He has authored two books about his experiences and spoken at more than 150 conferences and summits. He recently completed Blue Spain, a 10-month scientific expedition sailing around Spain to collect data on plastic waste in the sea and on beaches, backed by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the University of Cádiz.

John Hewko is the General Secretary and CEO of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. He leads a diverse staff of 800 at RI’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. Prior to Rotary, he was vice president of operations and compact development for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance to the world's poorest countries. As an international partner with the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, he helped establish the firm's Moscow office and was the managing partner of its offices in Kyiv and Prague. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and sits on the Planning Commission for the city of Evanston, Illinois.

Alexandra is an internationally experienced social worker and Rotary Peace Fellow at the University of North Carolina. Her expertise lies in guiding individuals, institutions, and communities toward healing through remembrance and memorialization practices. She uses interdisciplinary, trauma-informed approaches to strengthen commitments to belonging, justice and human rights. Prior to her fellowship, Alexandra had seven years of direct-practice experience in international development and humanitarian response, focusing on gender-based violence and trauma-informed care in Australia, Asia, and the Pacific working directly with populations who have survived war, displacement, and conflict.

Tayyaba N. Gul has 20+ years of experience in project management, public health, and community development. She represents Pakistan globally, especially in health initiatives. Tayyaba is a prominent member of the Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan and has served as president, assistant governor, and in various roles in District 3272. She is a champion for polio eradication, earning national and international recognition, including a Regional Service Award for a Polio-Free World.

Aidan O’Leary has been Director of Polio Eradication at the World Health Organization since January 2021. Prior to that he had strong experience working for polio eradication as head of office for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. He was also chief of polio eradication for UNICEF in Pakistan.

As deputy director for program advocacy and communication, Dr. Obinna (Obi) Onyekwena leads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s infectious diseases advocacy work and its investments to advance financing and policy goals related to HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Obi spent 10 years at the Global Fund in Switzerland where he led efforts to shift priorities and policies to advance HIV innovation and delivery across Africa and Asia. Dr. Obinna has worked with the Nigerian government to reduce the impact of HIV, TB, and malaria.

Carol Pandak is the director of PolioPlus, Rotary’s global effort to eradicate polio, working in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. She serves on various cross-agency committees and management groups that provide strategic and operational guidance on eradication efforts, travels the world to engage with Rotarians involved in the effort, and monitors immunization campaigns to pursue a polio-free world.

Gaetano Scamarcio is a physics professor at the University of Bari in Italy and a former Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. He invented the superlattice quantum cascade laser, which is now widely used for environmental monitoring and quantum physics. He is also known for his work with single-molecule transistor sensors for early detection of life-threatening diseases. As the president of the Rotary Club of Bari, Scamarcio coordinated a project with Bari’s five Rotary clubs to reduce food waste and help hundreds of homeless people. They used a recreational vehicle to provide food, medical services, and legal advice. Scamarcio also developed a smartphone app that helps disabled people avoid obstacles when traveling in Bari.

Dr. Jack Sim is founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore, the World Toilet Organization, and the World Toilet Day initiative. At age 40, he left a job in the construction industry to devote his life to social work, and led the effort to establish World Toilet Day, approved by the United Nations in 2013. Breaking the taboo on the subject of toilets, he created massive awareness for improved sanitation. As a result, billions of people in India, China, Brazil, Nigeria and other countries now have access to toilets. In 2008, he was named Hero of the Environment by Time Magazine.

Barry Rassin is the Rotary Foundation Chair. He served as Rotary International President in 2018-19. He is a director and former president of Doctors Hospital Health Systems in Nassau, Bahamas, where he retired after a 38-year career. In 2010, Rassin coordinated Rotary’s disaster relief efforts in Haiti after a devastating earthquake. He also helped found the Haiti National Clean Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Strategy (HANWASH), a collaborative program to bring potable water and adequate sanitation to all the citizens of Haiti.

Stephanie Urchick will serve as Rotary International president in 2024-25. She has taken part in National Immunization Days in India and Nigeria and participated in a variety of international service projects, including helping build a primary school in Vietnam and install water filters in the Dominican Republic. She received her doctorate degree in Leadership Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and has a professional background in higher education, consulting, and entertainment industries.

Mário César Martins de Camargo will serve as president of Rotary International in 2025-26. De Camargo was president of Gráfica Bandeirantes and has been a consultant to the print industry in Brazil. He has served on the board of Casa da Esperança (House of Hope), a hospital sponsored by his Rotary club that serves 150,000 children with disabilities every year. De Camargo studied in the U.S. and Germany and holds degrees from EAESP-Fundação Getulio Vargas in business administration and Faculdade de Direito de São Bernardo do Campo in law.

Bryn Styles has served Rotary in a variety of capacities including as an RI director and Rotary Foundation Trustee. He is a past chair of the Rotary Peace Centers and has a passion for Rotary’s peace programs. Bryn owned and operated his own pharmacies for 30 years.

Michael Lapiña joined Rotary in 2005 and served as a group vocational exchange team lead, president of the Rotary Club of Wyndham, Western Australia, Australia, and assistant governor in District 9800. He is a professional opera singer, a video producer, and a youth music teacher. He will be performing in the closing general session with Heather McInally, wife of RI President R. Gordon R. McInally.

Heather McInally, wife of RI President R. Gordon R. McInally, joined Rotary in 2002 and has served as club president. She studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and the Guildhall School of Music. As a professional singer and teacher, she has performed worldwide with a broad repertoire ranging from early music to musicals, with a particular affinity for the music of her native land, Scotland. She has taught music to youth for 20 years. She will be performing in the closing general session with Michael Lapiña.

The Red Hot Chilli Pipers have been rocking across the globe with musicianship of the highest order that will leave you breathless. Since winning the top prize on the U.K. TV talent show “When Will I Be Famous” in 2007, the group has become a global phenomenon, taking their signature “Bagrock” sound to the masses with their unique fusion of rocked-up bagpipes and clever covers of popular songs from all genres.

Haresh L. Ramchandani, a Real Estate Consultant and leadership development facilitator, brings a unique perspective to the table. With 26 years of experience as a Rotarian, he strongly advocates for the principle of “Be the change we wish to see in the world.” His expertise has been recognized at the International Assembly and multiple Rotary International Conventions, where he has led sessions on diverse topics such as membership, service, and leadership. He has The also made significant contributions to RI committees and is a Rotary Foundation alumnus and Major Donor Level 2.

Louisa Lee, the youth services director for the Rotary Club of Singapore, is a certified health coach and the CEO of DP Healthverse Holdings. Her achievements include receiving the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2017, co-organized by the Rotary Club of Singapore and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME). She also serves as a board member for Connected Women, showcasing her commitment to empowering others.