Speakers

RICHARD D. KING, Fremont, California, USA
President, Rotary International, 2001-2002
Trustee, The Rotary Foundation, 1996-2000
Director, Rotary International, 1989-91
Chairman of the Executive Committee, Rotary International, 1990-91

Richard D. King is a past world president of Rotary International, and for 51 years was the senior partner in the California law firm King, King & King.  He earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California at Berkeley where he is a member of the California Club and the Order of the Golden Bear.  He taught law at Brigham Young University.  He is a distinguished military graduate of the University of California and served as captain in the U.S. Military Intelligence.  He received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea.

A trial lawyer, Mr. King belongs to several legal associations including the American Association of Trial Lawyers.  He is admitted to practice in both Utah and California and before the Supreme Court of the U.S.  He served on the board of directors of the Eden Hospital Foundation, the Woodminster Performing Arts, and Oakland Ballet.  He is a trustee of the City of Hope, and received the City of Hope “Spirit of Life” Award.  He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Council of the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the Board of Fremont Symphony Orchestra.  He has been knighted by the Republic of Italy and is a holder of the Great Official Order of Merit.  He is a recipient of the State of Rio de Janeiro’s highest award, the “Medalha Tiradentes.”  He is a member of Actor’s Equity.  He is an elder and officer of the Mormon Church.  He holds the Chevalier Degree, the Legion of Honor and is a member of the Hall of Fame of the Order of DeMolay.  He is a recipient of the Distinguished Citizen Award from the United Portuguese of California and is a recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award from the Brigham Young University Management Society.  He has been honored by some 50 associations, by the President of the U.S., and by many countries across the globe for his community and charitable service.  He served as the Executive Director of The Wheelchair Foundation.

A Rotarian since 1968, he is a member of the Rotary Club of Niles-Fremont, California USA.  He has served as a trustee of The Rotary Foundation, director and as chairman of the executive committee of Rotary International’s board of directors.  He has also served Rotary as a club president, district governor, an international assembly instructor and an official representative of the president of R.I.  He has chaired and served on many Rotary International committees, task forces and special assignments.  Mr. King has received the Rotary Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Award for his support of humanitarian and educational programs of the Rotary Foundation.  He is a recipient of the PolioPlus Pioneer Award.

One of Rotary’s most popular speakers, Mr. King has addressed Rotary International Conventions, Assemblies, Institutes, Seminars, Conferences and Rotary Clubs in every state in the USA and some 100 countries.  As President, he led Rotary International to its greatest one-year growth record in its 100-year history, with 75,000 New Members Net, a global membership of 1,243,431 and 1,158 New Rotary Clubs in 2001-2002, more than one new club every 8 hours.  In the same year, Rotarians contributed the highest amount of money ever raised for the Annual Fund of the Rotary Foundation.

Mr. King is married to Cherie Kay King.  They have two grown sons and reside in the San Francisco, California Bay Area.

UNLV President Marta Meana has served in many roles during her 20-plus years at UNLV. A licensed clinical psychologist and top researcher in her field, Meana is also a respected administrator, teacher, advisor, and mentor.  She was appointed acting president of UNLV by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents, effective July 1, 2018.

A professor of psychology at UNLV since 1997, Meana was named dean of UNLV’s Honors College in 2012 and previously served as senior advisor to the university president.

Since Meana arrived as dean of UNLV’s Honors College, enrollment in the select program has more than tripled. The Honors College attracts top undergraduates from Nevada and throughout the nation and is a partner with discipline colleges at the university in which Honors students pursue academic majors.

A renowned scholar in the field of clinical psychology, Meana’s groundbreaking research has reshaped clinical approaches to women’s health and human sexuality. She has published two books and close to 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Meana has earned multiple university, state and national awards during her career, including a Nevada Regents Excellence in Teaching Award, Nevada Senatorial Recognition for Teaching, UNLV Distinguished Teaching and Graduate Academic Advisor awards, the James Makawa Award for outstanding contributions in psychology, and the Masters and Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meana joined the psychology department at UNLV in 1997 after completing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at McGill University, a pre-doctoral internship at the University of California, San Diego, and a post-doctoral research fellowship in women’s health at the University of Toronto.

Research Interests

Marta Meana is interested in women’s reproductive health. She is particularly interested in women’s sexual function, how it works, how it breaks down, and how it compares to male sexuality. Her work focuses on conceptualizations and mechanisms of sexual desire and on the sexual pain disorders. Also of interest is the study of factors that influence the cognitive processing of sexual information in both men and women. Her approach is informed by both essentialist and social construction perspectives and she subscribes to a biopsychosocial and systems approach to the study and theorizing of sexuality and to the treatment of sexual difficulties.

Dr. Meana obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from McGill University in Montreal in 1996 and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Women’s Health at the University of Toronto. She was President of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research, Associate Editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, served of on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Sex Research and Journal of Sexual Medicine, and she was an advisor to the DSM-5 Task Force on Sexual Disorders.

Mattias Sundholm is currently working as Strategic Communications Officer with the United Nations Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED),
advising the Assistant Secretary-General and Executive Director of CTED, based in New York.  Previous to this, Sundholm helped establish two new UN offices from the ground up; one under the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and one in the Department of Public Information.  In addition to being Communications Adviser to the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Sundholm from 2010 to 2013 served as Special Adviser on Communications and Advocacy to the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Prior to his UN position, Sundholm for four years served as Deputy Spokesperson and Deputy Head of Press and Public Diplomacy, the largest operational department of the European Union (EU) Delegation to the United States, based in Washington, DC. In this capacity, he was the face and voice of the EU in the US, charged with promoting the EU’s positions and policies throughout the United States, a central plank in the EU’s public diplomacy strategy for the country. As Communications Officer on Development with the European Commission
Headquarters in Brussels, the executive branch of the European Union (the world’s biggest development aid donor), Sundholm worked for the EU Commissioner for Development and
Humanitarian Aid.

From 2002 to 2004, Sundholm was a Swedish diplomat serving with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the Ministry in Stockholm, he followed the Ministry’s Diplomatic Training
Programme. He also worked as Spokesperson for the Ministry and as Desk Officer for the Western Balkans. In the latter capacity, he was briefly posted to the Embassy of Sweden in
Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). He was also posted to Zimbabwe as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Sweden in Harare, where he was reporting on political and economic issues, including media, parliamentary affairs and the controversial so-called land reform. A Consultant for French consultancy firm FI System, based in Brussels and focusing on
European Affairs and public relations, Sundholm for three years worked as a journalist for Scandinavia’s biggest daily in print and on the web, Aftonbladet.

He has a M.Sc. and a B.A. in Political Science and Government from Uppsala University and the Institut d’études politiques (Sciences-Po) in Paris, and an M.A. degree in European Political and Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges (Belgium). He is fluent in Swedish, English and French, and has an intermediate level of Spanish.

Following the murder of his son in 1995, Azim Khamisa founded the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF.org), which started a subsequent forgiveness movement that has reached millions.

He has received over 60 local, national and international awards amongst which are: In 1997 he received the National Crime Victims Special Community Service Award presented by President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, In 2002, he received Search for Common Ground’s pres­tigious award alongside Desmond Tutu and Ted Koppel In 2004, he participated in the Synthesis Dialogues with His Holiness the Dalai Lama which was hosted by Pope John Paul at his summer palace in Castelgandolfo, Italy and in 2006 he was given the “Spirit of Crazy Horse Award” from the Reclaiming Youth Network alongside Mohammad Ali. In addition, Azim has been the recipient of the California Peace Prize in 2003 and the Pepsi Freedom Heroes Award in 2006.

Azim has served as TKF’s founder and chairperson for over 23 years. He is an emissary of peace and an international inspirational speaker with over 600 keynotes, including one to 300,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial at the Stand For Children Rally organized by the Children’s Defense Fund, as well as a speech to the United Nations General Assembly at the High level forum on the culture of peace.

With a strong passion to share his message with the youth and to inspire nonviolent leaders proactive as peacebuilders, Azim has given over 1,000 presentations to over a million students worldwide. He is the author of four books: Award-winning Murder to Forgiveness (being made into  a feature film) ; From Forgiveness to Fulfillment, From Fulfillment to Peace and The Secrets of the Bulletproof Spirit: How to bounce back from life’s hardest hits co-authored with Jillian Quinn and published by Random House. He has been featured countless times in local, national and international media. In November 2018, Azim spoke for the TEDWomen conference that has been viewed by over 1 million viewers : go.TED.com/azimandples.

Azim was born in Kenya of Eastern roots and educated in England in mathematics and finance and has over 45 plus experience in international finance. Azim lives in La Jolla, California and is the proud father of daughter Tasreen and grandfather of Shahin, Khalil and Miya

And for more information on Azim, please visit www.AzimKhamisa.com

Matt Christl is the West Coast Director of Advancement for Destiny Rescue USA.  His primary goal is to grow awareness and funds to combat the global issue of Human Trafficking, specifically Child Sex Trafficking. He is responsible for maintaining and developing partnerships in this fight and empowering people to turn awareness into action. He takes great pride and joy in helping people figure out what their “yes” looks like to help defend children.

Matt is a graduate of California State University Fullerton. He finished school with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and an emphasis on Advertising. Over the last decade, Matt has been working with youth and involved in non-profit work. It is currently his desire to continue to fight until all are free from sex trafficking.  In his free time, Matt enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids, traveling, being outside and active.

If you would like to know more about the work of Destiny Rescue, please visit www.destinyrescue.org.

Shab Elawar, born in Lebanon migrated to the US in 1978 where earned a BS degree in civil engineering and a Masters degree in structural engineering.  Shab is married to Dr Bricia and has four children and four grandchildren.

Shab works as a private real estate investor and joined Rotary in 1997.  Shab has held many positions in Rotary, including:  Assistant Governor, International and matching grant director, Youth exchange officer, Polio chair, Grant oversight committee, District Governor in 2014-2015, RI president Representative 2015-2016, International Service Chair, Global Grant Chair, Endowment Fund, PETS Committee, GETS/GNATS committee and PETS Board of Directors.

To say Shab understands the International arena is an understatement.  Shab has participated in over 120 Grants and over 30 missions, including NID.

Shab is part of the ARCH Klumph Society, Platinum Trustees Circle

On the club level he has also served in many capacities too numerous to mention here.

Highlighting his career at the Rotary International Level, Shab has served as:

• International Service Chair Champion,
• District Resources Network
• Cadre of Foundation Technical Support.

Shab is:

• Recipient of the Service Above Self award from Rotary International.
• Recipient of Humanitarian award of the year from MANNA Foundation 2017.
• Recipient of Humanitarian award of the year from the Black Culture Foundation 2018 .
• Board of Directors for Peace RAG
• Chairman for Global Council For Peace Ambassadors.
• Global grant chair for District 5300