Club Member Bob Sonawane received his Ph.D. degree in Entomology with specialization in Toxicology from the University of Missouri. He was a NIH postdoctoral Fellow and served as a faculty member in the Departments of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the School of Medicine, and at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Sonawane worked as a Toxicologist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, MD. He served as a toxicologist and manager at the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), Office of Research and Development of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Sonawane has over 35 plus years research and management experience in toxicology and pharmacology and cancer/non-cancer health risk assessment of environmental pollutants. He is retired from the US EPA in 2016 and started consulting company along with Dr. Bruce Fowler in the areas of toxicology and health risk assessment, environmental chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Since 2017, he is an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Dr Sonawane received numerous prestigious awards and honors, citations, certificates, Science and Technology Achievement and Special Act Awards for his exemplary research in toxicology and risk assessment of environmental agents.

Several years ago, Bob was instrumental in getting our club to partner with Rotary clubs in India to develop water projects.  He’ll be giving us an update on the progress of the project.

Michael Kelly is a local writer and publisher of community magazines in neighborhoods around Montgomery County.  Working with local businesses in Kensington in 2020, he launched Kensington Neighbors to help local businesses reach customers in their local market.  It was such a success that he then launched North Bethesda Neighbors last summer.  His goal is to bring people together and connect residents with businesses.  He does that by sharing stories about local families, local businesses, artists, athletes, and all the things we love most about where we live.  The publications give residents a new way to get to know more about each other and to share information on what’s going on in the community. 
They give businesses a new way to connect with their market.

Mary Kimm is an award-winning journalist, opinion writer and editor inspiring excellence and change in media for more than 20 years. As publisher of the newspaper group, she has led operations as well as news and editorial, recently leading Connection Newspapers to the Virginia Press Association Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service. 

Mary is editor of the Connection Newspapers, serving the suburbs of Washington, D.C., including the City of Alexandria and the City of Fairfax, Fairfax County and Arlington County in Virginia, as well as parts of Montgomery County, Md. The papers have won hundreds of press awards for investigative reporting, public service, editorial writing, news, election coverage, projects, features, sports, design, photography and more during Kimm’s tenure, all in an ever-tightening economic environment. Kimm has worked at the newspaper chain in a variety of roles since 1989.

Winner of multiple awards in editorial writing and public service in the Virginia Press Association and the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, Kimm’s editorials have been cited in local efforts to end homelessness and increase government transparency. Mary Kimm serves on the Governing Board of the Fairfax-Falls Church Partnership to Prevent and End Homelessness, and on the Board of Directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington Fairfax Region. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Media in Democracy Institute and numerous community organizations, including the Potomac Chamber of Commerce.

Kimm holds degrees in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1955, she is the mother of two PhD scientists. She has also worked in banking, real estate and education. Interests include kayaking, the Potomac River, birding, photography and horseback riding.