Our upcoming Club Assembly is a chance for members to come together and review key club business, updates, and plans for the months ahead. This meeting is held exclusively on Zoom, making it easy for everyone to join the discussion, share input, and stay informed about our club’s direction.

A Research Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. He uses data collected from satellites to understand how our planet is changing. His focus is on measuring the Earth’s ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica and developing models that predict how they will change in the future, as the Earth’s climate warms.

Understanding this is critical because, as the ice sheets shrink, sea level rises and this will impact hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Dr. Felikson also leads a NASA satellite mission called ICESat-2, which collects laser measurements that are used to estimate the thickness of the ice sheets, sea ice, as well as tree height all around the globe. This unique satellite is one of many that NASA uses to collect data about our changing planet.

Kevin Flynn will be giving his Classification Talk this week, sharing more about his background, his professional journey, and what brought him to our club. This is a great opportunity for all of us to get to know Kevin better and learn about the experiences that shape his perspective. 

Bob Webster has over 20 years of emerging and frontier market small business impact investing and development experience as an impact fund manager, chief operating officer, and project director/team leader. Since January 2024, he has been working in Ukraine on investment and humanitarian projects.
His financing experience includes capital and grant raising, with development finance institutions and donors (DFC, FMO, IFC, DEG, EBRD, USAID, DFAT, local investors, etc.), equity and debt deal generation, due diligence, structuring and closing, impact strategy and management, and fund management.
He is an innovative and blended finance expert, having designed and implemented several such funds, investment vehicles, and programs.

Bob has also managed economic growth projects that supported financial institutions and small businesses. His international work has included residential and short-term work in Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

He is a proud, active member of Rotary Club International Lviv, Ukraine, which mobilizes humanitarian response and support for the Ukrainian people, such as medical equipment and supplies, fire trucks and ambulances, and programs and gifts for war-affected children.

Bob resides in Lviv, Ukraine, although he has had a home in Silver Spring, Maryland since 2000. He is originally from the State of Maine.

Arianna Ross, CEO of Story Tapestries, and Kellie Butsack, the organization’s Operations Director, bring more than six decades of combined nonprofit leadership, strategic vision, and community impact to their work. Arianna is a nationally recognized executive in communication, nonprofit leadership, corporate visioning, and community improvement. For nearly 30 years, she has inspired audiences across corporations, nonprofits, conferences, colleges, libraries, and school districts. A graduate of Leadership Montgomery’s CORE Class of 2021 and Leadership Maryland’s Class of 2025, she is also an active member of the Metro Bethesda Rotary Club and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant.

Kellie complements this leadership with over 30 years of experience strengthening nonprofit operations, program delivery, volunteer engagement, data analysis, and strategic partnerships. Since joining Story Tapestries in 2022, she has provided essential administrative, outreach, and program support while managing scheduling, accounting, and project coordination to ensure smooth day‑to‑day operations.

Together, Arianna and Kellie guide Story Tapestries with a shared commitment to excellence, collaboration, and community empowerment.

Catherine “Cat”  Kahn is a longtime resident of Montgomery County who has been actively involved in hunger issues for many years. She’s been a Master Gardener since 2009 but food gardening wasn’t a primary interest until the Covid pandemic hit.

Through the founding of  the nonprofit HarvestShare, Cat is excited to have created an organization that combines her love of gardening, helping others and supporting her community while giving others  an opportunity  to give back as well. 

With a master’s degree in adult health nursing, she recognizes the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables in optimizing health and believes that all should have access to nutritious food.

Karen Willetts hails from Frostburg where she graduated from Beall High School. While attending the College of Wooster, she spent her Junior year in Dakar, Senegal. She taught a few years in Ohio and then returned to Senegal as a short term missions teacher. After learning the local language, Wolof, she decided to study with Wycliffe Bible Translaters in Texas. 

At UTA, she received a 2 year Fulbright grant to Cote d’Ivoire. In Abidjan she worked at the Institute of Applied Linguistics and received her Masters in African Languages. Karen returned to the states to take care of parents and later married Dr. Pascal Kokora, former Ambassador from Ivory Coast to the US, and Georgetown French professor.

She worked in MCPS for 27 years enjoying her time at Springbrook H.S. as a French teacher in the International Baccalaureate program.
In retirement, she and her husband are supporting work on building a library in Esiama, Ghana and a health clinic in Fresco, Ivory Coast.

With over 43 years of distinguished service in law enforcement, including as Chief of Police for the Supreme Court of the United States, Swope is a recognized expert in police leadership, ethics, and community policing. A Fulbright Fellow and highly decorated officer, he has worked with agencies from the FBI to Scotland Yard and has been published internationally on policing and leadership.

We’re pleased to welcome Ross Swope back to the club – his last visit featured fascinating stories from his life in law enforcement.

Entrepreneurship in Frontier Markets

From informal markets of Lima to conflict zones of East Africa and garment factories of South Asia, intrepid entrepreneurs contend with challenging conditions. Some strive to expand opportunity, others to rebuild, and others to break through social barriers. Dr. Kim Bettcher will share insights from entrepreneurs he has worked with about how they adapt and what they do for their community. He will provide glimpses into the informal sector, business for peace, women’s empowerment, and more.

Kim Eric Bettcher, PhD, advises associations, think tanks, and coalitions on strategies to improve public governance, civic engagement, and inclusive opportunity. Combining insights from policy, business, and nonprofit advocacy, he helps reform-minded leaders shape win-win solutions for systemic change. For twenty years, he facilitated knowledge exchange across the global portfolio of the Center for International Private Enterprise and guided program design on themes of policy leadership, collective action, organizational capacity building, economic empowerment, and more. Dr. Bettcher has taught as an adjunct professor at George Mason University’s School of Public Policy and was previously a research associate at Harvard Business School. He holds a PhD in political science from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. 

Claes Ryn takes the podium to discuss “Isn’t It Time to Abolish the Class Society?” In his talk, Professor Ryn will explore the growing economic polarization in America and the complex idea of social justice. Drawing on his deep background in political thought and ethics, he will challenge us to reflect on how divisions in wealth and opportunity affect our society – and what can be done to bridge the gap.