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John Hewko

General Secretary

Rotary International

John Hewko is the general secretary of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, leading a staff of 800 at Rotary’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA, and seven international offices. Before joining Rotary in 2011, he was vice president of operations and compact development at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a U.S. government agency established in 2004 to deliver foreign assistance in a new and innovative manner.

An attorney, John was an international partner with the law firm Baker McKenzie, specializing in international corporate transactions in emerging markets and resident in the firm’s Moscow, Kyiv and Prague offices. 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.

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. John is a trustee of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine. He and his wife, Margarita, live in Evanston, IL.

Baidoa, Somalia

Makeshift, temporary shelter made of plastic and clothing at a refugee center in Baidoa, Somalia.