Meet Our Speakers
The Rotary Club of Washington, DC is strategically located to gather the most prestigious group of speakers our nation’s Capital can generate. From Ambassadors, Business Executives, and Tribal Chiefs to an endless array of Champions of Change. Our Club Members, and visitors to our weekly meetings, receive an impressive amount of intellectually-stimulating, heart-warming presentations each week. Further, on this page, is a sample of speakers whom have recently spoken at our Club…
Upcoming Speakers
In Person/Hybrid Washington DC Weekly Club Meeting
Director, Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Affairs

Japer Bowles, a local queer advocate and public affairs professional, has experience in constituent services and expertise in local and state legislative processes. He recently led a coalition of more than thirty local LGBTQ+ businesses and nonprofit organizations and over 60 elected officials to develop priorities and strategize investments and programs supportive to the LGBTQ+ community, including housing, workforce development, and a resource community center.
Director Bowles previously served as a legislative manager at Stateside, where he led a team that analyzed, monitored, and reported the political actions of state legislatures and executive leaders and reported on over 15,000 legislative and regulatory matters for corporations, trade associations, and the military. Director Bowles also previously served two terms as an ANC commissioner in service of residents in Adams Morgan.
In Person/Hybrid Washington DC Weekly Club Meeting
German Ambassador/DC
Axel Dittmann is the Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy in Washington. Prior to his appointment in 2022, he served as Director for EU Institutional Affairs Foreign Office in Berlin (2018-2022), as Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Serbia (2015-2018), as European Directorate Foreign Office, Berlin (2007-2015), and UNOSEK, United Nations in Vienna (2006-2007).
From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Dittmann was assigned to the German Embassy in Washington (State Department exchange, Political officer), and from 2001 to 2004, was part of the negotiating team EU Constitutional Treaty, Foreign Office, Berlin.
Prior to that, he was at the foreign office of the Germany Embassy Belgrade, UNMIK (Kosovo), EU negotiating team Skopje.
He began his career at the Foreign Office (Attache? training; UN Permanent Mission in NY)
Mr. Dittmann was born in Bonn, Germany, studied economics and is married with three children.
In Person/Hybrid Washington DC Weekly Club Meeting
Curator at the National Museum of American History
Katherine Ott has been a curator at the National Museum of American History for 20+years, spending time thinking, talking, and writing about how and why people in the past were tagged for being different—because of disease, gender, disability, sexuality, race, or just being annoying. She has led exhibitions on HIV and AIDS, the Stonewall Anniversary, Polio, and disability history, among other topics. She teaches a graduate course at The George Washington University and has authored or coedited three books.
Katherine responds to all pronouns and is energetically honing her queer superpower.
In Person/Hybrid Washington DC Weekly Club Meeting
President's Final Club Assembly
Please join club President, Marilyn Nevy Cruz for her final club assembly as your president.
Missed the meeting? Watch the speaker’s presentation.
YouTube
Sampling of Our Past Speakers
The Rotary Club of Washington, DC would like to thank our past speakers for the engaging and motivational and informative presentations.

Bob Cusack
Editor in Chief, The Hill/TheHill.com
Reporting on politics and policy in the nation’s capital since 1995, Mr. Cusack joined The Hill as Business and Lobbying Editor in 2003 and is now the newspaper’s Managing Editor. Mr. Cusack regularly appears on ABC, CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC as a political analyst.
Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana
Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States
Prior to her appointment, Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana was a tenured Professor of History at Cosumnes River College (CRC) in Sacramento, California from 1994 to 2013. She is also Co-Founder and President of Friends of Rwanda Association (F.O.R.A).

Manny Mandel
Holocaust Survivor
Emanuel “Manny” Mandel was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1936, the year in which his parents returned to their native Hungary. Manny’s father had been selected to become one of the Chief Cantors…

Juan Williams
Fox Political Analyst and Author
Juan Williams is one of America’s leading political writers and thinkers. Mr. Williams is a top political analyst for Fox Television, co-host of the daily talk show ‘The Five’ and a regular panelist for Fox News Sunday and Special Report.

James Chen
Institute for Global Engagement
James Chen is the Vice President of Global Operations at the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE). James first joined IGE in 2011, serving as both a Program Officer and the Executive Director…

Anne Midgette
Classical Music Critic, The Washington Post
Anne Midgette is a graduate of Yale University. She lived in Munich, Germany, reviewing opera, music, and art throughout Europe for The Wall Street Journal, Opera News, and other publications. In 2008, she took over as the chief classical music critic for The Washington Post.