An Inside Look at Rotary

ROTARIAN OF THE WEEK Deven Khosla – Club Member Since 2019 Hello, my name is Deven Khosla, and I was born in Delhi, India and raised in a town in North India called Chandigarh till age 11. In 1982, my mother, sister and I travelled to join my father who had immigrated to Los Angeles 2 years prior.  He was an engineer and had saved up enough to buy a small condo in San D…Read More

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE As more and more businesses, government entities and other organizations are requiring vaccination or proof of negative Covid tests, we have also started this requirement beginning with our next live meeting at the Hilton on August 20th.   This was decided in a special Board of Directors meeting on August 6th where we unanimously voted to begin requ…Read More

ROTARIAN OF THE WEEK   Donna Hackney – Club Member Since 2020 Background/professional life: Donna was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and attended Ralston High School in Omaha, Nebraska. She raised four children in Phoenix, AZ, where she started and co-managed three successful HVAC companies. Donna renovated several luxury homes in Phoenix, one of which was featured on …Read More

Harry M. Gorham was a Charter Member of the Rotary Club of Santa Monica.  He was named the first “Honorary Life Member” of our club in 1927.  Harry was born in Cleveland, OH in 1859. He attended school there and was preparing to attend Harvard, but his plan did not materialize. Gorham’s uncle, John P. Jones, was a U.S. senator from Nevada, and he persuaded young Go…Read More

ROTARIAN OF THE WEEK Mara Berke – Club Member Since 2021 Mara was born in New York and grew up in Brentwood.  She has lived in Santa Monica for about 9 years.  She went to elementary school at the Center for Early Education, secondary school at Brentwood High School, college at UC Berkeley, and graduate school at Loyola Law School and the USC School of Social Work.  M…Read More

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE This week we held our annual club assembly.  It was a new format this year as instead of a separate meeting conducted for the Board of Directors and Committee Chairs, we included the entire club membership.  We want everyone to have a good understanding of what, where, why, when, who and how.   A recap of what was covered is found below in LAST FR…Read More

ROTARIAN OF THE WEEK Editor’s Note:  Rotarian of the Week is a weekly column that highlights RCSM members who are new, have been with us for a while or are past members who have made a big impact on the club and the community.   Archie Morrison – Club Member 1950-1998   District Governor 1988-1989 I Remember Archie - edited from a eulogy by Herb Roney – Reprinted …Read More

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Friday July 16th was our second live meeting in quite some time.     We’ve added eleven new members since March of 2020 when we went to zoom because of you-know-what.  Several of these New  Members were in attendance and received their Red Badges, welcoming them into our club.  Search out our Red Badgers and help welcome them to our great organ…Read More

Lauren Akmaeva – Club Member Since 2021 Lauren Clifford Akmaeva joined our club in 2021. She is from Buffalo, NY where she studied finance and accounting at SUNY Buffalo. There she was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, a professional business honors society for accounting students; she was President of the local chapter her senior year. After working a few years at Pricewaterh…Read More