John Matthews – Rotary International Director

John has been a Rotarian since 1988 and is a currently a member of the Rotary Club of Mercer Island, Washington. He served as District Governor for District 5030 in 2010-11 and has been selected to serve as the Rotary International Director for Zones 25/26 for the years 2017-19.

In addition to his work with Rotary, John has completed two successful careers. The first with the U.S. Navy for 20 years, retiring as a Commander in the Supply Corps. The second where he recently completed 25 years as a Senior Vice President with Costco Wholesale. Costco is a $110B company with 180,000 employees worldwide. While with Costco, John had responsibilities for all of the Human Resource and Risk Management functions.

While living in Seattle, John has been active in both corporate and community boards, including the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, The Advisory Board for the University of Washington Bothell, Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, Rotary First Harvest and NW Reinsurance.

John and his wife Mary Ellen, who is also a Rotarian have been active supporters of the Rotary Foundation. They have traveled internationally in support of foundation grants and polio immunization. They believe that some of the greatest gifts that Rotary brings to the world are our Peace Programs and the scholars that graduate from them. In support of those efforts, John and Mary Ellen have established the John and Mary Ellen Matthews Endowed Rotary Peace Fellowship.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman – Las Vegas, NV

Winning 60 percent of the vote, Carolyn G. Goodman became the mayor of the city of Las Vegas on July 6, 2011. Her husband of 54 years and 12-year, term-limited mayor, Oscar B. Goodman, administered the oath of office. It is the only known instance of a spouse succeeding a spouse as mayor in the United States. In 2015, Mayor Goodman was handily re-elected to another four-year term.

She has been a galvanizing force for bringing together the nonprofit social service agencies in southern Nevada to create a collaborative and establish a valid database of 501[c][3]s for donor evaluation. She currently serves on the board of this nonprofit. Carolyn has been an advocate of Las Vegas’ $44.9 billion tourism industry and is a board member of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. She also serves on the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA), Las Vegas Events, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, the Regional Transportation Commission and the Clark County Regional Flood Control District. She is chair of the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency and serves on the UNLV Medicine Community Advisory Board; the Governor’s Technical Advisory Committee for Clark County School District Reorganization; the Governor’s Commission on Tourism; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Local Government Advisory Committee. She is a founding member of the UNLV School of Medicine Community Engagement Board.

Carolyn is well known in the Las Vegas community for founding The Meadows School in 1984, Nevada’s first nonprofit, college preparatory school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grades. Carolyn planned and oversaw the entire day-to-day operations for 26 years orchestrating and creating the curricular development; overseeing the budget; hiring administration, faculty, and staff; and managing the entire physical plant and fundraising endeavors for the organization. During this time, Carolyn never had ownership of the school as it was incorporated as a 501[c] [3] entity. Furthermore, during her 26 years in leadership, Carolyn never took a salary. She retired in June 2010.

Carolyn and her husband moved to Las Vegas from Philadelphia in 1964 as relative newlyweds arriving in August with only $87 between them. Initially, Oscar (a member of the Pennsylvania Bar) worked for the District Attorney’s office while Carolyn began work in the hotel industry. Prior to that, she worked as a vocational counselor in West Las Vegas for the Department of Labor training and building employment opportunities for African Americans in a then-segregated city. While her husband traveled the country (establishing what became an outstanding criminal law career winning high-profile cases), Carolyn raised their four infant children while simultaneously earning a master’s degree in counseling at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Carolyn has served the people of Las Vegas by volunteerism and therein in leadership in many community nonprofit boards, charities and service organizations. She has proven her deep commitment to the community and continues to be devoted to the highest quality of life for all southern Nevadans by her efforts and dedication.

Born and raised in New York City, Carolyn attended and graduated from Bryn Mawr College where she served as Student Government President and earned a degree in Sociology and Anthropology.