Westfield Rotary Inducts Two New Members
Submitted by Dr. D. Michael Hart
At the regular Tuesday lunch Zoom meeting on December 15, 2020, Club President Liz Ensslin presided over the induction of two new members into The Rotary Club of Westfield, Zach Blutner and Aditya Verma.
Zach Blutner is a resident of Roselle Park. Originally from Queens, NY he moved to Union County in 2013 with his wife Amanda. They purchased a home in Roselle Park in 2014 and now reside there with their two children (Eleanor, 2, and Alexander, 1). Zach accepted the position of Executive Director with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra in September. Prior to this role he spent the past 16 years in Tourism and Attractions in NYC. He began his career as a Tour Guide at the Intrepid Museum, where he spent almost 10 years exploring different ways to share the museum’s story and collection. In 2015 he joined the team of One World Observatory, and helped open the new One World Trade Center to the world. As Director of Operations for One World Observatory, he was the chair of their Safety Committee and helped write and implement the safety and training protocols. He also had the honor and privilege to work with world leaders from around the globe as well as local leaders, welcoming them and millions of others for five years to One World. In 2019 he was hired as General Manager of ARTECHOUSE, a digital art space in the old boiler room of Chelsea Market.
A graduate of Temple University, with a Master’s in Travel and Tourism, he has been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to speak on the importance of memorials and museums in the modern era, as well as the future of tourism in the Covid world.
Zach enjoys sports, history and spending time with his family. As a Mets, Jets and Knicks fan, he focuses far more on the history and family activities!
He joined the Rotary, as now his career path has brought him closer to home and he can now devote more time and energy to helping in the local community.
Aditya Verma is the Chief Operating Officer at Rip Road, Inc. based in New York City. Rip Road is a healthcare mobile application development company. Rip Road works in the Healthcare industry to create mobile programs for Pharmaceutical Biologic brands to help their patients get the most out of their therapy. The Rip Road name comes from a favorite running path in New Hampshire.
Prior to Rip Road, Aditya ran Data Marketing for AT&T Wireless and Youth Marketing for Cingular Wireless, after working for several years at a few New York City Advertising agencies.
Aditya has a Bachelor’s degree in Immunology & Genetics from St. Xavier’s College in Bombay University and a Masters in Integrated Communications from the Medill School at Northwestern University.
Aditya’s wife Rebecca is a freelance wedding jewelry editor for several magazines and when she is not working spends time helping Edison Middle school as PTO co-president. They have two daughters; Milla, 15, is a 10th grader at The Pennington School and Shylah, 11, is a 6th grader at Edison Intermediate School.
Aditya enjoys biking, playing racquet sports, is learning how to write code, how to draw, and how to process teenagers.
Aditya joined the Rotary because he would like to get involved in programs that help young, disadvantaged children flourish. He has been exposed to several Rotary programs over the years through an Uncle and Aunt who remain actively involved in Rotary Club today. Based on their experiences, he has always thought that the Rotary may be the right avenue for him to achieve that goal. Aditya looks forward to learning how he can make that happen.
The Rotary Club of Westfield is a business networking service organization of business men and women. Visit online atwestfieldrotary.com. It is part of an International organization of 1.2 million people in 200 countries around the world. Local projects include hunger insecurity, helping homeless veterans, planting trees, supporting youth service clubs in the schools, community grants and scholarships. Guests are always welcome to attend the Zoom meetings. For information contact Club Secretary Dr. D. Michael Hart at drmhart@yahoo.com
