Westfield Rotary Welcomes New Members
Submitted by Dr. Michael Hart
On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at the regular weekly Rotary meeting, the Rotary Club of Westfield, NJ inducted two new members: Stephan Specht and Mark Wright. Rotary is a business networking and service club for successful business people who wish to “give back” to their communities. The Westfield Club has 47 members, and there are 1.3 million Rotarians in 33,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries worldwide.
Last year the Rotary Club of Westfield awarded $117,400 in college scholarships to Westfield students, and donated $31,400 in community grants to local charities. The main projects for the club are helping homeless veterans and feeding the food insecure in the area. The club does many other projects, such as buying medical supplies for a clinic in Nigeria and collecting used bicycles to send to the third world.
Stephan Specht is a Rotarian transfer from Germany. He received his Diploma in Business Administration at the University of Passau, Germany. Since April of 2021 he has been Head of Accounting & Controlling at Siemens Financial Services, Inc. in Iselin (NJ) and Head of Accounting Platforms at Siemens Financial Services responsible for the accounting of Siemens Financial Services, Inc. and Siemens Bank GmbH, Munich.
Stephan is married to Anja, and they have three children The entire family relocated from Garching to Westfield on last summer.
Stephan joined Rotary in Germany in May 2014 as charter member of the Rotary Club of Garching-Ismaning and is currently an honorary member. He served as president in 2016- 17 with the Motto “Rotary Serving Humanity”. Next, he was treasurer of the Rotary Club of Garching-Ismaning Foundation from 2016 to 2021. The Rotary District appointed him to be Treasurer of District 1842 (South East Bavaria incl. Munich) for two terms 2019-20 and 2020—21. He is a Paul Harris Fellow plus one.
Mark Wright was born and raised in Vermont, he is the son of a Rotarian dentist and a high school math teacher. From 1985-1990, his family hosted six Rotary Exchange Students at their home, each for a full year. This was quite an experience and, most importantly, it set the stage for his own Rotary Exchange year in Hannover, Germany. This was a fantastic year as he not only learned the language and culture, but also met his wife – Bianca. Mark studied German and Electrical Engineering at the University of Vermont and, among other things, led the on-campus ROTEX group in supporting in- and out-bound exchange students from Vermont Rotary District 7870.
Mark worked as an engineer for two different small companies and enjoyed multi-year experiences in both Belgium and Japan. In 2001, he received his MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania, after which he joined BASF, a German chemical company where he currently leads the global marketing team for catalysts.
Mark and Bianca have three daughters. They love gardening and spending as much time as possible outdoors. Bianca runs her own small landscaping architecture business and is active in the Westfield Green Team and they both help out with their daughters’ various activities.
The Rotary Club of Westfield, NJ meets three times per month, Twice by Zoom remotely, and once in person. In addition, the club does approximately one to two service projects per month. Guests are always welcome. For more information visit the website at www.westfieldrotary.com, or Facebook @westfieldnjrotary, or email secretary Dr. Michael Hart drmhart@yahoo.com.
