Jul 10, 2024 By Brad Hundt 4 min read

Stephanie Urchick was recently on a flight from Italy to India and found herself seated next to a 31-year-old CEO of a New Delhi-based company.

They started chatting about their jobs, and when Urchick told him she was in line to become president of Rotary International, he replied, “That’s the organization for old people.”

Urchick replied that, no, it’s not an organization for the senior-discount crowd. She replied, “No, it’s an organization for you, and you’re a CEO.”

The CEO took her advice and joined New Delhi’s Rotary branch.

Urchick is going to be talking up Rotary a whole lot more in the next 12 months in many far-flung locales after assuming the presidency of Rotary International last week. A Canonsburg resident and longtime member of McMurray’s Rotary, she was tapped for the post two years ago and will serve as Rotary International’s leader until next June 30, when she will be succeeded by Mario Cesar Martins de Camargo of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Urchick is only the second woman to serve as Rotary International’s president, following Jennifer E. Jones, a Canadian communications executive who was at the organization’s helm in 2022 and 2023. The organization did not even allow women to be admitted to its ranks until 1989. For the next year, Urchick will be living in a condominium in Evanston, Ill., near Rotary International’s headquarters, but will be spending quite a bit of time in the air and on the road. In the weeks ahead, trips to Canada, Sweden and Serbia are on the agenda. In February, Urchick will host a conference at the opening of Rotary’s newest Peace Center in Istanbul, Turkey.

So what is a typical day in the life like as president of Rotary International?

“I don’t know that there is such a thing as a typical day,” Urchick explained on the phone this week. But, she added, “What I like most about the job is the ability to meet the Rotary family.”

Urchick is becoming president of Rotary International at a time when service organizations of all stripes are facing challenges. While Rotary brings onboard about 44,000 new members every year, it loses about 51,000, with age taking its toll, along with potential members becoming more isolated by working at home. In an interview on the Rotary website, Urchick admitted that “some people are not finding value in their club experience. They’re not leaving a Rotary club. We need to get clubs to examine what is happening.”

When it comes to getting people interested in Rotary, Urchick said she listens to people “to find out what they’re interested in. … But in general, I talk about how Rotary is a membership organization and there are different opportunities for people to get involved.”

Urchick’s own involvement in Rotary dates back to 1991. She was divorced and looking for a way to meet new people. No one in her family had ever been part of a service organization, but she was soon hooked. Her Rotary tenure has included stints on the strategic planning and election review and operations committees, as well as serving as a Foundation trustee. She has already traveled to many parts of the world under the Rotary banner. Some of those trips include a journey to the Dominican Republic to install water filters, and a sojourn to Vietnam to help build a primary school.

Outside of Rotary, Urchick has worked in education, consulting and entertainment. A graduate of Monessen High School, she has degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pennsylvania and Duquesne University. She formerly operated the McMurray-based consulting and training company Doctors at Work LLC.

In the next 12 months, Urchick will be working to increase Rotary membership and work on long-term Rotary goals of promoting peace, eradicating polio, providing clean drinking water and supporting education. Then, when her time is up, Urchick will be glad to pass off the baton.

“We think that bringing in new ideas is a healthy thing,” she said. “It’s what makes us so diverse and unique.”