Holger Knaack, a member of the Rotary Club of Herzogtum Lauenburg-Mölln, Germany, has been selected to serve as president of Rotary International in 2020-21.

The Nominating Committee’s decision follows the resignation last month of President-nominee Sushil Gupta due to health reasons. Knaack will officially become president-nominee if no other candidates challenge him by 31 May.
To build a stronger membership, Knaack says Rotary must focus on increasing the number of female members and transitioning Rotaractors into Rotarians.

Knaack believes that the People of Action campaign offers new public awareness possibilities for Rotary. “This campaign conveys our global image while still respecting differences in regions and cultures,” he says.
A Rotary member since 1992, Knaack has served Rotary as treasurer, director, moderator, member and chair of several committees, representative for the Council on Legislation, zone coordinator, training leader, and district governor.
He is an endowment/major gifts adviser and co-chair of the Host Organization Committee for the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg.
Knaack is the CEO of Knaack KG, a real estate company. He was previously a partner and general manager of Knaack Enterprises, a 125-year-old family business.

He is a founding member of the Civic Foundation of the City of Ratzeburg and served as president of the Golf-Club Gut Grambek. Knaack is also the founder and chair of the Karl Adam Foundation.

Knaack and his wife, Susanne, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and members of the Bequest Society.The members of the Nominating Committee for the 2020-21 President of Rotary International are Kazuhiko Ozawa, Rotary Club of Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan; Manoj D. Desai, Rotary Club of Baroda Metro, Gujarat, India; Shekhar Mehta, Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, West Bengal, India; John G. Thorne, Rotary Club of North Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Guiller E. Tumangan, Rotary Club of Makati West, Makati City, Philippines; Juin Park, Rotary Club of Suncheon, Jeonranam, Korea; Elio Cerini, Rotary Club of Milano Duomo, Italy; Gideon M. Peiper, Rotary Club of Ramat Hasharon, Israel; Per Høyen, Rotary Club of Aarup, Denmark; Paul Knijff, Rotary Club of Weesp (Vechtstreek-Noord), Netherlands; Sam Okudzeto, Rotary Club of Accra, Ghana; José Ubiracy Silva, Rotary Club of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; Bradford R. Howard, Rotary Club of Oakland Uptown, California, USA; Michael D. McCullough, Rotary Club of Trenton, Michigan, USA; Karen K. Wentz, Rotary Club of Maryville, Tennessee, USA; Michael K. McGovern, Rotary Club of South Portland-Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA; and John C. Smarge, Rotary Club of Naples, Florida, USA.

CA Davinder Singh , a gold medalist chartered accountant is known and respected for his professional skills in handling complex income tax and corporate law matters . At the same time he is known for doing self less work for the society at large. Born in the year 1970 at Amritsar, he has an illustrious academic career. In 1993 , he qualified as a Chartered Accountant in the very first attempt. He is also a member of Indian council of Arbitrations.

His desire to serve has brought him to Rotary Club of Amritsar, the oldest Rotary Club of district 3070. Joining Rotary was a life changing experience for him. In the company of senior rotarians of the club like Dr Hardas Singh (a doctor of world fame ) has made him a very active rotarian. His biggest contribution to Indian Rotary is to be instrumental in including “Hindi” as official language for Annual Rotary presidential theme along with other world languages. He was instrumental in proposing resolution in the year 2017. As a result Rotary Presidential theme has started being announced officially in “Hindi” from the year 2019.

He has held almost every position at district level with integrity, enthusiasm and hard work. In 2018, as a unanimous and unopposed choice of the district, he was elected to serve as District governor of district 3070 in Rotary Year 2020-21. He has attended three R.I. conventions at Lisbon , Seoul and Hamburg. He is very popular among his professional colleagues . He has served as chairman of Income Tax Bar Association , Amritsar Branch of Chartered Accountants and South Asian Federation of Accountants’ Conference. A keen follower of the rule “Live Simple – Be Happy”, he is known for his contribution towards society.

He believes in celebrating New Year Day by donating blood , celebrating wedding anniversary by contributing in mass marriages of needy couples . He believes in family values and lived in a Joint family with his parents and younger brother’s family. He is happily married to Rtn. Dolly Sachdeva and blessed with 2 children. His hobbies include painting, reading and writing. Apart from this he is very fond of writing also. He has written a book “Amritsar-A year in the timeless city”.

Rotarian Milap Nehria , a Tour Operator and a hotelier by profession is known and respected for his top quality services among the tourism fraternity of India and outside India. Born in the year 1971 at Dharamshala, he did his schooling and Bachelors Degree in Dharamshala and later studied at Punjab University Chandigarh to complete his Master’s Degree in Geography. Since his school days he is an avid trekker and have done all professional courses in trekking and mountaineering during his school and college days.

After completing his education he decided to convert his passion into his profession and joined hands with his elder brother Sh. Subhash Nehria to work as an Adventure Travel Company Called Summit Adventures. Today Summit Adventures is one of the leading Travel Companies in Himachal Pradesh and work with tourists from all over the world. He is a member of Adventure Tour Operators Association of India, one of the most renowned tourism body of India and Chapter Chairman of this association representing Himachal Pradesh.

In many ways he has tried to combine his profession with social service and his longing for social service brought him into Rotary in the year 2008. He has served Rotary in the capacity of Club Secretary and was awarded Best Secretary of the year 2018-19. He is a Paul Harris Fellow and believes in contributing to Rotary Foundation. His is keen learner, kind at heart and always ready to help. He believes in family values and live in joint family with his brothers. He is happily married to Anu Nehria and blessed with one son Abhinandan. His hobbies include trekking, playing football and travelling.

It is absolutely unquestionable that the world badly needs people who can go out of their ways to serve humanity. Not just because of the wars but because of the inequality prevailing in the society, there is a need of people who can assist them and guide them.

Dr. Satish Sood was born and bred in the hillside city of Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. He is best known for his effort to help others. He is a known philanthropist and compassionate social activist. Imbued with compassion and a spirit of service towards underprivileged section of society, Dr. Sood has been at the forefront in supporting various social upliftment programmes.

His parents have had a major impact on his life; his father instilled a strong social conscience, while his mother taught her to be independent minded. After studying in Govt. PG College in Dharamshala and Garden City College in Bangalore, Dr. Satish Sood started his carrier with Tata Consultancy Services at New Delhi. But, he realised that this wasn’t his passion as he aimed to become a Teacher. He did Ph.D. Computer Science from Himachal Pradesh University. Apart from teaching he contributed to many social causes.

He joined the Rotary in the year 2019 and served as Executive Secretary for the year 2019-20. He is happily married to Dr. Meghna Sood and blessed with son Master Samar Partap Sood. His hobbies include Trekking, Mountaineering and Social Work.