Board of Directors
The Board of Directors are Rotarians who set the strategy of the Hearing Rotary Action Group and governs its operations.
Ellen Haggerty
Secretary
Secretary Ellen has played a critical role in establishing the Hearing RAG. In 2013, she changed the Rotarians for Hearing Fellowship from a fundraiser for Hearing Research to a Rotary Action Group with projects around the world to help children and adults with hearing loss obtain the treatment they needed to reach their potential. As a 4-year-old child, she remembers being sad at losing her hearing and not being able to hear the nursery school read the stories. From Kindergarten on, she had access to hearing aids and speech therapy. She is grateful for this intervention, without which she would not be the verbal, well-educated, and connected person that she is today. She vowed to pay it forward with work as the Secretary of the Hearing Rotary Action Group.
José Pablo Asencio
Chair
MSc in Audiology, Member of the Rotary Club of Mazatenango, Guatemala.
José’s interest in audiology began with his brother’s experience with profound hearing loss. Motivated by this, he and his partner founded a non-profit organization with the intention of bringing hearing services to rural communities, organizing hearing evaluation and early detection campaigns aimed at transforming lives through timely diagnoses and accessible solutions.
He is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Philosophy in Audiology and Clinical Vertigo, driven by the shortage of professionals in this field in Guatemala. His commitment is to improve the quality of life of children and adults, promote their inclusion, and strengthen the development of audiology in the country.
Kathy Kruger
Treasurer
Is a retired Pediatric and Labor and Delivery RN. Kathy has been a Pleasant Valley Rotarian since 2000.
Through Rotary, Kathy has been able to use her nursing skills and experience to coordinate and participate in Rotaplast missions in several countries, helping children and adults to receive cleft lip and palate surgeries. Rotary enabled Kathy to go on medical missions to Haiti, where many families received physicals, medication, and important medical information to make their daily lives healthier. While participating in these medical missions, Kathy worked with many children and adults who had lost their hearing or had considerable hearing impairments. The frustration Kathy faced, knowing that the lives of these children were only partially helped by the work she was involved in, made her want to explore groups that were working on helping children and adults receive the gift of life. Again, Rotary was her answer.
The Hearing Rotary Action Group has made it possible for thousands of children and adults, all over the world, to live a more full and rewarding life because of the ability to hear. Kathy feels that it is the right of all children and adults to receive any medical intervention necessary to attain the gift of hearing.
John Thorne AM FACEA
Technical Offier
John (our Technical Officer) lives in Tasmania (an Australian state) and while studying to be a maths/science teacher, lived at the Blind and Deaf Society as House Master with major responsibility for the older deaf boys. After teaching in a high school for a very short time, he was invited by the Education Department to train as a teacher of the deaf in Victoria. He returned to Tasmania and became the Foundation Head of a brand new, audiologically rich school for the hearing impaired. After a few years, John studied in California for a year. At about that time, he was invited to join Rotary International, becoming in turn Club President, District Governor, and then RI Director. John is active in several other community groups, including the Royal Society of Tasmania. He is married to Shirley, and they have two adult daughters.
Christy Vogel
Founder and CEO of Marketing Direction Outsourced Marketing Experts
Christy is the founder and CEO of Marketing Direction Outsourced Marketing Experts. She was born with hearing loss and didn’t get her hearing aids until she was 27 years old because of the expense. Learning about the addiction and suicide rates related to children not getting their hearing aids, and seeing two of her hearing-impaired cousins die of addiction, she created Sounding Joy, a nonprofit that buys kids hearing aids in the Tampa Bay area. In just two years, Sounding Joy has helped more than 50 children (100 ears).
Dr Nischal Pandey
Member of the Lone Star Rotary e-Club
Dr. Nischal Pandey, who completed his medical studies on a Rotary Scholarship, has been associated with various health-related Rotary Service Projects over many decades in India. Nischal is a member of the Lone Star Rotary e-Club y in India. Dr. Pandey is dedicated to providing life-saving surgeries for babies with heart defects, and this project ensures that these surgeries come at no cost to the families involved in India, the Philippines, and other low-resource countries.
Markus Hilbert, Au.D.
Doctor of Audiology
Is a Doctor of Audiology. He has worked in private practice, public health, University instruction, with professional associations, and more. He passionately advocates for the patient, for the profession, and for getting the best hearing possible for honest, transparent pricing. I think hearing care is a necessity that should be accessible and affordable to all. He manages projects through hearo.ca (http://hearo.ca/), and is working on a variety of projects, including developing a provincial funding program for hearing care in BC. working with local university capstone projects, developing a national physician training program for the CFPC in Audiology, developing virtual audiology care systems, and more. He has lived in Kelowna since 2011, grew up in Calgary, studied abroad, set up clinics in India and Africa, and recently joined a Rotary team to dedicate a new Rotary-funded clinic in the Dominican Republic.
Don Martin
President Elect of Arden-Hills Shoreview Rotary Club
President Elect of Arden-Hills Shoreview Rotary Club (becoming club president 2026-2027)
Global Grant approved for Ear & Hearing Care for Liberia, 2025
Club Director of International Service since July, 2024
Member of Hearing Action Group since January, 2024
Assisted in arranging Nurse Training at Starkey Hearing Institute in Zambia, 2022-2024
Member of The Rotary Club of Arden Hills-Shoreview, Minnesota since July, 2023
Assisted in the startup of The Light of the World, Academy, Chapel, and Clinic in Liberia, 2016 to present
President of Lion Precision, 1986-2017
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Worked on the design of a portable audiometer for Starkey Laboratories, 1980
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University, 1977
Michael Mallahan, Au.D.
Northwest Audiology Consultants, PLLC
Northwest Audiology Consultants, PLLC
Medical Teams Abroad Leader, Children’s Health Project
Dr. Mallahan has been an enthusiastic Rotary member since 2011 after being invited to join the Rotary Club of Mill Creek, Washington. Club members were inspired by Mike’s work in Guatemala since 2003, leading medical and surgical teams to provide care to children and families without access to medical care in the rural areas.
Mike has been involved in pediatric audiology services for over 40 years. He was part of a small group that helped start the first newborn hearing screening services in Washington State in 1998. He is very excited to now be involved with supporting colleagues in widening the same services to children throughout Guatemala.
Passion for Service is the Mill Creek Rotary Club’s motto and Mike is proud to continue working towards broadening access to hearing healthcare to children and families through Children’s Health Project.
Max Pietruschka
Marketer, Business Planner
Max has international experience in Marketing, Business Planning, and team motivation. With his tertiary qualifications in Electronics, Management, and Marketing, he discovered two crucial (common) points that are the foundation of business and all organisational successes. The driving focus is the people in the team, and the people the team is servicing. He was described in an American Business Journal as a leader with pivotal team skills, achieving truly remarkable results by building team loyalty and promoting professional staff development across diverse cultures. While organisational tactics &strategy are crucial, a more vital stepping point is the honest and open communication with the people you are helping. What brought this to reality was Max, being a Director on the Board of “Kids Under Cover”, and “MensLine Australia”
Help Shape the Future of Global Hearing Care
Behind every successful project is a network of dedicated leaders committed to making hearing care more accessible worldwide.
Join a community of professionals, volunteers, and partners working together to create meaningful change through collaboration, innovation, and service.
Experts
​Advisors can help Rotarians and Rotaractors design and implement hearing projects.
Dr Elaine Saunders
Academic, audiologist, and biomedical engineer
Professional Director, Business consultant, Academic, Hearing advisor
​Academic, audiologist, and biomedical engineer
Patricia Castellanos de Munoz
Audiologist ​Clinician
Education of the hearing impaired, Audiology, hearing aids, diagnostics, NHS, school screening, cochlear implant, bone conduction hearing aids
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Dr Fabrice Bardy
Co-Founder and CEO, MindEar
​Audiologist
Neuroscientist
Tinnitus specialist
Caitlin Barr
Audiologist, Academic, and Consumer audiologist leadership
CEO, Soundfair (Not for Profit, for advocacy and hearing aid bank)
Person-centered hearing care, Psychosocial and emotional support for people with hearing disorders (as an audiologist), Tinnitus Counseling, Advocacy (both individual and systemic), Audiology education, CALD population information, and services
Mon Kalvin Lin and Jelo Gibas
Audiologists, speech pathologists, ENT, and developmental paediatricians. Mon Kalvin Lin is the Program Manager of the Hearing and Ear Alliance Philippines. Others are Clinicians They have a cause-based club: rotaryclub.hearing.speech@gmail.com
Dr John Thorne
Trained teacher of hearing impaired children and adults, Trainer and administrator, Evaluation and assessment
Past Director of Rotary International, Cadre Member
Fred Marinus
​Project Manager International
​Project management, Technical knowledge
Ron McCarty
Ron is an experienced technology consultant and computer systems technician with a professional career spanning four decades. Known professionally as "Dr. Byte," he has diverse experience spanning information technology, enterprise application security, government contracting, and life safety infrastructure. Longtime Rotary member since 1982, holds a DoD Top Secret SCI Clearance and a CompTIA Security+ certification.
Dr Debra Fried
​Audiologist (AUD)
​Director of IHHAPP (https://ihhapp.org/)
Dr Stefan Launer
Scientist/Executive VP Audiology, Sonova
​Global hearing challenges
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Shukri Abi
Audiologist ​Abi Hearing
​Strong on diagnostics, cochlear implants, sudden hearing loss, paediatrics.
Kat Penno
Audiologist, Digital health expert
​Nuheara
​Teleaudiology specialist, leading a team
with the WA Challenge
Dr James Fielding
MD and Founder/CEO ​Audeara
Innovator with expertise in Assistive Listening devices
Dr. Roger Fagan
A Portland, Maine (USA) Audiologist who successfully created a Rotary Hearing Clinic with a Rotary Global Grant in 2026 in the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana, Dominican Republic, will help others achieve their goals
Get in Touch
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