Toastmasters International · Chartered July 1, 1955
Seventy years of New Yorkers finding their voice.
District 46 began with 21 clubs and 454 members in metropolitan New York and northern New Jersey. It has grown, divided twice, and in 2026 come back together.
1955 2026
21Clubs at charter, with 454 members
7President’s Distinguished District years
11Members elected International Director
1International President — Radhi Spear, 2024–2025, in Toastmasters’ 100th year
1World Champion of Public Speaking
3Boundary changes: 2008, 2020, 2026
How it started
A division of District 34 that grew into a city
On July 1, 1955, Toastmasters International established District 46 to serve 21 clubs and 454 members in metropolitan New York and northern New Jersey — clubs that until then had been a division of the Albany–Troy and Connecticut District 34. Dr. Walter R. Campbell rapped the first gavel.
The territory eventually reached from Rockland and Westchester counties through Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, and south in New Jersey as far as Asbury Park. Membership was all male until 1973, when delegates to the International Convention voted to admit women — a vote taken while District 46’s own Grafton Dickson sat on the Board of Directors.
The District peaked at 82 clubs in 1966, slid to 57 by the mid-1970s, and then began a climb that never really stopped: 91 clubs in 1985, 149 in 1997, 234 in 2003, and 259 by 2008. Growth that large is a good problem, and it has twice been solved the same way — by drawing a new line and starting two districts where there had been one.
District 46 Governors who served from 1960 to 1964 gathered in Manhattan on February 22, 1964, to honour Toastmasters’ founder Dr. Ralph Smedley on his 86th birthday. Left to right: Commander William Gerber (1960–61), Peter Sarthou (1963–64), Cleve Campbell (1962–63, later International Director), William J. Costello (1961–62).
Seven decades
The timeline
Seventy years of charters, contests, conferences and two — now three — redrawn maps.
District 46 is chartered
Twenty-one clubs and 454 members in metropolitan New York and northern New Jersey become a district of their own, led by Dr. Walter R. Campbell.
First Regional Conference in New York
The first of several regional conferences hosted by the District; later editions were held in Loch Sheldrake, Saddle Brook, Morristown, Newark and East Rutherford.
Host district for the International Convention
District 46 hosted the Toastmasters International Convention in New York City, drawing delegates from around the world — helped along by the pull of the city and the World’s Fair.
Peak of 82 clubs
Membership passed 2,000 for the first time, then levelled off and declined to a low of 57 clubs by the mid-1970s.
Toastmasters opens to women
Grafton Dickson, DTM, of District 46 served as International Director from 1972 to 1974 and was on the Board when delegates voted to admit women as members. Clubs decided individually at first; Graybar Toastmasters voted yes after a stormy debate.
The turnaround
Governor Elias Ezra and his team added 13 new clubs and earned Select Distinguished District — the first in a long run of growth. The same year the District bulletin, The Lectern, edited by Marilyn Boland, took first place honours at the International Convention.
Carol Isselian, first woman to lead the District
Margaret Flory followed in 1983–84 and Dr. Alma M. Wedge in 1984–85. Women have led District 46 in most years since.
Pride in Achievement
Deanna Brown’s District 46 Rose Parade, rose appliqués on name badges and more than 50 club visits carried the District from 68th in the world to 11th and Select Distinguished status in thirteen months.
The Metro Bridge named a Top Ten district bulletin
Renamed from The Lectern and edited by Mary Neff, the District newsletter was recognised at the International Convention.
First President’s Distinguished District — #2 in the world
Mark LaVergne’s team, with Lt. Governors Emmogene James and George Sepsie, also ranked #1 in the world in marketing growth. Both Lt. Governors went on to lead the District themselves.
The first Hail & Farewell
Started by Mark LaVergne and Emmogene James at the Holiday Inn in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, the early-summer send-off for the outgoing team and welcome for the incoming one has run every year since.
Mark Brown wins the World Championship of Public Speaking
Still the only District 46 member to take the title. In 2000, Dave Romanchick placed second in the world.
Three President’s Distinguished years in a row
Pam Keyzer Judd, Amelia L. Abad and Rose Martino-Gerhard led back-to-back-to-back President’s Distinguished districts, finishing 4th and then 5th in a world of 75-plus districts and earning Toastmasters International’s Excellence in Leadership Award. Abad’s year alone took the District from 175 clubs to 200, with a record 31 new charters and #2 in the world for club marketing growth.
“Share the Light”
Under Governor Fran Okeson the District lost sixteen Toastmasters, members of Toastmaster families, neighbours and friends. Clubs were relocated, banners and supplies lost in the Towers were replaced by World Headquarters, and the year’s lighthouse theme took on a meaning nobody had planned.
New kinds of clubs
Brad Shilling’s year chartered the District’s first Spanish-speaking club, Toastmasters en Español, and two singles-oriented clubs, and set a record for education awards.
The Board approves reformation
A District Reformation Committee chaired by Brad Shilling, set up during Antonio Figueroa’s 2005–06 term, was approved by the District Council in May 2006 and by the International Board of Directors that August.
The first split: District 83 is born
259 clubs and more than 6,200 members had become too many for one district. The 128 clubs east of the Hudson River stayed District 46; the clubs to the west became District 83. Radhi Spear led the District through the final undivided year.
New beginnings in a financial crisis
Elaine Rogers’ first term opened with corporate sponsors withdrawing and clubs losing their meeting rooms overnight — and still ended within sight of Distinguished District. The Spring 2009 conference in Tarrytown drew a record 300 members and guests.
Rochelle Rice becomes the 59th Accredited Speaker in the world
A member of Bryant Park Toastmasters, she was only the 12th woman to earn the designation, and later the first woman in the world to hold both Accredited Speaker and Certified Speaking Professional.
President’s Distinguished again — #6 in the world
Steve Chen’s year chartered 31 new clubs for a net gain of 26, made every division President’s Distinguished, hosted a rare International President’s visit, and handed out a great many “Believe It, Achieve It” pens.
Hurricane Sandy moves the Fall Conference
The storm hit days before the conference. After a run of emergency meetings, Governor Raisa Serebrenik and conference chair Neerja Purang rescheduled it to November 10 and held it successfully.
President’s Distinguished District under Neerja Purang
The sixth President’s Distinguished year in District 46’s history.
New titles for the same jobs
District Governor became District Director; Lt. Governor Education and Training became Program Quality Director; Lt. Governor Marketing became Club Growth Director.
The second split: District 119 is born
With nearly 250 clubs again, the District divided a second time. Clubs in Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan south of 34th Street formed District 119; Westchester, the Bronx and Manhattan north of 34th Street remained District 46. Elaine Rogers, who had led the newly reformed District in 2008, led it through this reformation too.
65th anniversary, on Zoom
District Director Patricia Kidwingira hosted a virtual celebration with International President Richard Peck, 1995 World Champion Mark Brown as keynote, Accredited Speaker Rochelle Rice as Toastmaster, and recollections from past District leaders going back to the 1960s.
District 119 builds its own record
Born in the middle of the pandemic, the new district earned Distinguished District in 2022–2023 and Select Distinguished District in both 2023–2024 and 2024–2025 across six program years.
Radhi Spear becomes International President
District Governor in 2007–2008, when she led the District through its final undivided year, Radhi Spear, DTM, took office as Toastmasters International President at the 2024 International Convention in Anaheim — the ninth woman to lead the organization, serving through its 100th anniversary that October. During the centennial year she was a member of L.A.C.E. Toastmasters in District 119 and Virtual Parliamentarians in District 46.
President’s Distinguished District — the seventh
Under District Director George J. Rivera, District 46 reached President’s Distinguished status for the first time in a decade.
Excellence in Leadership Award for District 119
With Distinguished District in 2022–2023 and Select Distinguished in 2023–2024 and 2024–2025, District 119 earned Toastmasters International’s Excellence in Leadership Award, given for achieving Distinguished District status three or more years in a row. District 46 had earned the same award in 2000–2001, at the end of its own three-year run.
Back together
Toastmasters International’s Board approved new District boundaries in July 2025 for Regions 1–7, aiming for 120–180 clubs per district. Districts 46 and 119 were redrawn into one district effective July 1, 2026, serving all five boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk counties, and southern Westchester. Every club kept its number, its meeting day and its own way of doing things; the areas and divisions around them are new. The reunified District opened the 2026–2027 program year with a base of 168 clubs and a membership-payment base of 7,108.
Three times the map changed
Split, split again, reunited
District 46 is one of the few districts that can point to its own members as the authors of its boundaries. Both divisions were proposed, studied and voted on from inside the District.
July 1, 2008
District 46 & District 83
259 clubs, 6,200+ members. Everything east of the Hudson River stayed District 46 — 128 clubs. Everything west, including the New Jersey counties added in 1993 and 2006, became District 83.
July 1, 2020
District 46 & District 119
Nearly 250 clubs. Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan south of 34th Street became District 119. Westchester, the Bronx and Manhattan north of 34th Street remained District 46.
July 1, 2026
One District 46
The realignment of Regions 1–7, approved by the Board in July 2025, brought the two districts back together. The reunited District 46 serves all five New York City boroughs, Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the Westchester communities of Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Yonkers, Pelham, Mamaroneck and Eastchester.
By the numbers
Clubs in District 46, 1955–2026
The dashed lines mark the two reformations and the reunion. Both splits halved the club count overnight, and both times it climbed back. The dashed grey segment is not a trend: no District 46-only counts are plotted for 2021 to 2025.
Clubs in District 46 Reformation (2008, 2020)
Sources: A Look Back in History (2008), the District 46 Distinguished Club Program history file, and the District 46 history revised June 2020. Figures for 1955–2003 are approximate year-end counts; the 2026 figure is the club base recorded on the Toastmasters International district performance dashboard at the start of the 2026–2027 program year. Membership figures on that dashboard are payment bases rather than counts of individual members.
2020–2026
Two districts, side by side
For six program years the greater New York Toastmasters community ran on two tracks. District 119 — Manhattan south of 34th Street, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island — opened in the middle of the pandemic, with clubs learning to meet online. District 46 carried on to the north. Both records are kept here, because they are one history.
District 46District 119
July 1, 2020District 46 divides for the second time. District 119 is chartered.
District 46
Patricia Kidwingira, DTMThe District’s 65th anniversary year, marked on Zoom
2020–2021
District 119
Gary Wapnitsky, DTMInaugural District Director of District 119Founded
District 46
Jan-Paul Roodbol, DTM
2021–2022
District 119
Marilyn Sampson, DTM
District 46
Evelyn Marrero, DTM
2022–2023
District 119
Lisa Qu, DTMRegion 5 Advisor, 2025–2026Distinguished District
District 46
Dora Maria Abreu, DTM
2023–2024
District 119
Melvin GarlickSelect Distinguished
District 46
George J. Rivera, DTMPresident’s Distinguished
2024–2025
District 119
Emily Sachs, DTMExcellence in Leadership Award for three consecutive Distinguished yearsSelect Distinguished
District 46
Rosalie “Ro” Reyes-Co, DTMFinal year before the realignment
2025–2026
District 119
Denise CollinsFinal year before the realignment
July 1, 2026The two districts are realigned into one. The clubs, leaders and traditions of both districts are reunited as District 46.
Where no recognition is shown, no district-level Distinguished designation is recorded in the sources reviewed for this history.
Roll of honour
Past District Governors and Directors, 1955–2020
Sixty-five program years, and every one of them volunteered. From 2020 the record runs in two tracks — see the years side by side above.
PD President’s DistinguishedSD Select DistinguishedD DistinguishedRA Later served as Region AdvisorID Later served as International DirectorIP Later served as International President
Distinguished-status records are complete from 1975 onward. The title was District Governor until 2015 and District Director thereafter. Leaders from 2020 to 2026 are listed in the two-track record above.
Recognition
Champions, citations and Board service
Toastmasters International Presidential Citation
Awarded to members for outstanding service to the organisation as a whole.
Rochelle E. Rice, DTM, AS
Bradford B. Shilling, DTM (Districts 46 & 119)
Penelope Boehm, DTM
Jennifer Chan, DTM
Elaine Rogers, DTM
Antonio Figueroa, DTM (recorded under District 83)
Raisa Serebrenik, DTM
Amelia L. Abad, DTM
Dunstanette L. Macauley, DTM (recorded under District 94)
Radhi Spear
Grafton H. Dickson
Pam Keyzer
Robert D. Share
Fran Okeson
Margaret Flory
William B. Demchuk
Leroy F. Schelhardt
Rudy C. Stiefel
M.D. “Doc” Faige
From Toastmasters International’s published list of Presidential Citation recipients. Two members who hold or held membership in District 46 are recorded by Toastmasters International under a neighbouring district, as noted; Bradford Shilling’s 2024 citation is recorded under both Districts 46 and 119.
1994: District 46 accepts its first President’s Distinguished District plaque at the International Convention, after finishing #2 in the world.
On the world stage
Mark Brown won the 1995 World Championship of Public Speaking — the only District 46 member to hold the title. Dave Romanchick placed second in 2000.
Rochelle Rice earned the Accredited Speaker designation in 2010, the 59th in the world and the 12th woman, and received a Presidential Citation in 2025.
District 46 has been a President’s Distinguished District seven times: 1993–94, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2010–11, 2014–15 and 2024–25.
Eleven members have served two-year terms as International Director. Five past District Directors have served as Region Advisor: Tony Figueroa, Radhi Spear, Raisa Serebrenik and Elaine Rogers of District 46, and Lisa Qu of District 119, Region 5 Advisor in 2025–2026. Radhi Spear is the only one to have served as both Region Advisor and International Director — and in 2024–2025 she served as International President, leading Toastmasters through its centennial.
In their own words
Voices from past District leaders
Collected for the District’s 65th anniversary celebration in December 2020.
You have to turn the crank of your own energy and desire to improve in order to power the light. There’s no magic battery — just your effort. But when you do that, you shine a light that’s visible to others.
Penelope BoehmDistrict Governor, 2011–2012
Toastmasters has done you a world of good, and you want to give back. As a club or District leader we’re each part of a global movement greater than ourselves. Tomorrow, you will make history of your own.
Mark LaVergneDistrict Governor 1993–1994 and 2019–2020; International Director 1996–1998
When I joined in 1994 I was very shy. Mark LaVergne inducted me and said, “You’ll be great.” That’s what you think, I said to myself. Five years later I was District Governor of a President’s Distinguished District, #4 in the world.
Amelia L. AbadDistrict Governor, 1999–2000
Nobody does it alone. It takes a team to pull together, laugh together, and achieve together. At our first council meeting we signed a district mission banner and displayed it proudly all year — especially on the international convention stage.
Pam (Keyzer) JuddDistrict Governor, 1998–1999
I’ll give the shamrock some credit. But it was leadership, teamwork, talent and the dedicated members of District 46 who gave us President’s Distinguished District three years running.
Rose Martino-GerhardDistrict Governor, 2000–2001
Our light was dimmed but not snuffed out. Clubs were relocated, members turned to each other for structure, and then the healing began — slowly at first, but the light continued to shine.
Fran OkesonDistrict Governor, 2001–2002
I joined Graybar Toastmasters in February 1973 and have been a member ever since. My club was chartered in 1954 — one of the original clubs when District 46 was formed. It is the clubs that deserve the recognition.
Karl StaynaLongest continuous member in District 46
Teamwork is absolutely necessary for success, and cooperation is the glue that makes teams successful. Every District goal that year was achieved and surpassed.
Nicholas LoBueDistrict Governor, 2002–2003
From the album
Seventy years in photographs
Select a photograph to see it larger. Many of these were contributed by past District leaders for the 65th anniversary journal.
District leaders of the 1980s, from the collection of Lee Abramson, DTM, PDG — including Mary Neff, Maria Wojcicki, Greg Batson, Deanna Brown, Margaret Flory, Morris Meislik, Grafton Dickson and Dr. Alma Wedge, with 1985–86 International President Helen Blanchard on her official visit to the District.Scenes from the 1980s, including Sister Alma Wedge, Margaret Flory and Lee Abramson at the Hall of Fame, and Grafton Dickson — “Mister District 46” — with his wife Hertha.District 46 members at a conference in the 1990s.Past District Governors gather in Fall 2007 for a taping of Toastmasters in the Community at Staten Island Community Television — Jim Friend, Margaret Flory, Lee Abramson, Deanna Brown, Greg Batson, Emmogene James, Pam Judd, host Fran Okeson, Nick LoBue, Brad Shilling, Bibi Haddad, Elaine Rogers, Radhi Spear and Paul Scharf.The District banner, and the ribbons that record what the District has won.District 46 at a Toastmasters International Convention.Members in the District T-shirt at the International Convention.District Executive Committee meeting, February 17, 2017, at Monroe College.Past District Governors at the 2014 District conference.Artwork for the 65th anniversary celebration, held on Zoom on December 14, 2020.Past District Directors and serving District leaders of Districts 46 and 119, including the current District trio, at the District 119 Spring Conference, “Rise. Flourish. Celebrate.”, on April 25, 2026 at the New York LaGuardia Airport Marriott in East Elmhurst — District 119’s final conference as an independent district, in the hotel that hosted every District 46 Fall Conference from 1995 to 2008.Past District Directors at the District 46 Spring Conference on May 9, 2026, held in the Zuckerman Research Center auditorium at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center — the District’s last conference before the realignment.“Believe It, Achieve It!” — the 2010–2011 District theme, a President’s Distinguished year.
From a member’s album: Gentlemen of Verona, 1966–1967
Before joining Easy Speakers Club in Northport, Paul Swerdlow, DTM, belonged to a Toastmasters club on a United States Army post in Italy. Gentlemen of Verona moved with the troops to Caserma Ederle in Vicenza when the Verona post closed in 1965, and he served as its president in 1966–1967. These photographs were taken at the club’s closing meeting, to which members invited their wives — Toastmasters would not admit women as members for another six years.
Clubs like his were part of Toastmasters’ post-war spread across Europe and the Pacific. Back home District 46 was growing on the same curve — from 21 clubs at its charter in 1955 to a peak of 82 in 1966, the year he took office in Vicenza.
Photographs shared by Paul Swerdlow, DTM.
Speech contests
District contest winners, 2005–2016
Two conferences a year, four contests, three places each. Search by name, or filter by contest.
Conference
Contest
First place
Second
Third
Contest chair
Chief judge
From the District’s Historical Conferences record. Results before 2005 and after 2016 are held in conference journals and Hall of Fame booklets — additions are welcome.
The archive
Documents in the District’s keeping
These are the sources this page was built from. Upload each PDF to the website and point the links below at them so members can read the originals.
Our thanks to Penelope Boehm, DTM, RP, District Governor 2011–2012, for the archive this page is built from — conference journals, Hall of Fame and Hail and Farewell booklets, photographs and District statistics going back decades, all kept and then shared so they could be published here. She also produced the 65th Anniversary Journal in 2020, which preserved the recollections of District leaders going back to the 1960s.
Have something for the archive — a photograph, a programme, a banner, a memory? The District would like to hear from you. Write to the District.
“History of District 46 Greater New York–New Jersey, 1955 to 1985” by Grafton Dickson, DTM, PID; updates by Brad Shilling, DTM, PDG, with Margaret Flory, Lee Abramson, Rose Martino-Gerhard and Joan Hepscher; the 65th Anniversary Journal produced by Penelope Boehm, DTM, RP, PDG, and edited by Michael Kassel; and District conference journals and Hall of Fame booklets kept and shared by Penelope Boehm, DTM, RP, PDG.
Corrections
This history is a living record. If a name, date or honour is missing or wrong, please tell us so the next member to read it finds it right.
