Nov. 23 was a proud day for Yonkers when it was announced that Yonkers Rotary VP and Rotary District Assistant Governor Bina Ahmad, was awarded the Rotary District’s highest recognition – the Rotarian of the Year Award.
In awarding this honor to Bina, 2020-21 District Governor Mary Shackleton cited Bina’s dedication, innovation, development of new Clubs, involvement in service activities of many of her area clubs, social media activities and her support for the District’s goals as the main factors for selecting her for this award. In receiving the award, Bina said she was humbled and honored to be selected for this award. In an emotionally choked voice, she said she believed teamwork was the key ingredient for success. She expressed her gratitude to DG Mary and thanked her for her leadership.
In a later development, Bina was also honored by the Rotary Zone, which includes all of Canada and North-eastern U.S., receiving the Individual Membership Innovation Award for her championing 3 new Rotary Clubs in the District.
Bina joined the White Plains Rotary Club in June 2011 and transferred to the then East Yonkers Club July 2012. With the merger of the two Yonkers Rotary Clubs in July 2013, she has continued her membership in the Club. She was Club Rotary Foundation Chair for 4 years from 2015-16 and became Vice-President in 2019. She is a Major Donor to the Rotary Foundation and a member of the Paul Harris Society.
At the District level, she has been Assistant Governor for 2020-21 and 2021-22, and was co-Chair of the District Conference Committee for 2018-19. She was District First Lady during 2019-20 and had the privilege of visiting all 44 Clubs in Rotary District 7230, which comprises Westchester, Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Bermuda. She has been pro-actively promoting Grow Rotary initiatives and was instrumental in the creation of the first new club in the District in a decade in January 2019. Since then, she has driven the formation of three other Clubs in 2020 and 2021.
Bina joined the then Dime Savings Bank in 1988 and transitioned to JP Morgan Chase via mergers. As Branch Manager and Vice-President since 1998, she gained broad experience in business and consumer banking sales and operations as well as management, earning many high-performance awards. She retired as Vice-President of a commercial bank, in 2014.
Since then, she has dedicated herself to many service projects of many Rotary Clubs in the District, as well as projects carried out in a number of countries in Africa and South Asia, benefitting many children and adults in need, from helping build sanitary toilets, clean cook stoves, providing computer equipment to rural schools.
Bina and her husband, fellow Rotarian Mahbub Ahmad are long-time Westchester residents, now living in Yonkers.
Yonkers Rotary has been serving Yonkers as well as the international community for over 100 years. It’s projects include, the new basketball court at Barton Park, the school
