Dr. Devonish Named President-Elect 2025-2026 of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville-Oceanside

Written By Dr. Emme Devonish

The new Rotary year started on July 1, 2025, and I am so honored to be President-Elect 2025-2026 of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville-Oceanside standing alongside our President, Grace Allen, and Vice President, Dirk Lentz.

Last year when I transferred my membership from the Rotary Club of State-College/Downtown, I could not have predicted that I would have been awarded the Rising Star Award, involved in District 6970 as a Rotary Leadership Institute Discussion Leader, and now serving on the Board of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville-Oceanside. 

While these new roles align with my North Star as an educator and my skillset as a Certified Leadership Coach, Rotary is about “doing good in the world” and Rotarians are “people of action” who believe in “service about self.” As a leader in my Rotary community, I join a global effort to advance Rotary International’s seven areas of focus: 

  • Promoting peace

  • Fighting disease

  • Providing clean water, sanitation, and hygiene

  • Saving mothers and children

  • Supporting education

  • Growing local economies

  • Protecting the environment

Collectively as Rotarians, we advance these causes through donating our time and expertise to serve others as well as through contributions to the Rotary Foundation, which judiciously manages the funds for distribution to support these causes on a worldwide scale. In Rotary we say, “Every Rotarian, Every Year,” which reminds us that we all have a responsibility to each other and the planet we inhabit, and this involves doing something proactive to help our neighbors, our communities, and those around the world.

Thank you, Rotary Club of State-College/Downtown for setting me on this awesome path of service, and thank you, Rotary Club of Jacksonville-Oceanside for entrusting me to lead.

Dr. Emme Devonish

Emme Devonish is Principal and Executive Consultant at Creative Compliance Communication Services, LLC. She provides strategic advice, executive coaching, corporate governance guidance, compliance risk assessments and program evaluations, and leadership training on ethics and organizational culture to organizations across multiple sectors. Her work focuses on delivering tailored services that respond to client specifications, emerging industry trends, and regulatory requirements. 

Dr. Devonish is a Certified Compliance & Ethics Professional and a SHRM Certified Professional. She maintains a license to practice law in the State of New York and retired from the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2012. She began her career as an Attorney-Adviser at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Later she worked as a Director in the Compliance Department at The Prudential Insurance Company of America and then as a Vice President at Nomura IBJ Global Investment Advisors before joining the Corporate Department at Kelley Drye & Warren as a Senior Associate.

Her knowledge of securities law and regulatory compliance best practices led her to several high-level project-based roles, including as International Legal Counsel at Crédit Lyonnais Asset Management and as Finance Counsel at the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in Paris, France. Upon her return to the United States, she served as Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Transamerica Investment Management in Los Angeles, and thereafter formed her consulting practice, Creative Compliance Communication Services, LLC.

Dr. Devonish is certified in Distance Education and has taught online, hybrid, and face-to-face courses in Law, Communication, English, Literature, Writing, and Film at various universities across the United States and abroad. She holds PhD in Film Studies from The University of Sydney, an MFA in Creative Writing from Carlow University, a JD/MA in Law and International Affairs from The American University, and a BA in French and International Relations from Syracuse University.

http://www.emmedevonish.com
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Dr. Devonish Interviewed on WJCT News’ “First Coast Connect”