December  2007 Programs

December 3 - New Member Talks:  E. J. Hong, Joan Plastiras, and
Bruce Swenson

E. J. Hong

My name is E.J. Hong and I am an estate planning attorney. My office is right across the street from Ming’s on E. Bayshore Road. My husband is a software developer and we have two girls, 11 and 8. The oldest, Natalie, is a 6th grader at JLS and the youngest, Nicole, is a 3rd grader at Palo Verde.

I graduated from American University Law School in Washington DC in 1990. I clerked for a judge, worked for the Navy as a civilian attorney, worked at a law firm, and I went solo about 3 years ago (and am happy ever since). I am a board member of the Palo Alto Library Foundation and very active in Palo Alto.

I ran the Nike marathon in October 2007, my first.  A Tiffany necklace was one of the prizes for finishing and I wear it proudly.  However, I’ll never run a marathon ever again.  Half marathons, yes.  Full marathons, never again.

I am thrilled to join the Rotary because I love to serve and make a difference in our community, locally and internationally, with other professionals.



___________________________

Joan Plastiras

I was born and raised in San Francisco, graduated Vassar College (AB) and UC Berkeley (PhD). I was a member of the University of Pennsylvania mathematics faculty. I am a licensed professional engineer (mechanical), who has worked on central receiver solar plants, nuclear plants, and terrorism intelligence (twenty-five years before 9-11). My specialty is risk analysis and my proudest accomplishment was leading a group to perform the first probabilistic risk assessment for NASA (on the shuttle main engine main pressurization system). But what I most enjoy now is digging in the dirt in front of my house and occasionally waving to Pat and Steve Emslie, who live directly across the street!

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Bruce Swenson

I was born in Massachusetts but grew up in Fullerton (Southern California) as the eldest of six children. Just before my senior year in high school, my family moved to Santa Cruz County where I graduated from Watsonville High School.

After graduation, I attended Stanford, graduating in 1964 with a B.S. in Mathematics. From there I went on to the University of Wisconsin, where I received an M.S., also in Mathematics, and more importantly met my wife Barbara in an elevator of the mathematics department.

Barbara and I were married in June 1967 and then moved to the Mid-Peninsula where I took a position in the Mathematics Department at Foothill College. While at Foothill, I attended UC Berkeley and received a PhD in Community College Education. I then became a Dean and Vice President at Foothill, retiring in 1999. Barbara and I spent much of the next five years traveling, including trips to South Africa, Botswana, New Zealand, Vietnam (3 times), the Silk Road in China, Brazil and Argentina.

In 2005, I campaigned for a seat on the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees and was elected last November.

Barbara and I have lived in Palo Alto since 1974 where we raised our two daughters. We now enjoy socializing with friends, continued travel, golf and cycling, my work as Trustee, our 3 year old month old granddaughter, and twin 18 month old grandsons.

December 10 - Elyse Belanger  "If you don't feed the teachers, they'll eat the kids!" ~ Author Unknown  Elyse' talk will be focused on "What one thing she would want to tell people in business (not other educators), if she had the chance."

Green Oaks Academy

Elyse Belanger is Principal of Green Oaks Academy, East Palo Alto, in the Ravenswood School District, serving grades K - 4. The challenge of education at Green Oaks Academy . . .

Elyse is a San Francisco Bay Area native who moved to the Pacific Northwest, where she taught for 17 years. Elyse returned to this area last August 1st, to become the Principal at Green Oaks Academy. Elyse has also performed as a professional singer. She is very familiar with using microphones.


December 17 - Members of West Bay Opera, who will sing (and possibly ask us to help out) on some popular opera arias and favorite holiday songs.

West Bay Opera's history begins in Vienna in the 1930's, where founder Henry Holt received his training as a concert pianist and conductor.  After a successful touring career, Mr. Holt gave a final performance in Europe as a soloist with Toscanini and the Vienna Philharmonic, and then left for the United States.  He began as an accompanist and vocal coach for many well-known opera singers, working in New York and on tour throughout the United States.  Mr. Holt settled in Palo Alto in 1955, and formed an opera workshop called the "Little Opera Guild."  From presentations of operatic excerpts with piano accompaniment, Mr. Holt's workshops soon developed into fully staged performances.  While local residents participated in the chorus, leading singers from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area appeared in the principal roles.  Thus West Bay Opera was born.

Following Henry Holt's death in 1969, his wife, the late Maria Holt, guided the company as General Director for nearly three decades.  Under Maria Holt's leadership, West Bay Opera grew significantly in prominence and distinction.  The West Bay Opera Orchestra was founded in 1974, and in 1983, as a result of the efforts of the entire West Bay Opera community, the Holt Building was constructed.  Today this facility provides space for rehearsals, administrative offices, a costume shop, and set and properties storage.

Under the direction of Maria Holt and her successor, David Sloss, West Bay Opera has strengthened its commitment to the mission first articulated by Henry Holt:   To offer audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area operatic productions of the highest quality while providing for the professional growth of emerging artists, as well as experienced directors, designers, and other artistic personnel, and maintaining the traditions of community participation and education

December 24 - Dark (actually, bright, gleaming, and happy with holiday good cheer, but no meeting nevertheless).

December 31 - Dark in Celebration of a Sparkling Happy New Year!  (No meeting is scheduled nevertheless.)

Settle Down for a Long Winter's Nap . . .

November 2007 Programs

November 5 - Moria Brennan, Investing in Democracy through Publicly Funded Election Campaigns

Moira Brennan, Northern California Director of the California Clean Money Campaign, is responsible for outreach and development activities in the northern part of the state. She joined CCMC from The CALIFORNIA LIST, a fundraising network that supports women running for state-elected office.

Californians overwhelmingly believe that our state government is run for the benefit of the special interests and others who are big campaign donors. The business community, which wants to compete in the marketplace not in a political money race, tends to agree. 79% of small business owners feel their concerns are drowned out by the larger businesses that make huge campaign contributions.

Strong campaign finance laws enhance the quality of our democracy by minimizing corruption, reducing the influence of money, and fostering equality of political participation. The successful examples of Arizona and Maine clearly illustrate that a voluntary system of full publicly funded elections results in a vigorous marketplace of ideas and truly competitive elections, which benefits everyone. With a Clean Money system, there is a clear contract between the candidate and the public, which increases citizen participation in the political process and makes elected officials accountable to the people whom they represent, not their campaign donors.

Investing in a system of publicly funded elections is an investment in the integrity of our government.

November 12 - Matthew B. Stannard, Knight Fellow at Stanford University - Can We Talk?' An exploration of issues involved in opening dialogue with political Islamists 

(Photo is not available at this time.)

Matthew Stannard, reporter, San Francisco Chronicle. Study focus: Islam and the West: dueling narratives in religion, politics, history and war

Stannard was born and raised in San Francisco. He was awarded a bachelor's degree from the College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA and his master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York. 

In 1997, he began his career in journalism as a community reporter for the Tri-Valley Herald in Tracy, CA.  A year later, in 1998, he became a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, covering legal issues and major breaking news, including the Columbine High School murders. 

Since 2000, he has been a general assignment reporter on the Foreign/National desk for the San Francisco Chronicle.  Domestic projects have included 9-11, anthrax mailings in Washington, and the Washington area sniper attacks. 

His international projects have included the war in Iraq, terrorism, and the military and have taken him throughout the Middle East to Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and the Palestinian territories.  He has been awarded two fellowships: the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism in 2005, and in 2003, the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. 

His recent awards include an honorable mention for a series on Israel's withdrawal from the Palestinian territories from the Peninsula Press Club in 2006, a first place award in the local breaking news category in the 2006 California Newspaper Publishers Association's Better Newspapers Contest, and several wins in the 2006 East Bay Press Club awards.

November 19 - Dennis Boyle - The Power of a Smart Design (or a similar topic)

Dennis Boyle discovered the joys of product design at the tender age of 10 -- when he decided to build a sailboat and float it on a pond near his house in Michigan. A local news photographer showed up and snapped his picture. "I thought, this is really cool. You make stuff, and people put you in the paper," Boyle laughs.

Nearly 40 years later, as a senior design engineer at IDEO, Boyle can claim to have worked on several of the most important high-tech designs of the past 20 years. IDEO, a Palo Alto (Calif.) design firm, developed the first mouse for Apple Computer and the very first notebook computer, the GRiD Compass. More recently, Boyle came up with a way to transform the Palm V from a clunky handheld computer into a sleek fashion accessory for geeks and business executives alike.

His mission: To make high-tech simple. "People don't want to read a manual. They don't want something confusing that makes them look dumb," he says. "What regular people want is a product that does a few things really well."

Apparently, he's right. IDEO is consistently named the best design firm in the country by the people who judge such things. In fact, Business Week has given it 44 design awards over the past five years.

November 26 - TBA

October 2007 Programs

October 1 - Annual Report on the Club's World Community Service Projects that will feature two speakers, each showing slides.

Cindy Wilber, the founder and president of Proyecto Itzaes, will talk about our 

latest matching grant in the Yucatan and this year's hands-on project.  The purpose of the grant was to combat Type II Diabetes in Maya villages, caused by over-reliance on unhealthy fast foods.  The method was to provide children with tape recorders, digital cameras and computers, and have them interview seniors about traditional, healthy foods and then write up their findings.  The project was wildly successful, both in returning people to healthy diets and in educating the children.

Proyecto Itzaes was initiated in the Maya village of Chicxulub.  It started in rented quarters, but the Project combined a grant from a Mexican foundation with funds from our club and Los Altos to purchase a permanent home.  The goal of the January hands-on project was to help in expanding the Project's literacy and health programs to five new villages.  Members of the two clubs spent two days working with the Mexican Rotarians in the Nuevas Generaciones Club, doing essential tasks like painting new quarters, installing electricity, and building raised garden beds.

Our own Dan Quinn, having just returned from visiting his son Jameson and 

family in Guatemala, will report on our potable water project in the village of Don Pancho.  We undertook the project partly because Jameson and his wife were teaching in the neighboring village of La Trinidad.  The matching grant included the purchase of equipment for testing water quality, with the idea that Jameson's students could use it to test the water generated by the project.  Dan fortunately happened to be visiting when these activities were taking place, and had some great experiences with students and Guatemalan Rotarians.  

October 8 - Dr. Rafael Pelayo, an assistant professor at Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic, will speak to us on a tropic regarding "Sleep."

No photo is currently available.

" . . . most people either aren't aware of or ignore their sleeping problems," said Dr. Rafael Pelayo, an assistant professor at Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic at Stanford University who wasn't involved in the study. "If you wake up feeling tired, something's wrong."

In fact, most sleep problems are reversible, and rarely do they have to do with a mattress. "The younger you are, the less likely it's going to be the mattress," he said. "A lot of men who come to see me come specifically because they've been kicked out of the bedroom" for snoring. Sleep apnea and insomnia are two of the most common disorders.

While napping can be the sleep equivalent of snacking -- something to tide you over until the next full-size meal -- compensating for lost sleep takes more than just an extra hour or two, Pelayo said.

"It takes three to five nights to make up for one night of sleep," he said. "This is why we often say you cannot make up for five days during the weekend. Certainly you will feel better when you catch up on the weekend, but your tank is still not full."

October 15 -  Tony Seba "Building a Winner" (The real reasons Apple, Google, Symantec, Skype, and others built winners and beat their competition.) 

Mr. Seba is author of 'Winners Take All - The 9 Fundamental Rules of High Tech Strategy' and lecturer at Stanford University where he teaches Strategic Marketing of High Tech Products, Finance for entrepreneurs, and Business and Revenue Models.  He was the founder and CEO of  Printnation.com where he raised $30+ million in venture capital and took the company to category leadership. He is also a consultant and a mentor to entrepreneurs/CEOs helping them take their companies to the next level.

October 22 - Rotary International Partner will speak in support of The Rotary Foundation.  Details to be supplied when available.

October 29 - Michael Nierenberg, M.D., Medical Director, Navigenics, Inc from July 2007 - present, Medical Advisor, Shalon Ventures from 2005 to present, Medical Consultant, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers from 2004 through present, and author of The Power of the Bite (Weight Loss, One Bite at a Time)

Did you know that by cutting out just 120 calories a day you will lose approximately twenty five pounds in less than two years? The Power of the Bite: Impressive Weight Loss, One Bite at a Time, provides a simple, guilt free way for to you to easily lose unwanted pounds.

If you are one of the 1.2 billion people in the world who struggle with weight issues, physician and author Michael Nierenberg is ready to help you by sharing his thirty years of experience working with patients. Deeply committed to solving the obesity crisis, Dr. Nierenberg offers practical suggestions that will lead you to successful weight loss. He will teach you why:


Diets don't work
Every bite counts, since big weight loss occurs an ounce at a time
There's an important difference between heart healthy food and weight control
You need to realize hunger is your friend
Exercising can be easy

If you are prepared to manage your weight subliminally without weighing food, buying special meals or supplements, attending meetings, or following rigid dietary rules, then you are ready to believe in the power of the bite eliminating just 120 calories a day will change your life!

September 2007 Programs

September 3 - Dark in Observance Labor Day

September 10  - (Our Own) Liz Kniss - County Jeopardy “Government for $400”

I'll start by giving you a bit of personal background. Liz and her husband Rick have lived in Palo Alto for more than 35 years. They have raised two delightful daughters and currently enjoy 4 granddaughters. Who knows what the future holds?

Liz's formal education includes a B.S. in Nursing and a MPA in Public and Health Care Policy. Her work history includes both the health care arena as a Registered Nurse, and the high tech arena as a manager at Sun Microsystems.

Just over 21 years ago Liz was voted into her first elected office, and that was as a Member of the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Trustees.

She followed-up on that first elected office, and ran for Palo Alto City Council where she was successful, and remained in office for 12 years - including serving as Mayor twice, in 1992 and 2000.

Taking her experience with schools and city government, as well as a health care and marketing manager, Liz fought a tuff race to get elected to the County Board of Supervisors - and she won that race. She began on the Board in January 2001 and has been a fabulous representative to the people in her District.

The District Liz represents runs from Palo Alto to West San Jose and covers the cities in between - Los Altos and the Hills, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, half of Sunnyvale. About 350,000 people.

Liz was re-elected in 2004, and is now preparing to run for her final 4-year term as a Supervisor. Liz has a keen understanding of land use issues, is a steward of the environment, and supports business and innovation

September 17 - Mike Wallace - The Pulitzer Prize Story

After graduating from UC-Santa Cruz in 1972, Mike Wallace joined the staff of the newspaper in Watsonville as a reporter and eventually worked his way up to editor in chief. He left the paper at the end of 1991 to start a public relations business which has served political candidates, local nonprofits and businesses and corporate clients including Wells Fargo Bank and The Home Depot. He is past president of the Rotary Club of Watsonville, has served as District 5170 Membership Chair, District Speech Contest Chair and is an instructor in the District 5170 Leadership Academy. He is working on a book proposal on the subject of his talk today: "The Big Story: How a Small-Town Paper Won the Pulitzer Prize."


September 24 - (Our Own) Yoriko Kishimoto - Building a Green Economy through Innovation

Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto is pleased to be able to combine her business and technical background with a lifelong passion for the environment and walkable communities in her city council service.  Mayor Kishimoto's vision for 2007 is "Building a Green Economy through Innovation".

She was born in Japan, went to college at Wesleyan University and earned her MBA degree at Stanford University.  Her professional life includes 20 years of running a US-Japan business consulting firm and co-authoring an internationally published book (The Third Century: America’s Resurgence in the Asian Era). 

 Mayor Kishimoto is married to Lee Collins and has two college-age daughters.  

August 2007 Programs

August 6 - Audrey Rust ~ Land use successes, issues, and trends

Audrey Rust, CEO of Peninsula Open Space Trust, and a former member of our
club, will speak on open space preservation: success stories, issues, and
trends.  Audrey is a dynamic speaker, articulate and funny, and is known as
the best land trust fundraiser in the country and POST's achievements under
her leadership are the envy of the entire land trust field.

Audrey Rust, of P.O.S.T., to speak Monday on land use successes, issues, and trends."Since 1987, Audrey Rust has served as CEO of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, first as executive director and currently as president. Under her leadership, POST has worked successfully in partnership with public agencies and private landowners to bring permanent protection to many thousands of acres of open space lands in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, including 7,357-acre Cloverdale Coastal Ranches and 3,681-acre Driscoll Ranch. Ms. Rust was also instrumental in the permanent protection of 1,623-acre Bair Island, in Redwood City; 2,438-acre Rancho Cañada del Oro, in San Jose; and, near Half Moon Bay, 1,270-acre Cowell Ranch State Beach, which when it opened in 1995 was the first state beach created in California since the early 1980s.

Before coming to POST, Ms. Rust worked with the Sierra Club, Yale University and Stanford University. She has served on the boards of numerous local, state and national organizations, primarily in the conservation and housing arena. She has received the Times Mirror-Chevron National Conservationist of the Year Award; the League of California Voters Environmental Leadership Award; the Cynthia Pratt Laughlin Medal, the Garden Club of America¹s top environmental honor; and the Jacqueline Kennedy Award from JFK University for her achievements in land conservation

August 13 - Judge Jim Kleinberg - Your Judiciary: Dependent and Independent  (About 15% on what the court system is about, and the balance on the subject of judicial independence.)

No Photo is currently available.

Jim  Kleinberg earned a B.A., University of Pittsburgh, 1964, and  J.D., at the University of Michigan Law School, in 1967.  As an attorney, he specialized in business litigation, including antitrust, intellectual property, securities, contract, and arbitration.  He was listed in Best Lawyers in America for ten years under "Business Litigation".

Prior to joining the bench in 2002, and re-elected (unopposed) in 2004, Jim Kleinberg was a civil litigator with 35 years experience, handling and trying complex commercial disputes.  He was a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of  Justice, Antitrust Division for two years, from 1967 through 1968.  He was Associate and Partner with the firm of Petty, Andrews, Tufts & Jackson (later Jackson, Tufts, Cole & Black) (San Francisco and San Jose) for 14 years from 1969 through 1983.  He was Partner at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen LLP (now Bingham McCutchen, LLP) in San Jose, Palo Alto, and San Francisco for over 19 years,  from 1983 through 2002.

Since September 2005, Superior Court Judge Kleinberg presides over civil trials for the County of Santa Clara.  Because of  his experience, he understands the discovery and advocacy process from both sides of the bench.  Judge Kleinberg does extensive speaking and writing for continuing education programs on litigation topics. He believes strongly that it is important for the general public to be aware of the need of our judiciary to maintain its traditional independence.

He is Advisor, Executive Committee, Litigation Section, State Bar of California, from 2002 to the present.  He  has been a member, William A. Ingram Inn, American Inns of Court, from 2004 to the present.  Jim was Chair, Superior Court Technology Committee, from 2004 to the present, and  Member, CJER Judicial Technology Education Committee, from 2004 to the present.

Jim is married to (our own), Judy Kleinberg, who is an attorney, and for most of her professional life, has specialized in business law, public policy, corporate governance, nonprofit law and management, and high-tech business policy.  Both Jim and Judy are drawn to community.  Judy was elected to the Palo Alto City Council twice, and served as Mayor of  Palo Alto in 2006. They have lived in Palo Alto since 1984, and have two children: Lauren, who is an architect in Palo Alto, and Alexander, along with his wife, Sheryn Ang, have recently moved to Singapore, working for Google.


August 20 - Three New Member Talks, as follows:  Pat Burt, Lindsey North, and Ander Vazquez.

 
Pat Burt

While I was born in San Luis Obispo, I think of myself as a native of Gilroy which is the source of my first memories. However, those memories are more as odors than sights: garlic, strawberries and the by-products of steer manure. Eventually my parents settled into Los Altos where my father, Tom, was Athletic Director and coached football for decades. We then resided in Sunnyvale where my parents could afford a home large enough for their five kids. Once my siblings were more self sufficient, my mother, Katy, returned to teaching, educational development and political activism (amazing!).

After acquiring my first fortunes selling peanuts at Stanford Athletics and working for Co-Op markets here in Palo Alto, I traveled in Europe extensively before returning to college at UC Santa Barbara where I had a dual major in literature and discus throwing. With such a practical foundation, my wife of 28 years, Sally, and I returned to Palo Alto and Santa Clara (by then Silicon) Valley where I co-founded a high tech coatings company for which I am still President and which has grown to over 100 employees in San Carlos.

We spent our next fifteen years building our business while I also developed a passion for environmental policy and practices. I participated on numerous boards and task forces at the regional, state and national levels. I remain involved in that area including currently serving as the Vice-Chair of Sustainable San Mateo County (SSMC).

After our children arrived, Carolyn (13) and Riley (10), I found myself drawn toward our community. I co-founded the University South Neighbors Group. Then, after we bought the home that my mother and grandparents had rented during the 40’s, I co-founded the Community Center Neighborhoods Group. My acquired passion for civic issues drew me to our Planning and Transportation Commission where I have served for the past 9 years including twice as its chair.

In my free time I try to squeeze in as much hiking, biking and skiing as possible. However, as a parent I now spend equal time rooting, yelling and applauding at my kids’ activities.

______________________________


 
Lindsey North

Where did I grow up? My father was a Navy pilot, so every few years we would pack up and move, usually from one coast to the other. California, then Rhode Island, then California, then Virginia, and so on. I say I grew up in Coronado, California, since we lived there more than any other place. Back then, there was no bridge across the bay, only large, flat car ferries, so Coronado had a small-town feel. I spent most of my free time at the beach or riding my bike around Coronado “island” with friends.

After college in Virginia (William and Mary), working for the federal government (very boring), military intelligence in Thailand (quite exciting!), and a few other jobs, I returned to California in the 70’s where I found that one could get paid for playing with computers and software. What a great deal! About that time my mother told me I’d never make much money as a computer programmer, but I charged ahead anyway. Mother was not always right.

I was married for 12 years and have two wonderful sons who are both working and going to college. Jeff is interested in psychology and Scott is quite an artist. I also have a dog – cute, annoying, an exuberant presence in the house.

The next big change came four years ago. Completely burned-out from high-tech, I decided to make a career change. I’d been volunteering with Heifer International and at Foundation for Global Community, so decided to follow-up on those interests. The organizations I cared about all seemed to need help with fundraising, especially securing foundation grants, so I said “I can learn that” - and I did. Since then I’ve worked some highly innovative and effective nonprofits: Village Enterprise Fund, World Neighbors, the Mountain View RotaCare Free Clinic, and The Pachamama Alliance.

Because I am self-employed (although my boss is pretty tough!), I am able to occasionally finish work early, which leaves time for gardening, a bike ride, a trip to the dog park, or quick trip to the coast. I’ve never lost my love of the ocean.

______________________________



Ander Vazquez

I have been a resident of Palo Alto since 2006 and moved here to become a commercial real estate investment sales agent for Marcus and Millichap. I was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico, and moved to Germany and ultimately the U.S. through my father’s employment. Throughout this period I had the opportunity to visit 15 countries, and I can say without any hesitation that the United States has one of the greatest, most advanced and free societies in the planet. It is indeed a rare privilege to live in Palo Alto.

I studied real estate finance at the University of Texas at Dallas, and at the same time I had opened a business with nine employees by the age of 21. By age 23 I bought my first investment property, and began working for Comerica Bank as an analyst in their commercial real estate lending division.

My hobbies include playing golf, playing electrical and classical guitar, and playing computer war strategy simulations.

Having one Ander around the house was exhausting work, so I was raised as an only child. My father is president of Novartis Animal Health in Mexico and Central America, and my mother is an insurance agent based out of Dallas, TX. I have a girlfriend of four years who is graduating from the University of San Francisco with a degree in marketing. She was a major catalyst for me to make the move from Dallas to Palo Alto and I thank her every day for it.


August 27 - D. G. Dick Lohmiller - Investing in the Future to strengthen ones club and The Rotary Foundation

Dick and Kay were born and raised in San Francisco but discovered sunshine in Cupertino where they have lived since 1966. They have two children, Kristina and Kurt, and three grandchildren.

Dick became active in community service at the age of 22 by becoming Scoutmaster of one of the most active and largest Scout Troops in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received a Honorary Life Membership in the PTA, coached and referred soccer for seventeen years, was commissioner of a 2,000 member soccer league, served for eight years on the Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commission, treasurer for a bond campaign to purchase park space (we won!) and chaired many public meetings for park renovations.

Additionally, served as a Board Director of the local social service provider and coordinated the Cupertino Below Market Rate Housing program. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Cupertino, a New Models Rotary Club, since 1990, President in 1995-96, chair of their community festival, Oktoberfest, co-chair for the past ten years of the club's Crab Feed and secretary/treasurer of their very active and successful Club Rotary Foundation Committee. Kay is active in Inner Wheel and participates in the many activities of the Rotary Club.

Within District 5170 he has coordinated fund-raising efforts in 1998 and 2000 for polio immunization in Ghana. He was the coordinator of a 29 club grant to supply kidney dialysis machines to a hospital in Ghana and written, participated and traveled on many humanitarian projects in Turkey, Ghana, Chile and Mexico. As chair of the District Grant Sub-committee he was trained at The Rotary Foundation in Evanston and assists individuals and clubs with the preparation and management of grant projects. He chaired the 1998 District Conference in Monterey (You Otter Be There!) and will be back in Monterey as Chair of the 2007 District Conference. Dick is a recipient of many Club and District recognitions and recently received The Rotary Foundation's "Citation for Meritorious Service."

Dick was trained in electronics but quickly moved into manufacturing of microfilm duplicating equipment with a number of startup companies. Most recently he managed the development and construction of a commercial building and affordable housing for a social services. He retired in 2002 to improve his golf game but that hasn't materialized as he devotes most of the daylight hours on Rotary "business."