I am honored and humbled by the confidence and trust you have afforded me in electing me as your 2024-2025 Rotary Club of Cleveland President, thank you.  When I joined Rotary, it was my intention to stay one year, supporting Dave Browning in his (second) presidency. I wasn’t sure what Rotary was or what Rotarians did, but sincerely hoped I could get the contract to provide the community signs affixed to (seemingly) every “Welcome To ___” sign in America.  I quickly learned about Rotary globally, locally, and our mission, perhaps even more importantly, I started meeting new friends, friends with whom I realized I shared a common passion:  service!

 

As time passed, one of the many Rotarians who took me under her wing was Julie Brouhard, who taught me about program planning strategies: what was and what was not relevant to our group and our mission. Program planning has turned into one of the highlights not only of my Rotary life, but of my career…trust me when I say this, the Rotary brand has gotten me into doors I would never have otherwise been able to access.  And as my business career progressed, I found that by starting business relationships with conversations about community service, that led to much deeper relationships: men and women that run businesses, for the most part, are also involved in community service, and they love to share, as we do.

 

I find myself accepting this position in a club that is very strong, we’ve all enjoyed the benefit of very strong and engaged leadership over the past years (in my case going back to Dave Browning)…in the past couple of years, both Jessica and Jennifer have done quite a bit of heavy lifting…and we all continue to thrive as a club as a result of Sharon’s incredible professional leadership.

 

A few of the items that are on my radar for this year, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, include:

 

1.  The theme of “engagement”, which touches every area of club life.

2.  Growth through engagement:  we’ll talk about this.

3.  Small tasks, small asks:  we’ll explore this together.

4.  International Zoom:  this is something Gloria Ritter and I have been discussing, more to come.

5.  Elevator Speech:  this comes out of the work that Jennifer did with Cleveland Leadership Center.

 

And many other things bouncing around in my head…and now, I hope to meet with each member individually (lunches are good, my treat) to see what thoughts are bouncing around in your heads.

 

Enclosed is your annual invoice for dues and meeting costs along with the supporting documentation.  This annual financial commitment assures our future and is the core of our success as a club. Thank

you for your prompt payment and commitment to being a Rotarian.

 

Thank you in advance to our club and district leadership for your ideas, your support, and your gentle reminders if we happen to veer off track…and Laura, I’m looking forward to working with you as President-Elect! Sharon, I have you on speed-dial.

 

Let’s make this a great year…great projects, great community presence, and great friends.

 

Yours in friendship and service,