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Speakers 2009–10

Date	Speaker, Organization, Topic
July 14, 2009	Joel Rubinstein, member, Rotary Club of San Francisco West, and volunteer partner, RESULTS. RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. At the annual RESULTS International Conference, RESULTS volunteer partners from across the United States come to Washington to learn about the issues and lobby their representatives and senators. Today's talk is about the 2009 conference and the experience of lobbying to target foreign aid to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among other issues. Joel Rubinstein has been an active volunteer partner with RESULTS for over twenty years. To promote anti-poverty programs, he ha generated numerous letters to the editor in newspapers including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, (Hearst) San Francisco Examiner and Oakland Tribune. He has organized and spoken at numerous press conferences, and met with dozens of federal legislators and their aides, coaxing them to take additional actions to help eradial Thanksgiving meal deilivery.
July 21, 2009	Jennifer Snyder, member, Bay Area Religious Campaign Against Torture (BARCAT). BARCAT works to raise awareness about U.S.-sponsored torture and provide individuals and congregations with ways to participate in ending torture forever. BARCAT works closely with the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) agenda, and on member-chosen anti-torture projects. Jennifer Snyder has a M.Div. (Master in Divinity) as a Methodist. She now attends the First Congregational Church of Berkeley and is a social worker with the homeless for Catholic Charities CYO in San Francisco, which sponsors Rita da Cascia, which the Rotary Club of San Francisco West works with on our annual Thanksgiving meal deilivery.
July 28, 2009	District Governor Riki Intner
Aug. 11, 2009	Bill Gilmore, member, Rotary Club of San Francisco West, will discuss his recent cruise to Polynesia and the Cook Islands, where he saw a total eclipse of the sun. He will show photographs of the islands of Tahiti, Aitutaki, Suwarrow, Pukapuka, Bora Bora, Raiatea, Taha'a, and Moorea and share what he learned from lecturers Alex Filippenko, an astronomer from U.C. Berkeley who served on the team that co-discovered dark energy, and John Hay, lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
Aug. 18, 2009	Gary Gerber, president and owner of Gerber Associates, a San Mateo-based firm specializing in deep understanding of trends, tools, and characteristics of effective leadership. Gary established the “PHD of Leadership”™, teaching that leaders don’t just motivate people, they inspire people and give people a sense of purpose, of hope, of destiny. And inspired people perform at their best and positively contribute to the business bottom line not because of what they’ll get, but because they believe in the leader’s vision and mission. Gary’s talk explains and shares practical tools with which anyone can be a more effective leader.
Aug. 25, 2009	Sara Razavi, executive director, Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY), a San Francisco-based organization dedicated to strengthening and connecting San Francisco’s systems of support so that Bay Area youth emancipating, or “aging out” of the foster care system can enjoy a healthy transition to adulthood. HEY identifies and raises awareness around challenges affecting local current and former foster youth by bringing together a diversity of expert voices and experiences, including those of former foster youth, service providers, and other supporters, in finding solutions. As a result, supporters of foster youth are linked and informed about the challenges faced by former foster youth and gain access to hard data and expert review of policies and practices so that they can help improve outcomes. Prior to working with HEY, Sara Razavi was parent and youth development program coordinator at I Have a Dream Foundation located in Aim High Academy Middle School in San Francisco and before that she was the Education Programs Coordinator at The Friendly Center, a family resource center in Orange County. She is a foster youth advocate with a background in education and direct service work with youth from underrepresented communities.
Sep. 8, 2009	Justin McSharry, member, HELPS International, a nonprofit corporation that partners with individuals, businesses, corporations, local and national governments to alleviate poverty in Latin America. HELPS integrated programs include medical care, education, community and economic development, and agricultural innovations in order to improve the quality of life for the indigenous people of Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Guatemala. Justin’s talk includes a discussion of his medical mission to Guatemala with HELPS.
Sep. 15, 2009	Joanna Fritz, president, Rotary Club of San Francisco West. Topic: Rotary Effectively Helps. . . .
Sep. 22, 2009	Alexis Donoghoe and J. P. Harbour, attorneys, working in the practice areas of estate planning, probate and civil litigation. Topic: estate planning, what it is, how it works, and why people should do it.
Sep. 29, 2009	Hanna Steinbach, Rotary ambassadorial scholar from Austria/Germany. Hanna graduated from the University of Vienna School of Law in 2006 and finished her Ph.D. focusing on European Competition Law in June 2009. She has worked as a clerk for the Austrian Cartel Court and as an Antitrust Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in Vienna. Hanna is attending the LL.M. (Master of Laws) program at U.C. Berkeley, Boalt Hall, focusing on Antitrust and Intellectual Property Law. The talk is about Austria and its heaflth care system, including a comparison between the Austrian (European) and the U.S. health care systems, with a focus on the competitive environment in both markets.
Oct. 13, 2009	Daniel Owens, Rotary ambassadorial scholar from Churchland, Virginia, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, now living in the Bay Area.
Oct. 20, 2009	Dave Hyman, president, Woodside/Portola Valley Rotary Club, and past assistant district governor under Holly Axtell. Dave is proud to have started Rotary Means Business on the peninsula and reminds Rotarians of the importance of supporting each rotarian in business, and that we should all be practicing The 4 Way Test. Dave founded his business, Encore Performance Catering, and was a Navy SEAL 1974–1978. His topic is the training of Navy SEALs and how, in April 2009, three Navy SEAL snipers ended the hostage crisis of the container ship MV Maersk Alabama, off the coast of Somalia.
Oct. 27, 2009	Anita Stangl, president and CEO, Alliance for Smiles, and president 2006–2007, Rotary Club of San Francisco. Alliance for Smiles organizes and sends surgical teams for two-week missions to repair children’s broken smiles by providing free comprehensive treatment for cleft lip and palate deformities in under-served areas of the world. During a mission, 80 to 120 children receive surgery for cleft lip and palate anomalies. Alliance for Smiles works side-by-side with local medical practitioners to exchange ideas on proper medical techniques and procedures and provide follow-up care. Alliance for Smiles has focused primarily but not exclusively on China, where the need is great.
Nov. 10, 2009	Paul Kingsman, winner of the bronze medal in the 200 metres backstroke at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. In 2001, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, he worked in the financial services industry and is now a professional motivational speaker and certified executive coach, and an expert on how to make split seconds count. He teaches people how to overcome distractions and maintain focus, so they can achieve the success they want. Paul knows the importance of keeping focused in life’s split seconds first hand: he trained for 13 years to swim a 2 minute backstroke race at the Olympics, and won a medal by only four one-hundredths of a second. After retiring from competitive swimming, Paul applied the same success habits he had developed in sport to business, going on to achieve big results with some of the world’s best-known companies, both in his native country of New Zealand and here in his adopted home of the U.S. He’s managed Speedo New Zealand and worked as a high net worth advisor for both Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. He was also a charter member of Harbor Rotary in San Rafael. Today, as professional speaker and executive coach, Paul teaches people how to defeat deadly distractions, make the best split-second decisions, and achieve outstanding long term results.
Nov. 17, 2009	Bill Koefoed, District Governor-elect for 2010–2011. He has been the trainer for the instructors at Far West PETS for the past six years, as well as serving as an instructor. He has also been a trainer at GETS (Governor-Elect Training Seminar) for the past five years. Bill is past president of the Rotary Club of San Francisco (the #2 Club). He is a Paul Harris fellow and major donor. He has chaired five major fundraisers for Rotary charities, raising well over $250,000. He is past president of the San Francisco Rotary Foundation. He was co-chair for the Rotary Club of San Francisco’s Centennial Celebration held last year. He spent 31 years working in the people development business, owning the Dale Carnegie Training franchise in San Francisco. In addition, Bill has been a speaker for over 2,900 local, regional, national and international meetings, and has appeared on several radio and television programs. Bill has personally trained thousands of people to sell more professionally, manage more effectively and speak more forcefully and confidently. He is the author of one of the Carnegie programs, “Making Sales: How to Jump Start Your Sales Career,” and has been a contributing author to several others. Bill has over 29 years of volunteer board service as well. The title of his presentation is “Touching Peoples’ Lives.”
Nov. 24, 2009	Pablo Castro, member, Rotary Club of Mission San Rafael, and owner, Marin Hardwood Floors, welcoming guests interested in learning more about the fun, excitement, and rewards of being a Rotarian.
Dec. 8, 2009	Jim Murray, Director of Government and Legal Affairs, Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco.
Dec. 15, 2009	District Governor Riki Intner.
Dec. 22, 2009	Valentina Rebaudengo, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Italy, studying viola at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Jan. 12, 2010	Past District Governor Russ Ketron. The talk is an update on End Polio Now.
Jan. 19, 2010	Asako Tanaka, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan. Asako came here as a cultural scholar for 6 months program. She is studying English and doing volunteer work. In Japan, she is getting a Ph.D. in social science. She is studying sexual violence and counselling survivors.
Jan. 26, 2010	Tomoko Shiosaki, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Japan. She is studying at Golden Gate University, majoring in accounting. She studied at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and La Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima for her bachelor’s degree, and after university she entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Her previous assignment was to Cuba. She has done many kinds of volunteer work since arriving in the United States including the walk for diabetes, the renovation of the community library in Pacifica, and the Rotary meadow restoration. Her hobbies include swimming and playing the piano.
Feb. 9, 2010	Joanna Fritz, president, Rotary Club of San Francisco West, has a presidential message.
Feb. 16, 2010	Angelo Capozzi, M.D., co-founder and medical director, Rotaplast International. Dr. Capozzi received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame 1956 and his M.D. from Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University, Chicago. His general surgery training was in Chicago and plastic surgery training was at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1960–66. Dr. Capozzi was a U.S. Air Force captain and chief of plastic surgery at David Grant USAF Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, 1966–68. He was in private practice for 30 years, 1968-98, at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, where he was chief of the Bothin Burn Center, 1974–78, and chair of the plastic surgery department and d irector of the residency training program, 1987–98. He is a past president of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons, 1998–99. He left private practice in 1999 to become chief of plastic surgery at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, retiring in April 2008. He has been doing international service since 1976 and in 1992 co-founded Rotaplast International. He now devotes himself to Rotaplast and consulting. He has been on 40 international missions, 26 with Rotaplast. He has been a member of the Rotary Club of San Francisco since 1970. He has been married to Louise Armanetti for 48 years and they have three children. Louise helped develop the medical records system and co-founded the medical records committee, which she has chaired since Rotaplast’s first mission, to Chile in 1993.
February 23, 2010	Lisa Wolfman, Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse (CORA), the only agency in San Mateo County with the sole purpose of serving victims/survivors of domestic violence/abuse. Cora provides free and confidential emergency, intervention and prevention services, including the county’s only emergency shelter, and transitional housing for victims/survivors and services in Spanish, English and Tagalog. Services include a 24-hour hotline, case management, legal assistance, counseling, educational workshops, teen chat room, volunteer services emergency shelter, and transitional housing.
March 9, 2010	Lucia Cottone, Ph.D., Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Italy. Lucia is working at the UCSF in the department of Pathology researching cell immunology and gene therapy, studying Innate Immunity and Tissue Remodelling. Lucia says, “I heard of the possibilities that Rotary was giving to young people interested in having international experiences from a family’s friend. I didn’t even know of the existence of the Ambassadorial Scholarship before applying for one of them, and I was not completely aware of what the Rotary Foundation is. I have been truly desiring to come in the United States to learn more about scientific research since the beginning of my college. As soon as I realized how incredible was the chance that was offered to me by the Ambassadorial Scholarships, I applied for it. And then I started being interested in profoundly knowing what is that reality that is giving me such an opportunity, the Rotary Club.”