Posted by Dora Dye on Apr 15, 2020
President Casey Blair (Financial Services: Private Trading | KCB Trading, LLC) called the meeting to order at 12:15 PM. 61 members and guests were in attendance. 
 
YOUTH
President Casey discussed the executive session of the Board of Rotary Service, Inc. held on Friday, April 10, 2020 to look at youth programs and how to communicate within our Club.
 
David Dye (Management Consulting | Retired) shared a couple of slides on the Youth Protection Certification program, required of Rotarians working in Rotary youth programs. See here to complete the certification process.
 
VOCATIONAL SERVICE
Mary Liu (Real Estate: Sales | Vanguard Properties/JM Real Estate Group) gave a Vocational Service update. She discussed the San Francisco Unified School District Job Shadow Day on March 6, 2020, and thanked Christopher Wiseman (Event Planning | Glaucoma Research Foundation), Carlos Infante (Banking: Management | Chase Bank), Sally Swanson (Engineering, Architecture, and Construction | Sally Swanson Architects), and Lisa Christian (Development | Community Housing Partnership) for their participation and support. Mary also reported on her networking series, Make Connections and Grow Your Business!, held on March 26, 2020 and April 10, 2020. She is planning to have a LinkedIn expert at the next networking meeting in May.
 
EDUCATIONAL SERIES
President Casey announced the new educational series sponsored by the Club's Membership Committee. Terry Pickering (Financial Services | Retired) would host the first meeting on April 16, 2020.
 
NEW GRANT DEADLINES
JT Forbus (Accounting | Bogdan & Frasco) announced the second and final extension of the deadline for grants. The deadline for global and international grants will be May 1, 2020. The deadline for community grants will be May 15, 2020. Except for the new dates, this story is still relevant on how to apply for a grant.
 
INDUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS
Vice President of Membership Dan Joraanstad (Financial Services: Advising | Retired) and President Casey led an e-induction. The Club welcomed the following four new members:
 
Kaushal Chokshi (Management Consulting | Scaale Inc.), who is the spouse of Club member Jyoti Chokshi (Management Services | Talent Anywhere). Many years ago, Kaushal started a Rotary club in India. His mentor is Terry Pickering.
 
Alex Omoko (Human Services | Geo Re-Entry Services), who was a Rotarian when he was living in Nigeria. He now lives in San Francisco. Joining him for this induction were his family including his sister, Elohor Omoko, and her family in Nigeria. Alex's mentor will be Jim Patrick (Retail: Office Supplies | Patrick & Co.). 
 
Jessica Hansen and Hayden Gubernick, both with a classification of (Nonprofit Management | Alliance for Smiles) and now members of our Club through our corporate member Alliance for Smiles (AfS). Jessica is the new AfS Executive Director, while Hayden is an AfS project coordinator. Jessica's mentor will be Anita Stangl (Medical Services | Alliance for Smiles). Hayden's mentor will be Jane Mermelstein (Real Estate: Sales | Zephyr Real Estate).
 
Of note is that Mary Liu, who had been a corporate member with Alliance for Smiles, has now become an individual member.
 
PAUL HARRIS AWARDS
President Casey announced who had earned a Paul Harris award:

JT Forbus, PHF+1; Kathryn McCall (Law: Corporate | Trustly, Inc.), PHF+1; Bob Hermann (Information Technology: Administration | Retired), PHF+4; Kevin Leong (Development | University of San Francisco), PHF+6; Bill Poppen (Banking: Management | MUFG Union Bank), PHF+7; and Carla Walter (Arts Therapy | Dance in the Spirit), PHF+8. Congratulations to all!
 
GUEST SPEAKER
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, CTO of NTENT, was today's speaker. He presented a fascinating talk on the different biases that affect all of us on the Web. He pointed out cognitive, cultural, statistical, linguistic, and even activity biases. Following his presentation, there was time for questions and answers.
 
SAD NEWS
President Casey announced that long-time member Marie Brooks (Retail: Auto | Retired) passed away recently. She had been a member of our Club since 1987, before women were allowed to join Rotary. A story of remembrance on Marie will appear in an upcoming issue of Grindings.
 
The meeting concluded with announcements by Club members.