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 President Elect Iain Scott introduced District Governor Sandhya Maini who is a member of Rotary-Burlington North. She has been a Rotarian for 13 years and served as Club President in the 2016-17 year.
Shortly after joining Rotary, Sandhya joined the District 7080 training team. Through this experience she had the opportunity to engage with clubs and members across her district. She had the privilege of leading the district visioning program where she helped numerous clubs develop their vision and strategic plan. She then went on to be Director of the Training team for several years. As a proud supporter of the Rotary Foundation, Sandhya is a Bequest Society member and a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. She is especially passionate about work, both local and international, that seeks to improve education and literacy. She roots this in a belief that the ability to read and write allows people to be self-reliant and in turn act of their volition to create a better world. Professionally, Sandhya has a background in project management, change management and process improvement. She works for Sun Life in Human Resources where she leads a team of fifteen responsible for delivering the company's global HR technology initiatives and digital employee experience. Sandhya is the eldest of four siblings, daughter to her fantastic parents, one of whom is a long-standing Rotarian and the other a multiple Paul Harris fellowship recipient. She is currently dating an extraordinarily supportive fellow Rotarian and the proud aunt to a spectacular future member, her two-year old nephew. When she's not doing something Rotary-related, which isn't that often, she's an avid baker, cook and enjoys reading all sorts of things. Sandhya spoke about her involvement with Rotary, initially as a young person in a Rotary family and for 13 years as an active member. There are many things that she loves about Rotary, and other things that could change. Examples of what she loves: In the last few years, during COVID, Rotary thrived and found innovative ways to serve the community and solve problems. Examples are a curbside lobster dinner, new ways to meet (Zoom) and building relationships/connections between individuals and groups like our Ukraine project. Not so great? Inability to embrace change. Why not see change as an opportunity? Rotary needs to react to change more quickly. At times, we put our personal agendas and differences ahead of our service. She sees this as self above service. Be aware of this. Community presence/awareness is weak. We don't promote ourselves nearly enough. Why are we not as well-known as United Way? We don't join Rotary for a supper meeting. Tell others about Rotary with pride. The future? Consider why you're here. You could be doing anything else. You should get value. Make your goals irresistible. Embrace new ideas. Don't get caught in the trap of rejecting anything new. The world is changing. Simplicity is another goal. People don't have time for complexity. It is the responsibility of everyone in the club to uphold the things we love or those needing to change. Following several questions and good discussion, Bob Eilers thanked Sandhya on behalf of the club. The subject matter was especially timely and appropriate given our club's current strategic planning process. |
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