Pancho (Cecil) Padilla - Speaker for March 25, 2013

Pancho (aka) Cecil Padilla
A native of California who grew up on a small farm in West Sacramento, my 8th grade class was a total of 29, while my high school class (Clarksburg) had a romping 38 students.

I enlisted in US Air Force for one term and had a great experience learning many lessons of life on what I didn't want to do. I accomplished the "to do list" of marrying-kids-divorcing in 18 years, after returning from military life.

I was employed by PG&E for 33 years and retired in 1992. My colorful career with PG&E started out by digging ditches so we could install gas lines to customers. I wanted to climb the corporate ladder, so I progressed to being a "lineman" and later a line foreman. I crossed over into the management side of the house through sales/marketing and entered into our company's political arena for a short time doing lobbying in San Francisco, the State Capitol and Washington D.C.  Because PG&E expected their management employees to be involved in the communities, I was invited and inducted into Rotary (41yrs ago).

My involvement in Rotary has been a GREAT experience. From being a GSE team leader to Venezuela and chair of various district positions, to being WINGMAN (chief of staff) for our current District Governor. Having had the privilege of traveling to 71 countries, doing Rotary projects, has and continues to be a huge reward in my life.

During the last 25 years, after recognizing I had a need for speed, I have race/driven at Bonneville Salt Flats (189mph) El Mirage lake bed and am now into the 2nd year of drag racing. While cars/motorcycles/planes/race cars are some of my hobbies, ROTARY remains at the top of the list.