Meeting Recap for May 19, 2015

Posted by Mark Huffman 
on May 22, 2015
 
   
 
President Susan Sheridan opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking Becki Roberts for donating the wine for the wine reception, and Mike Bullington for providing the piano music.  She then introduced Jodi Davis who offered sincere words of thanks on behalf of those assembled.
Sargent-at-arms John Lemmon proceeded to welcome our honored guests, after which President Susan introduced the head table:  Jodi Davis who provided the Thought for the Day, Larry Booth serving as Chair of the Day, our speaker Michael Ziegler, new member sponsor District Governor Fred Teichert, new member Nancy Teichert, Meeting Sponsor Guest Susan Granzella, treasurer of the local office of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), and Barbara Thompson, executive director of the NCDAA.
President Susan then had the honor of introducing District Governor Fred Teichert who introduced his wife, Nancy Teichert, as our newest member.  Nancy is a very accomplished journalist whose accolades include the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.  Nancy was sponsored by District Governor Fred and President Susan.  Welcome Nancy!
After some highly enjoyable fellowship time, President Susan introduced our Meeting Sponsor Jonathan Marz who graciously donated his time to the NCADD.  Barbara Thompson and Susan Granzella spoke of the NCADD’s hard and effective work on behalf of those suffering the debilitating effects of drug and alcohol abuse.  How lucky Sacramento is to have such an organization working for the betterment of our community!
Next it was time for a little wallet-loosening. Jeannie Reaves was congratulated for being featured in the Sacramento Business Journal and was $150 happy about it.  She gave an additional $150 to honor Elfrena Foord to thank her for being so caring and visiting her when she was recovering.  Jim Phillips and Past President Jon Snyder each gave $100 in honor of the recently departed Bill Stone.  Gary MacDonald rose to announce that he was recently named the Executive Director of Lighthouse Counseling and Family Resource Center in Lincoln, and gave $100 to celebrate.  Todd Andrews threw in his own $100 to celebrate Gary’s good news. Jeff Stone presented a check for $500 from the Rotary Rooters which was very much appreciated by all.
President Susan then called Larry Booth to the podium to introduce the Speaker of the Day, Michael Ziegler, President and CEO of PRIDE Industries.  Michael started by observing that PRIDE was actually started in 1966 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Auburn, California, by parents of adult children with disabilities but who wanted meaningful work in their lives.  The initial funding amount was $10,000.  PRIDE now has over $280,000,000 in annual revenue and has taken thousands of disabled adults who would otherwise be a drain on the public coffers and made them taxpayers.
Michael joined PRIDE in 1983 when he followed his wife to Grass Valley after a successful business career in the bay area.  In his time with PRIDE he has led its transformation from an organization dependent on state and federal funding to a self-sufficient business enterprise with more than 5,000 employees.
PRIDE does three things really well:  (1) facilities management, (2) supply chain, and (3) electronics.
Among PRIDE’s accomplishments and current customers are:
  • Creating the electronics that decorate the Armani store in New York City.
  • Doing the facilities management for the Sacramento County International Airport, which includes cleaning every part of the iconic red rabbit sculpture!
  • Responsible for loading all of the provisions for the aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson which took 125 PRIDE employees 29 days to accomplish.
  • Maintaining the Fort Polk Army Base in Louisiana which has training facilities for troops being deployed to the Middle East.
  • Maintaining the US Customs House in New Orleans.
  • Provides base wide facilities management at Fort Bliss in Texas with over 140 employees on the job.
  • Provides base wide facilities management at Fort Rucker in Alabama.
  • Provides supply chain development for Mighty Leaf Tea.
  • Was named the Hewlett-Packard Global Supplier of the year providing over 33,000 different supply items for the company.
  • Any many, many others.
At the end of his presentation President Susan thanked Michael and dismissed the membership admonishing everyone to remember to “Be Good Rotarians!”
 
Photos by Swentowsky Photography.