GOLF 4 KIDS NEXT WEEK
The longest-running fundraiser in all of Rotary, Golf 4 Kids, takes place on Friday, May 12, at Land Park Golf Course. Golf will be followed by a dinner and auction at nearby Fairytale Town. For more information, click here.
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NEXT CLUB MEETING MAY 16TH
Our guest speaker at noon on Tuesday, May 16th, at the Annunciation Greek Church will be Sacramento County Supervisor Rich Desmond. Be sure to watch for the invitation email and register to attend.
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Recap of the May 2nd Meeting
Reported by Steve Heath
ROTARY HELPED SAVE THE KINGS!
If it hadn’t been for Rotary, Kevin Nagle might never have gotten involved in organized team sports. And if it weren’t for Kevin Nagle, Sacramento’s favorite organized team, the Kings, might now be playing in Seattle, with the name of some obscure species of whale on their jerseys.
Introduced by Chair of the Day BOB ROSENBERG (CEO, Inve$tnet), Nagle, a serial entrepreneur and principal owner of the Sacramento Republic soccer team, was a featured guest speaker at Tuesday’s meeting at the Annunciation Greek Church.
“Rotary had an impact on my life.,” said Nagle. “I’ll never forget.” He told the story of how growing up in a single-parent family in Long Beach, he didn’t have the money to join a youth baseball team in a league sponsored by the Rotary Club of Long Beach, It was the first time he’d tried to get involved in organized sports, but at first, he was turned down because he couldn’t pay the league fees. Not surprisingly, young Nagle persisted. He convinced the coach to ask Rotary to let him pay the fees on a per-game basis, rather than all at once. Rotary, being an inclusive organization, said yes.
Fast-forward to 2011, by which time Nagle had founded a leading-edge, technology-driven health benefits management company called EnvisionRx, then sold it to RiteAid for $2.3 billion. Impelled by his now-lifelong interest in organized team sports, Nagle joined forces with then-Mayor Kevin Johnson to convince the NBA to deny a request by the Kings’ owners to relocate the franchise to Anaheim. Then, in 2013, with Microsoft billionaire Steve Balmer trying to buy the team and move it to Seattle, Nagle again stepped up and helped create the ownership group that won the day and has kept the team here.
Nagle has since left the Kings’ ownership group to focus on the Republic, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and on the development of a new stadium in the Railyards. (He said an announcement about the future of the stadium and surrounding real estate will be forthcoming in July.) But in the meantime, he’s in the process of acquiring another organized sports team, the Huddersfield Town Terriers of the English Football League Championship (like the Republic, a tier 2 team). Nagle bought the team sight unseen and will visit it for the first time this month. He also has been instrumental in trying to obtain a Major League Soccer franchise for Sacramento. He said the MSL commissioner had quit taking his calls a couple of years ago, but now that the Republic has beaten three MSL teams, made the United Soccer League playoffs nine of 10 seasons, and finished runner-up to the MLS’s Orlando City Lions in the prestigious U.S. Open Cup, the MSL commissioner is starting to call him.
Among the reasons for Nagle’s interest in the English football club (don’t use the term “soccer” over there) is the degree to which technology is used by the English teams to analyze every aspect of the game. Technology was a big part of what built EnvisionRX into a huge success and remains a fascination for Nagle. Asked about the future of artificial intelligence and health care, he said “Things are changing right in front of our eyes.” He pointed out that technology enables the aggregation of data that can be used at key decision points, and that it is already being used to aid diagnoses.
Nagle has also produced three films and has made cameo appearances in all three (“kind of like Alfred Hitchcock). All three films were produced locally using local actors.
Rotarian Spotlight
Past President DIANE WOODRUFF (Retired Chancellor/California Community Colleges) again presented the Rotarian Spotlight, this week focusing on DEE HARTZOG:
“Dee has been in our club for 13 years,” said Past President DIANE. “She grew up in Washington, DC, but when she was 13, her father joined the foreign service and they moved to Nairobi, Kenya, then Bombay, India, and finally Berlin, Germany. She loved seeing other parts of the world as a teenager and her travels continued as an adult. She even visited the Amazon on a recent Rotary trip to South America and fished for piranha and swam with pink dolphins. She went to college at the University of Oklahoma, where she met and married her husband when she was a senior in college. Her husband, Joe, was a medical student and his residency in neurosurgery was at U.C. Davis, so that is what brought them to Sacramento. Dee always loved California, so was thrilled to be able to move here. Dee is an attorney by profession and she retired from the firm of Weintraub, Genshlea, Gianonni, and Sproul, where she specialized in business law. If you love art, you should ask Dee if you can come to visit her at her home to see her fabulous art collection. Her walls are covered with art by famous artists and there are even two large sculptures outside. She also loves going to theater and operas, so if you ever need someone to go to the opera with, just call Dee. Dee’s passion in the non-profit area is working with organizations that support children in foster care or in other difficult situations. She has served on boards and foundations in this area for the last 30 years. A fun fact about Dee: She chuckles when she remembers this story about raising her own children. When her son was in high school, he did not keep his room clean and so she asked him to please keep his door shut. She said one day when she walked by his room, she found that he had taped a large sheet across his doorway. She asked him why in the world he had done that. He said the reason was that he couldn’t remember to close his door.”
New Member Induction
President LINDA GEERY (CFO/California Lawyers Association), with the assistance of ROBYN DELONG (Realtor/Coldwell Banker), welcomed STEVEN WALKER (President/Fast Break Tech) back to the club after a several-year absence. “I’ve known Steven since 2000, and he’s been my computer guy ever since,” said ROBYN. “He started FastBreakTech in 1999, just out of high school as a sole proprietor. Today, they have 10 employees supporting 1,500 clients and taking care of 4,500 computers. He joined our club in 2010, then in 2018, joined Arden-Arcade. And now he’s back. He was born and raised in Sacramento and graduated from El Camino High School and Sacramento State in 2007 with a bachelor's in management information systems. He was an Eagle Scout, has a black belt, has made 2,500 skydives and since 2018, has run 39 half-marathon Spartan races across the West Coast. I’m trying to convince him to go on American Ninja Warrior next. He and his husband, Jason, have been together for 18 years and married for eight. They are parents to Avery, their four-year-old Goldendoodle. They love to travel and so far, have visited 64 countries. They also purchased their first commercial building in 2018 from TOM BACON (Bacon Commercial Real Estate): 1111 Expo, which backs up to LARRY CASSIDY’s (Northern California Collection Service) building on Leisure Lane. And RICK OSEN (Sutter Builders) did their build-out.”
Club Announcements
- JUSTINO SANTANA (Nonprofit Business Development Manager/eFundraising Connections) reminded Rotarians that they need not play golf in order to participate in Golf 4 Kids on May 12th. There is a post-golf auction and dinner, to which all are welcome. You can sign up for dinner by clicking here.
- Past President DIANE MIZELL (Retired) said there are still tee sponsorships available for the golf event at Land Park next week. If you’re interested, you can email Diane by clicking here.
- President LINDA told everyone that there is an optional membership category known as “Rule of 85.” She said not everyone is aware of it, so there will be a special communication about it going out shortly. She said the idea is not to encourage people who are eligible to change over, but simply to make them aware of the option.
- President LINDA also provided an update on the Club’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts. She told members that the club is committed to this work, and fully aligned with Rotary International. Copies of the RI commitment statement were provided to members. To obtain a copy, click here.
They Are Gems for Giving
Past President KEVIN SMITH-FAGAN (Executive Director/Fairytale Town) made a donation in honor of the newspaper clipping given to him by KIEFE BREUER (Retired) that shows Kiefe playing the role of Little Red Riding Hood on April 28, 1963, production at Fairytale Town. Past President JON SNYDER (Broker/Snyder Commercial Real Estate) made a donation to celebrate the return of his son, James, to the Music Circus stage as well as an appearance this coming Monday on CBS television’s NCIS series. RICK OSEN (President/Sutter Builders) made donations celebrating his dad’s 81st birthday and the one-year anniversary of his kidney donation to his sister. President-elect TODD KOOLAKIAN (Director of Philanthropy/Sacramento Children’s Home) completed his next Paul Harris. And PAUL KEEFER (Executive Director/Pacific Charter Institute) celebrated the return of STEVEN WALKER to the club with a donation.
Thought for the Day
PAUL KEEFER told the audience, “As we move on to ‘graduation season,’ I think quotes should be used sparingly. More importantly, the quotes should stand the test of time. Feel free to use the following quote from Abraham Lincoln: ‘I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.’”
Meeting Sponsor
MEGAN WYGANT (Executive Director/CLARA Studios) used her three minutes as Meeting Sponsor to show a video highlighting the impressive achievements of the still-relatively-new E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts. Thousands of students have benefitted annually from their various programs since the studios were founded.
We Had Visitors
Sergeant-at-Arms KATHE NATHAN (Retired/Merchants Bank of Commerce) introduced our visitors. They included: Gordon Eagan, guest of BOB ROSENBERG; Bhaynesh Makin, guest of JOHN FRISCH (Senior Managing Director/Newmark); Danielle Franco-Matteolli, guest of PAUL KEEFER; visiting Rotarian Brad Squires; visiting Rotarian and prospective member Tom Boak; and prospective returning member Steve Ruland.
Thanks for Helping
President LINDA thanked CALLEE SETZER (Sales/Setzer Forest Products), Past President SUSAN SHERIDAN (Retired/Sheridan Law Corporation), and STEVE SHIFLETT (Retired/State Parks) for being Greeters (STEVE also provided the meeting-ending Smile for the Day); JOHN SWENTOWSKY (Owner/Swentowsky Photography) for being meeting photographer; and STEVE HEATH (Executive Director/RCOS) for filling in as Pulse Reporter.
Next Meeting
There is no meeting on May 9th. Members are urged to take part in Golf 4 Kids. The next meeting will be May 16th and the speaker will be Sacramento County Supervisor Rich Desmond.
--Photo Gallery—
(Snapshots of the meeting, courtesy of John Swentowsky)
