Economic Outlook and Investing Strategies for Today's Market
Craig Fehr is a principal and the leader of investment strategy for Edward Jones. Craig is responsible for analyzing and interpreting economic trends and market conditions, along with constructing investment strategies and asset allocation guidance designed to help investors reach their financial goals. He was named an Edward Jones principal in 2015 and sits on the firm’s Investment Policy Committee, the group of investment professionals responsible for Edward Jones’ investment guidance, asset allocation decisions and expectations for long-term capital market returns. Craig joined Edward Jones in 2002, holding the positions of senior equity trader and senior equity analyst covering the financial services sector prior to assuming leadership of the Investment Strategy team. Craig is frequently featured in a variety of media and financial news outlets and is a regular guest-host on Bloomberg TV. He has been featured in Barron’s, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, SmartMoney magazine, MarketWatch, the Financial Post, Yahoo! Finance, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Investment Executive TV and CNBC. Craig holds a master's degree in finance from Harvard University, an MBA with an emphasis in economics from Saint Louis University and a bachelor's degree in finance from Truman State University. He also is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School’s Securities Industry Institute. In addition, Craig is a CFA® charterholder and member of the St. Louis Society of Financial Analysts. Craig resides in St. Louis with his wife, Keri, and their children, Caden and Mila. He is an avid golfer and enjoys traveling with his family.
The Robert Ferguson Observatory, by Stephanie Derammelaere, Executive Director
Our speaker for October 13, 2022, was Stephanie Derammelaere, the Executive Director of Robert Ferguson Observatory (“RFO”), the observatory at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park in Glen Ellen, CA. Stephanie She holds a degree in business economics, an MBA, and prior experience in marketing, public relations, and journalism, among other skills and accomplishments. At RFO she is responsible for strategic leadership, fund development, daily operations, and partnerships, among other activities.
The Valley of the Moon Observatory Association (“VMOA”) is an association of amateur and professional astronomers responsible for the construction, maintenance, and utilization of RFO and is a nonprofit under the auspices of the State Parks System. The purpose of the observatory is to give the public a place to foster interest in astronomy and space and to inspire young people to pursue education and careers in astronomy or related STEM fields. RFO was founded 37 years ago when Robert Ferguson started the Striking Sparks program and made telescopes by hand as awards to students. Phase I of the observatory project began in 1995. Phase II, the construction of classrooms, restrooms, the library, and East Wing, was completed in 1999. A dome room was constructed in 2002. RFO is now the largest public observatory in Northern California. RFO houses a 40” telescope in the West Wing, an 8” refractor in the South Wing, and a 20” astrophotography scope in the East Wing. 3 solar scopes allow for the safe viewing of sunspots, solar flares, and solar prominences.
RFO offers a variety of programs, including Public Star Parties, Seasonal Night Sky Class Series, Bring your own telescope night, private star parties, daytime programs/guided planet walk tours, solar observing and a speaker series. Off-site programs include school visits, private star parties (for an “out of this world” experience), museum visits, outreach programs, and “Young Astronomers.” A list of public events is available on RFO’s website. RFO also offers a variety of ways to get involved, including attending or hosting an event, signing up for the mailing list, becoming a member or volunteer, or donating. (Visit RFO.org for details. Tickets are available at rfo.simpletix.com.
Thank you, Stephanie, for the informative and enjoyable presentation. And many thanks for your active involvement in helping develop key community and educational goals!
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
First it was "Fines". And when that was thought to be "negative" it became "recognitions" and after that "High Five". But Jack has announced a new twist for these moments, designed to fit every celebration as well as sorrowful news. And it does not have to be a "High Five". "Happy Dollars" and "Sad Dollars" can be whatever you want them to be. Or whatever you feel is appropriate.
Happy Dollars
We have a new member and his name is William Billeter!
Scott Holder is a winner! He won a raffle prize after being entered for making contributions to the Rotary Foundation.
Scott also announced a challenge for our club to have a new building at Canine Companions named after our Club. An anonymous doner is matching $12,500 of our dollars. More details to follow.
Here is Wallace telling the club how life has improved by a series of service dogs.
Flo was happy to report they are proud hosts of a breeder dog for Canine Companions!
Max Bridges announced he and Dee Dee (not Del) are going on a tour of Patagonia over the next few weeks. Bon Voyage!
Harry Coffee had Happy Dollars for the first Native American woman to orbit Earth in the International Space Station, Nicole Mann, who his daughter played soccer with. Judy Coffee was quoted in the Press Democrat for a story about Nicole, She said she was always talking about the stars and the moon. You can do wonders when you follow your dreams!
Sad Dollars
Dick Perman has departed from our club membership.
Marty Behr is having surgery and Eloise asks us to keep him in our thoughts.
Do you have Happy or Sad Dollars to share? There is no need to wait until the meeting. Send them to the editor.
Thanks to Peter, Jim, Mathew, Leroy, Rob, Rob's friend Doug and of course Warren (for the photos).
This is the work crew that helped set the poles for the YWCA Children's center that will hold three shade sails providing shade for the back of the property where the counselors work with the children.
The job was to dig five 2' deep holes on top of which we set square frames. We filled the holes to the top of the frames with concrete and inserted the base poles (long bolts on the bottom).
You can see one pole in the front left of the above photo. There are extensions to make these poles 10 feet tall. Once the concrete is cured we will add the extensions and attach the sails to the tops. This will create 600 sq ft of shade that is easily maintained. The fellow on the end next to me is an old friend with a ton of construction experience who really enjoyed the group activity and the "giving back". He dug a couple of holes by himself and added a professional touch to finishing the concrete. As always the Golden Hammer was in fine form keeping us all moving.
M.J. Girard is currently an on air personality on KOWSfm.com His “Roots of Rock” is broadcast every Sunday morning at 7 AM
Thank you for the warm welcome! It’s good to be home.
As we enter the holiday season, it warms the heart to have those around you that appreciate the wealth of giving. Rotary has the deep history of sharing with those who are in need of the helping hand up. Worldwide, there is always the open door and welcoming smile to put your mind at ease.
I have been in touch with many different clubs, within our district and overseas…(if you can call Hawaii overseas)…clubs in Wales and Mexico are as warm as our very own. The Wealth of Nations are found within the hearts and minds of fellow Rotarians.
May I invite you to tune into KOWSFM.com to view our wealth of programming, predominantly locally produced, live programs that educate, entertain and inspire. Incidentally, we are always on the lookout for those interested in producing their own program…variety is the spice of life! Hosting your own program is not as daunting as one might think.
The Roots of Rock is my contribution to tickle the old memory bone, whilst sharing the good news of placing “Love” first and foremost. Music request maybe made on my website: Girard.org or via text: 707.391.9463 either way, I will do my best to honor your request.
Until our next meeting, “Happy Trails” is the path you choose. God Bless and stay well.
Sunrise District Matching Grant to provide special high back moulded swing seats is gaining momentum as the City Parks and Recreation planning process narrows the precise location. Factoring existing structures and those due for upgrade, surface enhancements for accessibility weigh in on the final site location. One candidate is the new Kawana Springs Community Park. Taking a visit to that neighborhood it is apparent just how valuable open space is to community interaction.
Kawana Springs is so new, that it has not gone online, aka opened! Pictured above, and familiar to many Sunrisers is Nagasawa Community Park on Fountaingrove Blvd. Frequently the staging area for our SRKSEP Santa Rosa Kagoshima Student Exchange Program carpools. The park takes its name from local viticulturist and vintner Kanaye Nagasawa, developer along with Thomas Lake Harris of vineyards now on the Paradise Ridge property.
Time plus imagination, persistence and perspiration transformed the landscape of Fountaingrove as it will Kawana Springs and the thousands of people living and frolicking there. We have the opportunity and privilege of planting a vineyard for all ages.
More to come. Contact Rich Randolph for additional information. rjurny@gmail.com
A Rotary club is flourishing in an office building on Australia’s Gold Coast
By Brad Webber
Paul Harris' summoning of three fellow businessmen for a meeting on 23 February 1905 is enshrined in Rotary lore. The Chicago skyscraper where they assembled was named, providentially, the Unity Building — an appropriately titled backdrop for the celebration of commerce and conviviality.
More than a century later and half a world away on Australia's Gold Coast, Andy Rajapakse set his sights on his own "unity building," Corporate Centre One in Bundall, Queensland. The building, with a rounded glass facade and white-pillared balconies reminiscent of the laces on an American football, is a hub for about 60 of the Gold Coast's top companies. A prime opportunity, Rajapakse reasoned, for the implementation of "this crazy idea" of his to start a Rotary club to attract young professionals from companies in one building and its surroundings.
Andy Rajapakse (far left), who helped start the Rotary Club of Gold Coast Corporate, works with club members Derek Finch (from left), Laura Johnstone, and Anna Morgan to engage young professionals.
Photograph by Rhys Martin
Hoping to turn them from competitors into a community and a force for good in the region, he paid a visit in early 2020 as the governor-elect of District 9640. He noted the firms listed on the directory and sought a meeting with a managing partner of one of the law offices there.
The elevator pitch? "To explain that most of them work and live in this building more hours a day and a week than in their home. And to imagine that if we can all get to know each other in this building, what a friendly and safer place it would be," Rajapakse recalls of the buildup to what would become the Rotary Club of Gold Coast Corporate. "Every time I see a high-rise corporate office building in Australia or New Zealand, I see an opportunity for a Rotary club."
One of those heeding Rajapakse's call was Derek Finch, an attorney who helmed the effort to form the club, posting notices and making old-fashioned cold calls. "Vanessa Jansen and I literally went door-knocking in the building to find members," says Finch, the club's charter president, referring to a fellow club member and financial planner who joined him in reaching as many as half of the roughly 60 businesses operating in the structure's 1.3 million square feet of office space. Finch says about 15 prospective members attended the organizational meeting that September.
At Rajapakse's request, Michael Irving, a past governor of the district and a retired academic, agreed to serve as the club's first-year mentor. "Rather than recommend established models of Rotary clubs, we explored how this Rotary club would be attractive to young professionals," Irving says. Naturally, Rotary's corporate membership structure took center stage. Adopting one of Rotary's flexible formats for such memberships, companies choose willing principals and pay their annual dues.
Composed almost entirely of Rotary newcomers, the club, chartered in October 2020, represents 23 businesses with a near-equal mix of men and women, most aged between their late 20s and late 40s.
"When Andy came and discussed a club focused on the younger corporate world, I thought that was an interesting proposition," says Anna Morgan. A rarity in the club, she already was exposed to Rotary though her father, Rock O'Keefe, twice president of a club that skewed to an active, but older demographic. Morgan concedes she hadn't thought Rotary was for her, because of the age difference and time requirements. "I've got three children, and I work full time. So having a club that was going to mesh well with my professional responsibilities and my family responsibilities was attractive."
For many younger individuals working in Corporate Centre One, the club's youthful vigor and businesslike approach dispel notions of stuffy confabs of older men at surf clubs. "At some of the events we hosted last year, when I talked to clients, some said, 'What are you doing with Rotary? That's for old people,'" says Club President Laura Johnstone, a business adviser. "It's very easy to explain our club as opposed to the stereotype."
Proximity, too, is a plus. As Rotarians in the building got to know everyone's fields of specialization, they began referring clients to one another. "I didn't join Rotary just to enhance my business operations," says Morgan, a personal injury attorney. "Let's just say it's a nice bonus." Johnstone adds, "It's going back to the foundations of Rotary."
Just like in Rotary's early days, the represented companies rotate as club meeting hosts. Employees give a short presentation about their corporation. Guests representing charities and neighboring Rotary clubs seeking project partners are also invited. As a result of one of those appearances, the club partnered with RizeUp, an organization that assists people affected by domestic abuse. In addition to fundraising, members assembled furnishings and provided goods to set up homes for women and children who are rebuilding their lives.
The club also provides mentoring to support Men of Business Academy, a high school that offers vocational education to students who find it difficult to engage with mainstream schooling. The club sponsored one of the students to attend a legal conference.
"What surprised me is how many young people are also looking for opportunities to give back and contribute to the community," says Morgan of the positive response to the Gold Coast Corporate club. "For me that's inspiring and encouraging. And having Rotary as the facilitator of getting those people together has been a fabulous outcome for the Gold Coast."
This story originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of Rotary magazine.
Revitalizing your club's membership
The Rotary Club of Gold Coast Corporate exists because of the flexibility offered by corporate memberships. An innovation enabled by RI bylaw changes within the past decade, the corporate membership type provides another tool clubs can use to attract new and more diverse members.
Clubs can involve a corporation — any business, nonprofit, or governmental entity — in Rotary by offering membership to some employees with relaxed attendance or service expectations. Workers not only get the chance to enhance their careers by expanding their network and visibility, they also receive the opportunity for social connections, leadership development, and service.
All are considered full, active members; they may attend the same meetings, or one company proxy may attend.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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