Randy Lashinski joined Millipede as President and CEO in 2013 bringing to the organization a wealth of experience in early stage company executive leadership and technology innovation in the structural heart space. Prior to Millipede, Randy was the Founder, President and CEO of Claret Medical, a percutaneous, dual-filter company for TAVI procedures. Randy led the early technology invention and established and ran the clinical trial leading to CE Mark and commercialization in Europe and early IDE discussions with the FDA. In addition to Claret, Randy co-founded and was President/CEO and later Chief Technology Officer of Direct Flow Medical, a percutaneous aortic valve company. Prior to Direct Flow, Randy served as Founding Engineer and VP of Research and Development at MitraLife, later sold to ev3, where he developed a device for the treatment of mitral regurgitation. Randy’s early cardiovascular experience included various engineering roles at Arterial Vascular Engineering (AVE) / Medtronic Vascular and Target Therapeutics. Randy received his education in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Randy's presentation will be about medical device manufacturing in Sonoma County

On a regular basis, our resident photo pros Warren Smith and Jack Strange submit 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 and Ross! Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!

Additional photos may be found on the SR Sunrise Facebook Page.

Tasked with the duty of leading the pledge at the breakfast meeting, Sunriser Vicki Lockner took the opportunity to also review the history of these well known words.

In the 1930s, the salute of the flag, by an all too familiar diagonally raised arm was discontinued.

In the 1940s, the pledge did not include the words, "under God."

In the 1950s, when these two words were inserted, many people seemed to place a comma before "under God."

Today, most of us realize that there is no comma.  "One nation under God," is a complete phrase.

Sunrisers appreciated being reminded of the story behind the pledge and learning something new.

Sunriser Ezbon Jen reports that six dental students from the Santa Rosa Junior College saw 24 children on September 28.  Unfortunately 1/3 of the group was found to have cavities.  Fortunately these cavities were found in time to be treated.

BTW:  Peter Treleven also advised that Veteran Ezbon was awarded a Bronze Star for his service.

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Sunriser Randy Seelye and wife Katherine, as well as Sunriser Ross Jones and wife Jane,  celebrated their recent anniversaries with romantic trips.  

Rob and Noel celebrate spouse's birthdays

Sunriser Rob Sanville gave wife Betsy a carefree beach party for her birthday and Sunriser Noel Glab also celebrated husband Christopher's birthday, last month.

Sunriser and Veteran Peter Treleven treated Rotarians to a "brief" (8 minutes allowed by president Doug) sample of his war stories in honor of the upcoming Veteran's Day lunch.  Sponsored by the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs of Santa Rosa, the luncheon will be held on Thursday, November 9, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Building and will feature guest speaker Major General Gary Medvigy (Superior Court Judge Retired).

Tickets are $30 for two -- one for you and one for a guest veteran.  Or you may give the second ticket to Peter for a veteran of his acquaintance.  There will be no Rotary breakfast that morning.

Ian H. S. Riseley

President 2017-18

Some years ago in the Melbourne, Australia, museum where my daughter used to work, an iron lung was on display. For most people my age who remembered the terrifying polio epidemics of the 1950s, that iron lung was a testament to how far vaccination had brought us: to the point where that once-critical piece of medical equipment had literally become a museum piece.

For much of the world, the story of polio is a simple one: After years of fear, a vaccine was developed and a disease was conquered. But for some of the world, the story was different. In so many countries, the vaccine wasn’t available, mass vaccination was too expensive, or children simply couldn’t be reached. While the rest of the world relegated polio to its museums, in these countries, the disease continued to rage – until Rotary stepped forward and said that all children, no matter where they lived or what their circumstances, deserved to live free of polio.

In the years since PolioPlus was launched, the combined efforts of Rotary, the governments of the world, and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative have brought the number of cases of polio down from an estimated 350,000 per year to just a few so far in 2017. But we must reach zero cases, and stay there, to achieve eradication. To do that, we need everyone’s help.

On 24 October, we will mark World Polio Day. It is a day to celebrate how far we have come and an opportunity for all of us to raise awareness and funds to complete the work of eradication.  I ask every Rotary club to participate in some way in World Polio Day activities, and I encourage you to visit endpolio.org for ideas and to register your event. Whether you host a silent auction, a virtual reality viewing, a fundraising walk, or a Purple Pinkie Day, your club can make a real difference.

This year, our World Polio Day livestream event will take place at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle; you can watch it on endpolio.org beginning at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time. As many of you know, Rotary has committed to raising $50 million a year for the next three years. This amount will be matched 2-to-1 by the Gates Foundation – effectively tripling the value of all money Rotary raises on World Polio Day and throughout the year. Let’s all make a difference on World Polio Day – and help End Polio Now.

Paul A. Netzel

Trustee Chair 2017-18

What do we mean when we talk about peace?

In 1921, the fourth object of Rotary was established: "The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service."

In Rotary today, we see peace not as an abstract concept but as a living, dynamic expression of human development, integral to our humanitarian mission.

Much of our work for peacebuilding depends on the ability of Rotary members to execute three important activities: forming transformative partnerships, raising funds to support our many hundreds of projects, and recruiting and supporting Rotary Peace Fellows in their work.

This year The Rotary Foundation formed a strategic partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace, one of the leading organizations in identifying and measuring the attitudes, institutions, and structures that create and sustain peaceful societies.

Through this partnership, Rotary will work with the institute to create an online learning portal for Rotarians and peace fellows to build on their current expertise, apply new methods, and mobilize communities to address the issues underlying conflicts. Our goal is to foster community-based projects in peace and conflict resolution that are practical and impactful.

Rotary has also launched a Rotary Peace Centers Major Gifts Initiative to raise funds for new partnerships while continuing to garner contributions to educate and support our peace fellows and more.

President Ian H.S. Riseley's six peacebuilding conferences – taking place globally from February to June – will explore the relationship among peace, Rotary's areas of focus, and environmental sustainability. Our history proves that you don't need to be a diplomat to make peace.

When you mentor a student struggling to graduate, you are a peacebuilder.

When you launch any project to support economic development in your community, you are building conditions for sustainable peace and conflict management.

When you support and collaborate with a Rotary Peace Fellow, you are advancing peace.

Today's complex conflicts require more creative community-based initiatives. Together we can really make a difference.