PDG Joe Laureni

Joe has been an active Rotarian since 1984 when he joined the Mid-Bergen County club. In 1986, he became Club President. The highlight of his year was introducing the Gift of Life program to his club, which has gone on to sponsor 14 children. In 2004, Joe became the Centennial President of the Mid-Bergen club. During this term as President, the club chartered an Interact club at the Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro, New Jersey and started the Ralph Molter Foundation, a 501 c(3) organization to honor the memory of one of Mid-Bergen's great Rotarians. On the District level, Joe is a Trustee of the Gift of Life Foundation most recently serving as Treasurer. In 2005, Joe served as sub-committee chairman of the first annual Gift of Life walk-a-thon that raised $30,000.00.

Joe was born in New York City on January 5,1950. He and his wife, Sonia, a high school teacher, reside in Oradell, New Jersey. They have four children, one of whom is a Rotarian. Joe earned a Bachelor of Science from Manhattan College in New York, and a PhD in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York. In 1977, Joe was awarded a Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to study as a Post-Doctoral fellow at Harvard University. In 1978, Joe gave up a promising science career to join a newly founded, family construction business where he served as vice-president until 1995. He currently works as a Systems Analyst at the Prudential Insurance Company in Roseland, New Jersey.

Joe is a Paul Harris fellow and has been honored with a Walter D. Head award and a Gift of Life Humanitarian award. Joe hopes to build on the work of past District Governors to increase

1. The community 's awareness of Rotary

2. Rotary, Rotaract, Interact and React club membership

3. Participation in the Rotary Foundation and the Walter D.Head Foundation

4. The accomplishments of the Gift of Life program

Joe would like to see an increase in inter-club cooperation on local and international projects