April 8 2015 Newsletter

Invocation: Lorrie Shaffer opened the meeting with an inspiring invocation from the Book of Monbeck.

Guest Announcer: Andy Denton was our announcer today.  She began by thanking John Long, Sergeant at Arms and Tony Falcione for getting everyone checked in.

She also reported that Bob Oborn was recognized at a special breakfast in Kent honoring business leaders.

Karen Monbeck will go home this afternoon after four months in rehab.  It was suggested that we send cards or call but do not stop in without calling.

Visitors: Nick Browning, our speaker, Laura Allio and Paul Organ all were visitors today.

Fines:  Steve Dunton and Christina Gary forgot their pins today and Linda Trevorrow was last in.

Special Days:    

Rotary Anniversaries:  None

Wedding Anniversary:  Dick Spangler and his wife Jo Ann will celebrate their 56^th anniversary on April 11^th.

Birthdays:  John Murphy and Dave Christman will celebrate birthdays this week.  Pat Messmore led us in singing Happy Birthday to Dave.  We hope John was celebrating somewhere else.

Drawing:   This was the first week of a new series of drawings, so no one really cared that the joker wasn’t drawn.

Happy Bucks: Bruce Redmon announced the Golf Outing for the GriefCare Place which will be held on May 15^th.  See him if you are interested.

Board Meeting will be Friday, April 10^th at Silver Lake at 7:15.  Board members should be sure to attend but anyone else is welcome to attend and will receive a make-up.

Jim Callahan passed around the clipboard for announcers for the rest of April.

Dave Renninger announced that we will again go to the Foodbank next month on May 6th.  Be sure to sign up to help.

Police Chief, Jeff Film announced that Lou Dirker has new health challenges with his lymphoma and asked that we keep him in our thoughts. Although he is in the hospital, we should send cards to his home. No visitors are permitted right now.

Bob Oborn asked us to consider sponsoring a horse at the District Conf. for $20 to fight polio.  See him if you are interested.

Dick Hall reminded us to sign up to work at the April 30^th Achievement Banquet at the High School

 On April 15^th, Mike Sekulich will bring David Horning to the club for the program.

April 22^nd Brad Ruth will have the program

April 29^th Annie Hanson will present the results of the Club Survey and on May 27^th, a club action plan as a result of the survey.

Lorrie Shaffer began with her member moment and told us that she first became a Rotarian in October of 1987.  She has been married to Steve for 35 years and is the mother of sons Matthew and Andy.  Matthew works at Allstate in Hudson and Andy is with Comedy Central in Los Angeles.

She then introduced Nick Browning, our speaker, who is the President/CEO of First Merit Bank’s Akron Region since November of 2003.  He addressed the state of the economy and also the importance of succession planning.  He explained that the both the recession and the recovery have taken longer this time but that things look good right now.  A couple of concerns are the overseas exports and what action the Federal Reserve will take as far as managing the economy. We are in the area of 2 ½ to 3% growth which is good.

He also explained the importance of succession planning. Whether it is for our family or our business, it is important that we know what will happen if we “get hit by a bus tomorrow” or whether things change due to death, retirement or a promotion.  We all need a sustainable infrastructure.  We all will leave our business someday.  How do we do it?  One suggestion is that for every position, we build in “tribal knowledge” with everyone in the business documenting everything they do and how they do it.    This type of succession is vital for our success and the success of our organizations 

Foodbank:  First Wednesday of every month 5-7 p.m.

Board Meetings:  Second Friday of every month at 7:15 a.m.

District Conference and Training:  April 24-26

Achievement Banquet:  April 30

Heroes’ Day, May 16th

Golf Outing:  June 5

Rockin’ On the River June 13

Installation Breakfast: June 24

Pride Breakfast: July 1

Reverse Raffle Silent Auction:  October 14

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30.