Diane Barone is a foundation professor of literacy studies at the University of Nevada. Her research focuses on children’s literacy development and instruction. Recently, she has worked with fifth grade students to better understand their written interpretations of various genre and their visual interpretations of film and novels. Diane has served as Editor of Reading Research Quarterly and Editor of Editor of The Reading Teacher. She became a member of the Reading Hall of Fame in 2015. She has served on the boards of the Literacy Research Association and the International Literacy Association. She was President of the International Literacy Association.

David is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist who is driven to create positive change in the world around him.  An early riser, David's passion for his family, his company and its employees and his love of exploring Northern Nevada are what gets him out of bed at 5am every morning.  On weekends, he can often be found with his best friend and wife, Susan cycling somewhere on the Tahoe-Pyramid Bike Trails.

Always happy to roll up his sleeves, David has helped build churches in Mexico, coordinated relief efforts after hurricane Katrina, been a house-parent at a Christian Children’s Home for abused/troubled kids and through a Rotary project has helped to provide clean water to villagers in Gondar, Ethiopia. 

David challenges himself and those around him to pursue excellence and balance in both life and work. David is a proud past-president of the Reno Central Rotary Club, a wicked competitor at Backgammon and corn-hole and a total marshmallow when it comes to babies, puppies and kids.

David became involved with the Bridges Out of Poverty program after interviewing many of the Reno-Sparks non-profit leaders to “find an area of greatest need”, for a local Area 8 joint Rotary project for the 2016-17 Rotary year.  Since then he has worked with his fellow Rotarians, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada and the Reno Housing Authority to grow the Bridges program, and to help make a positive impact on families living in poverty in the Reno/Sparks area.

Our speaker today will be Manny Lamarre, Executive Director, Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation for a New Nevada.  Manny is a super speaker, and will share Nevada's plan for workforce development, and talk about the industries we anticipate coming to Nevada. He will also discuss the professions and skills needed to support these new industries

 Background of The Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN)

Executive Director, Manny Lamarre

OWINN will help promote a skilled, diverse, and aligned workforce in Nevada by building cooperation and collaboration among all entities focused on workforce development.

Manny’s background includes teaching and coaching, grants and project management, and policy advising. Manny holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Wittenberg University and a Master’s in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he was the recipient of the Class Marshal Award for leadership, service, and being an exemplary representative of the Harvard community.

Fun Facts: He also holds a design patent for an invention and enjoys writing poetry and working out.

·       In March of 2016, Governor Sandoval issued Executive Order 2016-08 creating OWINN within the Office of the Governor using federal funds reserved for statewide workforce investment activities from the Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA).

·       The creation of OWINN is aligned with WIOA’s vision of a seamless workforce system that helps job seekers access employment, education, training, and other support services.

·       Among other objectives, OWINN will provide leadership in creating career pathway strategies for Nevada in the fields of information technology, advanced manufacturing, education, and healthcare.

·       The office will administer grants to help carry out its mission, support the Governor’s Workforce Development Board and industry sector councils, offer strategy in supporting the state in its implementation of WIOA, and enhance cooperation and collaboration among all entities engaged in workforce development.

Our speaker today will be Matt Morris, Legislative Director, Office of Governor Brian Sandoval, who will be speaking on the 79th Legislative Session and the "New Nevada"

Matt received his law degree from UNLV’s Boyd School of Law, and graduated with honors from Nevada State College where he was an editor of the college newspaper. Prior to his tenure in Governor Sandoval’s office, Matt served as a Speechwriter and Research Assistant in Washington, D.C. for U.S. Senator Dean Heller, and he previously worked in Las Vegas as a representative in Heller’s local Congressional and Senate offices. Matt has been recognized with the 2017 Young Alumni Award from the Boyd School of Law, and is active in his community, serving on the Board of Directors for Jobs for America’s Graduates and as a volunteer with Northern Nevada Literacy Council.

Candee Candler will be speaking to us today about Donor Network West. Donor Network West is the federally-designated Organ Procurement Organization in northern Nevada, facilitating the recovery and transplantation process from heroic organ and tissue donors to those on the national transplant waiting list. This presentation will provide an overview of the organs and tissues that can be transplanted, how someone becomes a donor, the incredible need for donors nation- and statewide, the personal story of someone with a relationship to donation, dispelling of popular myths, and the answering of questions relating to the recovery and transplantation of organs and tissues.

Candee's background:

·        Native Nevadan; graduate of Sparks High School and the University of Nevada, Reno where I earned a B.A. degree in Journalism.

·        Over a decade of experience in marketing and communications including numerous years at the Reno-Tahoe Open, now known as the Barracuda Championship, the PGA TOUR event; Sinclair Broadcast Group; and now, for Donor Network West, the area’s federally-designed organ procurement organization.

·        At Donor Network West I am northern Nevada’s Community Development Liaison. I work closely with volunteers, develop partnerships with businesses, faith groups and health organizations, and provide community education about life-saving organ and tissue transplantation to create a culture of donation within the communities of Washoe County and Carson City.

·        In addition to organ and tissue education, I am also a member of the Board of Directors for Girl Scouts of Sierra Nevada.

                                              Our Meeting Today Will Be In Naples 6

Steve Mestre is a past president of the Rotary Club of Reno 2011-2012.  During his year as president, in the heart of the recession, the club received 48 applications for new members.  With lessons learned, Steve spent 3 years developing the website GivingTrail.org to help Rotary clubs grow membership and raise money. 

Steve is a recipient of the District 5190 Club Builder Award and will be District Membership Chair in 2017-2018.   Steve was also District Youth Service Chair in 2013-2014.  He and his wife Greta have hosted 5 RYE kids.  Both their kids were outbound students.  Their son Jake, a mechanical engineer, went to Italy and their daughter Anna, a City of Reno firefighter, went to Belgium.

Steve will present a creative way to use crowd funding to fund our club projects with a focus on attracting other people’s money.  More importantly, there is a not so obvious but very effective critical path to attracting new members.  Several clubs in district 5190 have used GivngTrail.org with great success.

Great Basin Brewing Company started out as a dream for Tom Young. His love of homebrewing and the decline of the mining industry in the early nineties lead to that question of “Why not?” Why not put it all on the line when there is a chance to live a dream? Luckily for all of us, he did.

Tom faced many obstacles, including laws that prohibited beer production and a lack of banks unwilling to give a loan because they believed beer would not be popular. Today, Nevada’s oldest brewery is possible partly because Tom helped to get legislation passed that allowed the production of beer. Opening in 1993, Tom and his wife Bonda learned through many trials and tribulations how to run a restaurant and brewery. As the years passed, popularity grew and Great Basin became the local place to go for great beer, great food, and a great time.

To help with rising demand of great local craft beer, Great Basin opened the second location in Reno in July 2010. Opportunities allowed Great Basin to open the Taps & Tanks location in 2012 as a production facility and taproom. Great Basin is distributing several of our beers to Northern Nevada, Southern Nevada, Northern California, and looking forward to expanding even further. Over twenty years later, it still feels like a dream that has come true over and over again.

Great Basin is proof that dreams can come true, especially with a great community following. We love the Reno-Tahoe area and are proud to represent the state of Nevada as the oldest and the most award-winning brewery, having won numerous medals at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival® and even more prestigious World Beer Cup®. The dream lives on…