Member Highlights

Celeste Chernicky grew up in Sunnyvale in a family of six and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1974 with a degree in mathematics. She married John, her high school sweetheart, and they moved to Pacifica 43 years ago where they bought their house in Park Pacifica.

The same month that they moved to Pacifica, Celeste volunteered to be a religious education teacher at St. Peter’s where she taught 7^th graders and 1^st graders for over 30 years. She also served on the pastoral council, coordinated the production of several church directories, and managed her Renew group’s Adopt a Family Pajaro project the last few years. She enjoyed volunteering at her son’s elementary school, helping in the classroom, serving on the Home School Club board and running most of the school’s fundraisers.

Celeste began her professional career as an actuarial analyst. After taking seven years off to be an at home mom, she changed careers and worked as a project manager for a company that provided technical assistance to government organizations in the field of national and community service. She retired 15 years later.

Since her retirement, Celeste has become devoted to Relay for Life of Pacifica Coastside and the fight against cancer. She serves on the planning committee, is the sponsorship coordinator, and team captain for the St. Peter’s Friends and Family Relay team. She feels it’s now time to expand her volunteer activities by becoming a member of Rotary Club of Pacifica. She looks forward to getting to know the other Rotarians and working on various projects that support our community and beyond.

 

Rotary Welcomes New Member – Mike Haase

 

Membership Chair Linda Jonas presented new member Mike Haase for installation to the Rotary Club of Pacifica with President Carl, Sponsor Bob and PDG Ron Gin conducting the ceremonies.

Michael grew up in Milwaukee and moved to San Francisco in 1982. He worked for the City & County of San Francisco for 36 years as Assistant Chief of Claims/Investigations for the City Attorney for San Francisco. He’s been married to Connie Menefee for 30 years and they have two children, Nick - 29 and Samantha – 27. Michael loves to garden, hike/walk, and be outdoors. He also loves baseball and attends many of the Giants’ games.  Michael has stated that he’s very excited about joining Rotary Club of Pacifica – he’s aware of what a fantastic worldwide organization we have, one that does incredible humanitarian work. He’s also aware of just how much our local club does for Pacifica. He’s honored to join with us and thanks us for including him in our club!

After words of wisdom from President Carl and PDG Ron Gin sponsor presented Mike with his Rotary pin and Membership Chair Linda Jonas presented Mike a book about Rotary and his certificate of membership making Mike officially the newest Rotary member in Pacifica.  Mike also received one of the “infamous” Rob Gin neon green caps as part of the celebration!

 

Gwen Kane is a California native, born and raised in Fresno, California.  She attended Fresno State where her initial major was law, with a minor in accounting, then she changed her major to accounting. 

While at Fresno State, she was elected the president of FBLA for 3 years.  This was an excellent opportunity to reach out to other business leaders in our community and it taught her a great deal about becoming an entrepreneur.  She opened her own business in Fresno, a janitorial service for commercial accounts, and worked as a paralegal for several law firms and the Central Unified School District as an administrative assistant.

Moving to Sioux City, IA she once again opened her own business, which flourished for 18+ years. She also interned as a graphic designer, which led her to managing and working in the television and advertising/print industry. 

Returning to California a little over 3 years ago and could not be happier to be back home – away from the snow and the cold!  She’s very grateful for the opportunity of working at Granite Creditors Service with Steve Wright, her Rotary sponsor.  She’s also thankful for the opportunity to serve our community as a new member of the Rotary Club of Pacifica.

Last, but not by any means least, her proudest accomplishment is to be the mother of 3 beautiful children and one beautiful granddaughter.

 

President Carl Schwab and sponsor, Linda Jonas, welcomed new member Vickie Flores to the Pacifica Rotary family.  Vickie was born and raised in Pacifica attending Sharp Park attending Sharp Park School (now IBL) and Oceana High School.  She has attended the University of Phoenix.

 

Vickie was the CEO of the Pacifica Chamber of Commerce and is currently the CEO of Final Key Consulting, a technology business specializing in Microsoft CRM implementations, website development, and organizational change management. She also has a background in technology, sales, marketing, and finance.

 

Vickie has shared her valuable skills as active member of the Pacifica community serving on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Club and the Pacifica Beach Coalition.   Vickie has visited the Pacifica Rotary several times over the past couple of years and felt that she would like to help on a broader scale and get involved in international programs, as well as local ones. 

 

Pacifica Rotarians were pleased to welcome Vickie to Rotary as sponsor Linda presented her with her Rotary pin.