Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show February 10 2011

President DENNIS YOUNG called the meeting to order with a welcome to the “best Rotary Club in the world.” PP MARY PROCHNOW led the pledge of allegiance.
 
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
PP LEN MCBIRNEY, who was welcomed with warm applause upon his return to the club after treatment for cancer, announced that his doctors told him there is now no sign of any cancer.  During his treatment, he had hours to think about life expectancy and came up with this thought:  We would all grow with leaps and bounds if green veggies smelled like bacon. 
 
PEN JOHN SYLVESTER, gesturing in song director mode, led us in a snappy rendition of “America the Beautiful”.
 
Dennis thanked Greeters MONA ARMISTEAD, STEVE POMEROY, PAUL SCHUTZ, and CINDY LUEDTKE; photographer CHUCK LINDAUER; Sergeant at Arms LEW FRASER, MIKE ABRAMS and FRANK VERLOT; and cashier LARRY CHU, JR. 

VISITING ROTARIANS
MONA ARMISTEAD asked visiting Rotarians to stand for introductions. We were pleased to welcome Doug Carothers from Sunnyvale Rotary, who is a member of LARAP.
 
Leland Levy of Palo Alto Rotary announced plans for an international trip to Brazil May 10-25 for a project in Sao Paulo that would combine the sophistication of his club with what he said was the beer drinking capabilities of ours.  Okay, well then, the cost is $4,000 for two weeks plus airfare, so get in touch with him if you are interested.
 
AND GUESTS
Mona introduced Steve Wheeler, an attorney in town; ABBY AHRENS introduced Al Diaz, manager of Torrey Pines Bank, SANDIE WHIPPLE introduced her husband Art; KAREN FOX introduced Patricia, a resident of Los Altos Hills and medical writer for Stanford; MICHAEL STADLEN introduced Christine Young, who is in human resources; BONNIE BURDETT introduced her business partner Joyce Anthony; DAN HOLDEN introduced his former roommate and best friend Steve; RANDY GARD introduced Frank, a long time Los Altos resident and a financial planner; MARGE SENTOUS introduced Gee Gee Williams, who is from Palo Alto and the co-founder of the Peninsula Stroke Foundation.
 
OUR NEXT PROGRAM
Next week will be our speech program coordinated by JACK KELLY.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
DENNIS YOUNG said our program would start and end a bit early so that he could announce the new directors and urged everyone to turn in their ballots.  He also said he had two tickets to the USF Men’s Basketball game against St. Mary’s for Saturday if anyone wanted them.
 
Don’t forget the District Assembly on April 9 at the Doubletree in San Jose.  Our own PNG will be featured on a panel and Dennis says it is a great way to spend a Saturday.  Also on the docket:  STARS on March 12, see MARLENE COWAN for details.  The District Conference will be May 6-8 and if you’d like to golf in the district tournament on May 5th, please see STEVE SHEPHERD.
 
Gung Hei Fat Choy is about to happen at Chef Chu’s on Tuesday night February 15.  For those attending be sure to bring a check made out to Chef Chu’s for $60 per person and hand it in before you go up the stairs.  Happy New Year.
 
As Dennis was about to announce the Cioppino event on March 4, CINDY LUEDTKE claimed the announcement as hers.  She urged everyone to attend since currently the Sunset Club, which is a much smaller club, has more people signed up than our club.  Cost is $70 and it’s a fundraiser for Polio Plus program.  Bring guests!  You also get a bib, so be there!
 
KAREN FOX (thank you for sending in your announcement by email) reported the following: 
Our club has been awarded an Open World grant through Rotary International to host a team of five educators and a facilitator from Ekaterinburg, Russia, from Friday, April 8, to Saturday, April 16.


The Open World Program is a congressionally sponsored program that brings emerging leaders from Russia, Ukraine, and other Eurasian states to the U.S. in order to give them firsthand exposure to the American system of participatory democracy and free enterprise.  
 
The team from Ekaterinburg is interested in higher education finance, and development (fund-raising) and alumni relations.  We are planning a program to include visits to Foothill College (KURT HUEG), Santa Clara University (KAREN FOX), Stanford University and the Hoover Archives, and San Jose State University.

Our club will provide host families, and we will arrange visits with public officials, as well as trips to community events and activities.

So, please call or email KAREN FOX if you would consider hosting one or two team members during this period.  Please also let her know about community events and activities during the period of their visit that you think would be fun and interesting for the team.  We also want to provide a dinner event on Friday evening, April 15, for the team, host families, and other Club members who would like to attend. 
 
BAIDRA PROCHNOW announced the Red Badgers would be meeting at First Republic Bank at 6:00 p.m. the evening of February 10.
 
STEVE POMEROY is recruiting sponsors for the Art Show and needs help.  He even has a sales cheat sheet to give you so that you can network with friends and find someone who can donate $250 to $5,000 or more for a good cause.  Big time donors do exist, says Steve, so call if you can help.  Thanks to guest Al Diaz for making a donation on the spot from Torrey Pines Bank.
 
STEVE SHEPHERD said the largest committee in Rotary was meeting for an organizational meeting.  That would be the Golf Tournament committee.  This is the one and only organizational meeting that features a makeup, a site visit to Shoreline with lunch at Lakeside Café and golf if you want to play.  See Steve for details.
 
CHUCK LINDAUER said the timing was perfect for a travelogue of Egypt showing at the Neutra House at 5:00 p.m. Sunday the 13th at 5:00 p.m.
 
Dennis reported a new opportunity to get an End Polio Now t-shirt and participate in a District 5170 walk from the HP Pavilion to San Jose City Hall on March 20 starting at 9:00 a.m.  The cost is only $25.  Also, he needs a volunteer to be in charge of organizing this for the club so let him know if you can do it.
 
Big congratulations to JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT who received his BLUE Badge from sponsor TOM LISTON. 
 

And Via email, MICHAEL STADLEN announced the schedule for Art Show Committee Meetings:

 Mar 8,  Apr 5,  May 3,  May 10 at 5:00 PM  - 6:30
First Republic bank, community room
410 S. San Antonio Rd, Los Altos, CA, 94022
Enter through the door on the Lyell Street side of the building.

All Committee Chairpersons meet each month to coordinate planning for the Art Show.
All Vice-Chairpersons are also requested to attend.  All LARC members are also welcome.

A FINE TIME
It was PP STEVE ANDERSON’s turn to lighten a few pockets and his theme was Valentine’s Day:

• New member CRYSTA KRAMES was “recognized” and gave $20 though declined to tell about her most romantic Valentine’s Day until she’s been to a few more meetings
• BILL MOISON announced his daughter got married and both she and her new spouse celebrated birthdays, but Steve couldn’t read the list to find out how much Bill owed.  Bill said he knew a good eye doctor, then, agreed to pay the difference to join the President’s Club
• SETH MANNING celebrated a decade changing birthday by donating $1,000 to the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project, because we have the best Rotary Club in the world
• STEVE ANDERSON also owned up to a decade-changing birthday in March and joined the President’s Club
• ANNE  ARJANI got engaged on Valentine’s Day for a $30 fine
• SAM PESNER wanted to fine his friend, RICK GLAZE, for his birthday.  Rick said it was no decade-changer, and he was 29 years old and holding, therefore $20 was appropriate. 

• Steve then called on FRANCIS LA POLL, who asked why do I get fined every time I come to Rotary?  He joined the President’s Club
• JOHN SINES also gave $80 to join the President’s Club with encouragement from MEL KAHN to smile.
• FRANK VERLOT upped his giving by $20
• DAN HARDING was asked to catch up to his Dad, SAM HARDING, and ended up joining the President’s Club though he declined to tell any romantic stories with Dad in the audience
• ALAN VARNI had a birthday the next day and admitted to having to change his health care plan to one we are all paying for worth $65
• HERB MARSHALL was surprised CINDY LUEDTKE didn’t have a cheese head on with the Packer Super Bowl win, but wanted to let the club know baby number two was on the way so he paid a fine while he could still afford it
• Cindy admitted to partying in Santa Cruz with her parents and paid $20 for the reminder her team won
• This was after roping in her fellow Cheesehead in crime, KENDRA GJERSETH for an added $20 fine
• MARK JOHNSEN offered to be fined $20 for being a shareholder of the Green Bay Packers

THE ROTARY PROGRAM
BONNIE BURDETT introduced Dr. Jane Shaw, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Intel and the retired Chairman and CEO of Aerogen, Inc.  Shaw served as President and Chief Operating Officer at ALZA Corporation from 1987 to 1994.  She holds more than a dozen patents, has been published in over 120 publications and is the recipient of numerous awards. She’s also Bonnie's dear friend.
 
Speaking on the topic of “Diversity in the Board Room”, Shaw said this has been a hot topic for the last decade, but is now at an “inflection point” as Intel founder Andy Grove would say.  Her talk centered on gender diversity as she shared her experiences as the sole female board member at Intel after being recruited by Andy Grove and Gordon Moore in 1993.  She was the only female board member for 11 years until Charlene Barshefsky and Susan Decker joined the nine-member board.
 
Shaw remembered being introduced at an event as the “token woman” on the Intel board.  When she told Andy Grove about it, he assured her there was no token board member.
 
A recent study showed that when there was a cultural mass of three or more women on a board there was a positive impact in the Board Room.  With three or more women on a board, the women no longer represented a woman’s view because they each came with different viewpoints and sometimes disagreed.  The current status of Fortune 500 companies show that almost 90% had one woman board member but less than 20% had three women.  The study found that Boards with three women outperformed in equity, sales, and return on investment. 
 
Norway is the first country to institute mandated quotas to include women and other countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, France and Italy are also considering quotas.  Shaw says Europe may be leading the way when it comes to diversity policies and quotas. Though Shaw personally doesn’t believe there needs to be legislation for quotas, she thinks it’s the right thing to do. 
 
Shaw believes diversity in the workforce needs to be emphasized so that more women can move up the ladder.  She is proud of the diversity programs at Intel, whose global workforce is about 80,000.  She believes there needs to be a focus on not only hiring women but retaining them. 
 
Women hold just three percent of CEO seats in the U.S. so how can women break the last bit of the glass ceiling?
 
Shaw believes there is a lack of advocacy for talented women and encourages others to become sponsors for women to create a richer and deeper pool of candidates.  Sponsors can help women expand the perception of what they can do; make connections to senior leaders, open up career opportunities, offer advice on executive presence, make connections outside the company and help women pull up to the next level. 
 
She asked the audience to do three things:  Become a sponsor for a talented woman; make sure there is an active diversity program where you work; maintain a focus on diversity at the board level.
 
Questions from the audience:
 
JOHN SINES asked whether steps were taken at Intel to deal with family and child related issues as women move up the scale, since they typically handle more than 50% of household and childrearing duties.  Shaw replied that there would always be some women who choose to stay at home, but that Intel provides flex hours, four-day weeks, part time and other options to accommodate employee schedules.
 
MICHAEL STADLEN commented that if three women board members were the tipping point, what about the current make up of the Supreme Court?  Shaw said she was not qualified to comment but that it was a good observation.
 
STEVE YARBROUGH wondered how to advise women about their appearance, as that could be difficult.  Shaw recommended finding a third party to help, perhaps an executive coach, and agreed it was very sensitive unless you were a very good friend.
 
MARY PROCHNOW asked for advice if you were the one woman on a Board and you come to realize that you are the token board member whose voice is not being heard.  How do you deal with that without appearing to whine or speaking for your own personal gain?
 
Shaw shared some advice she received from Andy Grove.  “Why don’t you speak up?” he told her when she asked about her role on the board.  You have an obligation to speak up.  Don’t always sit in the same place.  It’s up to you to add something.  Shaw admitted this is not always easy but said, “I really encourage you to disrupt things and get in the middle of it.”
 
BILL MOISON shared his experience with the Palo Alto Country Club that was previously an all male club and still did not have much representation by women.  Shaw acknowledged that the Bohemian Grove is still an issue as women are excluded from that.
 
President Dennis thanked Jane Shaw for her excellent talk and then announced the Club’s new directors:  RANDY GARD, CLARI NOLET, and BEVERLY TUCKER.  (It’s nice to know that the Los Altos Rotary Club passes the test of three or more women.  The board of directors election was a timely connection to our speakers’ talk.)  Congratulations to our new directors.
 
The meeting was adjourned.
 

VERY SAD NEWS
In case you missed the email from ROY LAVE about our dear friend and Rotarian JOANNE BYRNE, I am including it below.  She will be missed:
 

Rotarian friends,
It is with great sadness that I tell you that Joanne Byrne died this morning after almost 2 1/2 years of her battle with cancer.  I never can find the words to describe Joanne.  She was an bundle of talents combined with intelligence and an upbeat personality.   She made it a pleasure to come to work each day.
 
Her legacy is her family, her extensive network of friends, and her contribution to the community in the form of the Los Altos Community Foundation and her long connection with the Los Altos Recreation Department from the time she was a teenager.  She was always a "sparkplug'. Her role in the Foundation helped launch it during the early days when it was expanding its reach and services.  Even when it was difficult to come to work because of the treatments, Joanne worked remotely on the Foundation computers.  
 
For me, Joanne was more than a dependable and trusted co worker.  She was an inspiration, a confidant, and a friend.   In my entire working career, there has only been one Joanne.

Services will be next Saturday, time and date TBA

Joanne's family suggests donations to "Joanne's fund" at the Los Altos Community Foundation in lieu of flowers - 183 Hillview. 
 
Roy Lave

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:  February 17

Jack Kelly  Local Speech Contest