NEXT MEETING: February 27, 2015

Corporate Succession Planning at Its Finest

Ron Clausen of Clausen Law Group in Point Richmond, will discuss corporate transition and the “Popeye Plan”.  Ron’s practice focuses on corporate law, with an emphasis on merging growth companies, venture capital financing and mergers and acquisitions. Ron continues his entrepreneurial approach to the practice of law, providing creative solutions for his clients’ business opportunities.

Prior to going into private practice in 1986, Ron was general counsel to Nanco Enterprises, and had oversight of its subsidiaries, including Carrows Restaurants, Elephant Bar and Restaurants and Santa Barbara Aviation, Inc.; Ron also became actively involved in the long range orientation of each entity. Ron was president of the Rayne Corporation, a West Coast franchisor of water treatment products, and in three years he doubled the company’s client base through acquisitions and strategic alignments.  Ron served as the Pacific Coast Director of the Montana Wildlife Federation from 2008-2013, when he created and fostered MWF’s Montana Matters fundraising campaign (www.montanamatters.com); he currently serves as an At-Large Director of the National Wildlife Federation and as a member of its development committee.  He received his B.A. and his J.D. from University of California at Davis.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• We were saddened and shocked to hear of the death Lynn Martin, by natural causes. For the last 3 years, Lynn had been the highly effective Executive Director of the Early Childhood Mental Health Program. She contributed her positive energies to the Richmond Rotary in numerous ways, including as a Flywheel scribe and a member of the Holiday Auction committee. We will miss Lynn’s bright personality and easy laughter. Details about her service will be announced when they become available.
• Saturday, March 7th will be the final tree planting with Richmond Trees for the year. Felix thanked those Rotarians and Interact Club members who came out to the last tree planting
• Alan Baer’s daughter Stephanie shared with us that the El Cerrito Interact was holding a fundraiser at Panda Express last weekend to support the Camilla Network that helps young adults aging out of foster homes

MEETING OF February, 20th 2015

Welcome

President Stoney presided over the meeting and Joe Bagley led the pledge. President Stoney says so many great things there is no way to document all of them. Sid’s thought for the day was If you can shine when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

Visiting Rotarians

Alan Baer brought his two favorite guests, daughter Stephanie Baer and son James Baer. Mark Howe also brought his daughter, Serena Howe.

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

• Jerry Feagley has been in the club for 8 years and Joe Bagley had to mention that he just earned his blue badge
• Bob Dabney, Jan Brown, Mark Howe and Josh Genser are also celebrating their club anniversaries
• Jon Lawlis had happy dollars about the enjoyable day with Darlene planting trees in Richmond and then spending the rest of the day with her at Tilden Park.
• Jan Brown had happy dollars that her daughter and son-in-law, after an extensive home search, decided to settle down in Richmond in the same neighborhood. She is thinking of putting a progressive dinner together for the Rotary Christmas Auction that will also involve her other child who also lives in the same neighborhood.
• Hank Covell spent some time in Arizona and found out that the motel they stayed in was $650 a night. He had happy dollars that his grandson was accepted to Arizona State.
• Josh Genser had very happy dollars for his club anniversary and being a part of the club. He thought he was sponsored by Joe Nusbaum, but Jon Lawlis disagreed. Sid said that Josh was sponsored by David Brown.
• Alan Baer had happy dollars on how much he liked the tree planting
• Bruce Harter had happy dollars just because he was happy to be at the meeting

PROGRAM

Nerds Are Cool!

Jim Hammack, Chief Nerd for Nerd Crossing Computer Services, spoke about his company, his experience and his work in the community. Jim founded Nerd Crossing with a simple mission in mind – to provide the world with a trustworthy, customer service oriented technology service provider. Nerd Crossing was founded on the principles of “giving back,” and Jim and his team believe that technology should be something that improves lives. Yet as promising as the technological advances are today, the truth is that it can be quite overwhelming. Nerd Crossing takes a patient, customer service oriented approach to help us navigate through some of these challenges and learn to embrace technology as a tool.

Jim dedicates his spare time to helping the community any way he can. He is a champion for local nonprofits and proudly serves on several Boards. He has over 20 years experience in the IT industry, including IBM and Charles Schwab, and he holds a BS in Electrical Engineering for Computers and an M.B.A., which is using for world nerd domination! Jim is especially proud that Nerd Crossing was named Small Business of the Year for 2014 by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce. Jim’s email is jim@nerdcrossing.com and his phone number is 1-888-NERD-XING.

Henry Moe, Rotating Editor