Featured Speaker for October 20th Meeting: Adam James Founder and Keynote Speaker Mindful Journey Topic: The Art of Mindful Engagement In partnership with Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, Gift of Life has developed sustainable pediatric heart surgery programs in several countries and continues to do this work around the globe. The purpose of the mission was to provide life-saving pediatric heart surgery to children with congenital heart defects from developing countries by bringing one child at a time to the U.S. to obtain the surgeries. Since that time, the Gift of Life mission has grown tremendously, and it has now saved the lives of 40,000 children in developing countries who would otherwise likely have perished. Our organization is working to change the outlook for these children and give each child, no matter where they are born, a level playing field and a fighting chance.

Featured Speaker for October 13th Meeting: Richard Hall President Gift of Life Featured Speaker for October 13th Meeting: Steve Agius Chairman of the Board Rotary Gift of Life of FL Gift of Life In partnership with Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, Gift of Life has developed sustainable pediatric heart surgery programs in several countries and continues to do this work around the globe. The purpose of the mission was to provide life-saving pediatric heart surgery to children with congenital heart defects from developing countries by bringing one child at a time to the U.S. to obtain the surgeries. Since that time, the Gift of Life mission has grown tremendously, and it has now saved the lives of 40,000 children in developing countries who would otherwise likely have perished. Our organization is working to change the outlook for these children and give each child, no matter where they [...]

Featured Speaker for September 29th Meeting: Christina Crawfis President of Greater Fort Myers Dog Club President of Greater Fort Myers Dog Club Topic: Loving Our Community's Pups The Greater Fort Myers Dog Club conducts sanctioned events under the rules and regulations of the American Kennel Club. Their mission is to further perpetuate all purebred dogs, promote responsible dog ownership and the well-being of all dogs.

Featured Speaker for September 22nd Meeting: Charles Barnes Chairman of Lee County Black History Society Chairman of Lee County Black History Society About Charles Barnes: Charles E. Barnes Jr. was born and raised in Ft. Myers, FL. He graduated from North Fort Myers High School and served in the Marine Corps from 1979 to 1982. Charles earned a BA degree from International College and a MA in Criminal Justice from Hodges University. He retired as Captain from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after 27 ½ years of service. He has served and presently serves on many government and civilian community boards. Charles has a passion for equity and justice and working out at the gym. He is a member of Friendship Baptist Church. He is married and has three Daughters.

Featured Speaker for September 15th Meeting: Andrew Lyman 2021-2022 Governor Rotary District 6960 2021-2022 Governor for Rotary District 6960 About Andrew Lyman: Andy Lyman is honored to serve as the Sunrise Rotary 2021-2022 District 6960 Governor. Andy has served two separate terms as Rotary Club President and two terms as Assistant Governor for Rotary District 6960 and District Grants Chair. Attending two in-person International Conventions (Seoul, South Korea, and Atlanta, Georgia) and two virtual International Conventions (Hawaii and Taiwan) has given him the perspective of how Rotary reaches all corners of the Earth. Andy started his entrepreneurial business ventures in 2001 and is currently Founder and Chairman of All Point POS, Inc., where he specializes in Retail Cloud-Based Inventory Systems Technology, delivering full enterprise Omni-Channel solutions to Retail store chains nationally. Prior to starting All Point POS, Andy worked as an IBM Mainframe programmer, supported the credit card Online Authorization System forVisa/MasterCard [...]

Featured Speaker for September 8th Meeting: Karl Steidinger Midwest Food Bank, NFP – Florida Division Topic: Update on the Midwest Food Bank – From COVID, to Haiti, to New Orleans, New York and Beyond About Karl Steidinger: Born and raised in Central IL. After graduating high school in 2000, I enrolled in the "school of hard knocks." I am currently still a student as I am a very slow learner. I married my wife Carrie in 2003, and we have 3 children. Addison 14, Maddox 12, and Ian 8. Carrie and I moved to Cape Coral, FL, in 2016 and still reside there. We joined the Midwest Food Bank team in 2017. I was hired as Operations Manager and promoted to Executive Director later that same year. As Executive Director, I lead a team of highly qualified and passionate people in our quest to alleviate hunger locally and throughout the world. It [...]

Featured Speaker for September 1st Meeting: Sarah Owen President & CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation Topic: Collaboratory Explanation Session Learn more about Collaboratory’s big possibility of solving all the region’s social problems in 18 years and how you can be involved. Sarah Owen, president & CEO of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, leads a passionate and diverse team dedicated to cultivating regional change for the common good. Her journey into the non-profit sector followed a career in investor relations, public relations and corporate communications. Her corporate experience was in the automotive and engineering industries and Sarah was sought out by innovators and entrepreneurs developing emerging technologies. Sarah brings this focus on innovation to her work at the Community Foundation. She is guiding the Foundation in reimagining its role in the region. In 2017, Sarah oversaw the execution of a public private partnership with the City of Fort Myers to create Collaboratory, [...]

Featured Speaker for August 18th Meeting: Tish Hevel Founder/CEO of The Brain Donor Project Topic: What You Need to Know About Brain Donation Now Tish Hevel is the Founder/CEO of The Brain Donor Project, a unique non-profit that exclusively supports the brain banks of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NeuroBioBank. The Brain Donor Project was established in late 2016 to raise awareness of the critical need for donated brain tissue to advance the science of brain disease and to simplify the process of becoming a brain donor. To date, more than 11,000 people have started the process of becoming a brain donor when the time comes. They represent more than 150 categories of brain disease, and about half have healthy (or control) brains. The Brain Donor Project was inspired by the death of Tish’s dad, Gene, who died from Lewy Bodies Dementia and was a brain donor himself. Tish is [...]

Featured Speaker for August 11th Meeting: Earl Quenzel Partner Quenzel Marketing Agency Topic: 5 Steps to Refining the Sunrise Rotary Fort Myers Brand Earl is an experienced brand builder with a proven track record for creating shareowner and stakeholder value for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) brands.  A creative thought-leader who blends an intense customer focus with solid people skills and clear process orientation, he's delivered growth within the framework of a vast corporate matrix looking for a turn-around as well as within the hands-on requirements of a start-up. Considered a marketing pioneer in airline and telecommunications, Earl led teams at TWA, Eastern, Continental, and AT&T during their transformation from a stable, government-regulated environment to a competitive, de-regulated marketing environment, often against new entrants with lower cost structures. Earl also led the marketing and sales teams that successfully launched the Travel Channel and Priceline.com across Europe.

Featured Speaker for August 4th Meeting: Matt Caldwell from The Lee County Property Appraiser’s Office Matt Caldwell is a 7th generation Florida native. He was born in Gainesville but grew up in Lee County, where he met his wife, Yvonne. They live there today, where Yvonne serves as an educator, and they raise their daughter, Ava. While in college, Matt began his career as a real estate appraiser, joining the firm of Maxwell, Hendry, Simmons in 2004. He has attained the highest state certification in his field and is qualified as an expert witness in multiple states and federal court. In 2019, Matt became a partner at TM Strategic Consulting, focused on candidate and political consulting. Matt was a Florida House of Representatives member from 2010-2018, serving on and chairing numerous committees. Matt is proud to continue the legacy of former Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson as an advocate for the taxpayer, [...]