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, [...]

Featured Speaker for July 28th Meeting: Dr. Bhatnagar Dr. Bhatnagar Dr. Bhatnagar is a lifetime Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, certified in Geriatric Psychiatry in 1991 and 2002. He is a national speaker and speaker trainer on the topic of Dementia for major pharmaceutical companies 2002- 2013. Member of the International advisory board for Dementia medication “Rivastigmin.” Physician Investigator for more than thirty clinical trials. He had one of the largest practices of Dementia in Venice, Florida, 1991-2013. He was on faculty at UWO, Schulich Medical school, in the Geriatric Psychiatry department 2016-2019. Recently moved to Fort Myers with plans to set up a Memory Disorder clinic in the near future.

Check out the Sunrise Rotary 2021 Changing of the Guard Photo Gallery

Featured Speaker for June 23rd Meeting: Chelsea Baker Lee Interfaith For Empowerment (LIFE) Chelsea Baker Executive Director & Lead Organizer Lee Interfaith For Empowerment Chelsea Baker is the executive director and lead organizer of Lee Interfaith For Empowerment (LIFE). Chelsea is a trained social worker with her BSW and MSW from Barry University and is currently an MPA student at Florida Gulf Coast University. She has been a congregation-based community organizer for nearly a decade, four years in SWFL. Chelsea has worked in direct service with incarcerated youth and people experiencing homelessness. She is a published author, avid reader, and proud Ohio sports fan. About Lee Interfaith For Empowerment LIFE is a coalition of diverse congregations across Lee County, FL. LIFE organizes low and moderate-income people to address the injustices that most impact their lives. LIFE has worked on criminal justice reform, affordable childcare, accessible housing, and mental health issues. [...]

Featured Speakers for the June 16th Meeting: Christine Rose & Kimberly Van Waus Experiences as Crime Scene Technicians Christine Rose Crime Scene Technician Lee County Sheriff's Office Christine Rose is currently a Crime Scene Technician with the Lee County Sheriff's Office in Fort Myers, Florida. Christine has worked in Law Enforcement for 10 years; 8 of those years have been with the Lee County Sheriff's Office Forensic Division, Crime Scene Unit. Christine has training in Crime Scene Reconstruction, Staged Scenes, and Cold Case Investigations. She also plays an active role in educating future Crime Scene Technicians as the Field Training Officer for the Crime Scene Unit. Christine has an Associate's Degree from Tallahassee Community College, two Bachelor Degrees; Criminal Justice and Forensic Studies from Florida Gulf Coast University. She is a Certified Crime Scene Analyst through the International Association for Identification. Christine began at the Lee County Sheriff's Office during her college years [...]