Watch today's meeting here: https://youtu.be/KYrChEeEwXg
Our Meeting was called to order by President Barb Thomas
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Rtn. Devin van Hosteijn welcomed Club members and guests and provided Zoom tips.
President Barb Thomas gave special thanks to Rtn. Aaron Schaefer for his musical performance at last week’s meeting.
Rtn. Verne Folkmann, chair of the Rotary Foundation, congratulated two Rotarians for their contributions. Rtn. David Bywater recently become a Paul Harris Fellow plus two. Rtn. Jim Down is now a Paul Harris Fellow plus seven.
The Rotary Moment of Gratitude and Positivity was delivered by Rtn. Gene Wandling. Gene joined us from South Florida, where it is 75 degrees and sunny. He is grateful for Zoom so he can attend these meetings, even when he’s in Florida. Gene is most grateful for all the Rotarians that make our Club so great and so special. Our large size allows us to take on many big and important projects, we are also a diverse club, especially the leadership and service of our women members, and the involvement, leadership, and energy provided by our younger members is unique. As Rotarians, we value our Four Way Test and subscribe to service above self, and our nation would be in a much better place with more Rotarians leading our government. Gene also shared a small-world football story about Nate Kaeding and Nick Novack.
PROGRAM:
President Barb Thomas introduced our speakers. Nate Kaeding was a West High graduate and former Hawkeye football player and NFL player. Nate also received his MBA from UI Tippie College of Business and now has a number of businesses in Iowa City. Steve LaCroix is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the Minnesota Vikings. Steve is also a Tippie alumnus who met his wife at the University of Iowa and is the proud father of two Hawkeye grads.
Steve began his career with the Vikings in 2001 and lead them through many transitions. In 2016, US Bank Stadium was completed, which was an exceptionally large public/private project. They also opened the 200 acre Viking Lakes complex, housing the Vikings headquarters and the Twin Cities Orthopedics Perfomance Center. The Vikings consider themselves the team of the Upper Midwest and are very integrated in their community. The organization, staff, and players are all very impactful in the community.
COVID-19 brought many new challenges with limits on travel and picking drafts online from home. The whole team really came together to make it work. Testing and contract tracing protocals were put into place to keep players and staff safe. Revenues were down significantly without fans in the stadium and nearly all corporate contracts had to be renegotiated. Hopefully the 2021 season will be closer to normal and the Vikings look forward to welcoming fans back safely.
The meeting ended at 12:58 PM as President Barb Thomas led the assembly in reciting The Four Way Test.
MEETING:
Visiting Rotarians included: Gary Wicklund (Vail, CO)
Guests of Rotarians: T’Shailyn Harrington (Barb Thomas); Jesus Garcia (Ryan Bell); Justin Thomas (Barb Thomas); Jana Michael (Kelley Drowne); Steve LaCroix (Barb Thomas); Nate Kaeding (Barb Thomas); Tagba Djato-Bougonou (Prospective Member); Jeffrey Dancer (Prospective Member)
Program: Devin van Holsteijn; Attendance: Nancy Droll
Please forward any newsworthy items and/or photos to Jon Brown or Janice Baldes to include in the weekly slide decks emailed to members prior to each meeting and shown just before Rotary meetings at the Club. You can send information to: Janice Baldes janicebaldes@gmail.com or Jon Brown at mjonBrown@taxesplusiowacity.com
For questions related to Club administration, please contact us at secretary@iowacitynoonrotary.org.
It is our policy to have all members silence their cell phones before the meeting and refrain from answering their cell phones during the meeting out of respect to the speaker and fellow members.