Institute Program Speakers

 President Ray Klinginsmith is a retired attorney in Kirksville, Missouri, USA. During his legal career, he served for 22 years as General Counsel and Professor of Business Administration for Truman State University (formerly Northeast Missouri State University) in Kirksville. During his tenure at the University, he also served as Dean of Administration for a period of five years during the University’s transition to a liberal arts and sciences institution.
Ray and his wife, Judie, have been married since 1961. They have two children, Leigh and Kurt, and three grandchildren, Morgan, Grant, and Sydney Perkins. Ray served as a director of the Macon Atlanta State Bank in Macon, Missouri, from 1971 to 2008, and he is now a director emeritus. He was the president of Chariton Valley Association for Handicapped Citizens from its organization in 1982 until 2009, and he is now the president emeritus.
He is a former member of the Executive Board for the Great Rivers Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the holder of its Silver Beaver Award for adult volunteers. He is a member of the First United Methodist Church in Kirksville and a former lay speaker for the church.
A Rotarian for more than 45 years, Ray is currently a member of the Kirksville Rotary Club. He studied at the University of Cape Town as a Rotary Foundation ambassadorial scholar in 1961, and when he was elected to the board of directors of Rotary International in 1984, he became the first recipient of a Rotary Foundation award to serve on the RI board.
He served as a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation from 2002 to 2006 and as vice chairman of the Trustees in 2005-06, and he has been awarded both the Citation for Meritorious Service and the Distinguished Service Award by the Foundation.
In other Rotary assignments, Ray has served as moderator of the 1989 International Assembly, chairman of the 1998 Council on Legislation, vice chairman of the 2005 Chicago Convention Committee, and chairman of the 2008 Los Angeles Convention Committee He also served as a member of the Future Vision Committee for The Rotary Foundation from 2005 to 2008.
Ray is currently serving as the RI president. He is the first Missourian to serve as the Rotary president since Bob Hill in 1934-35 and the first former Rotary scholar ever to serve as RI president.

 Rotary Foundation Trustee
Steve Brown served as District Governor for 5340—San Diego, CA in 1995-96. Steve is presently serving as a Trustee to the Rotary Foundation with a term from 2010-2014. He has addressed Rotary audiences regarding The Rotary Foundation in Mexico, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Swaziland, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan. He has been the primary sponsor contact for Rotary’s humanitarian grants for more than 40 projects in many countries. He has also been involved in all of the various educational programs The Rotary Foundation.
He chaired the Rotary Foundation Peace Forums held in San Diego in 1993 and 2001relating to U.S./Mexico affairs.
He helped start and has acted as advisor to the University of California- San Diego Rotaract Club and the Preuss
School Interact Club.
In 1996 Steve received The Rotary Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and in 2001 the Distinguished Service award. In 2002 he received Rotary International’s Service Above Self Award.
For four years he was a member of The Rotary Foundation’s Future Vision Committee which has developed the strategic plan for the Foundation.
Since 2002 he has been working as a volunteer on a variety of projects in Afghanistan having visited there ten times— the last trip being April of 2010.
Steve is a graduate of Stanford Law School and has been a partner in a major California law firm which he joined in 1972. He retired from the practice a few years ago.
Steve and Susan reside in the San Diego area. Both grew up in Spokane, Washington and they maintain a lake cabin in Eastern Washington which they frequently visit.
He is married to Susan for 40 years and they have two daughters living in the San Diego area.

 Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar
Lisa Morris is originally from a small coal mining town in the North East of England and is affectionately known as a ‘Geordie’ – this she will explain in her talk! She moved to London for University where she remained taking time to travel the world and work in Uganda and Rwanda. In 2005 she was District 1090’s Ambassadorial Scholar to South Africa (District 9320) where she completed a Post Grad Diploma in African Peacekeeping and Diplomacy and volunteered on the children’s’ ward at their local hospital.
Since her return in 2006, Lisa has been involved in 2 Matching Grants with 14 clubs from the District (George Dickenson Primary School and a Palliative care ward for children in Grahamstown South Africa) plus a Water Pump Project. Lisa will be updating us on these ventures. Over the last three years she has spoken to over 40 clubs (sometimes twice!), a school sixth form and was invited back to District 9320 to speak at their District Conference, where she had the great honour to receive a Paul Harris Sapphire from her host club in Grahamstown. She also went back to the World Cup, but this she won’t be talking about!
Lisa currently works for her local Council in their Social Services Learning and Development department, looking after the council’s academic programme. One of her main hobbies is playing netball. And luckily for the Rotary Club of Elthorne Hillingdon her team was promoted recently, therefore changing the night

  Rotary Youth Exchange Student and Scholar
Hannah Warren went to Thailand as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in 2002 and discovered that she has an aptitude for learning languages and a love for experiencing other cultures. She received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to India in 2005. She fell in love with the country and decided topursue a degree in South Asian Studies from the University of London’s School or Oriental and African Studies. In 2008 she received funding from the Royal Society of Asian Affairs to execute a photography project documenting the lives of female weavers in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh, India. Ultimately, her experiences during this project inspired her to found Jhoole. Instrumental in getting Jhoole off the ground was a multi-club matching grant from district 6420 that facilitated Hannah in helping female weavers improve their skills and develop training to unskilled female laborers.

Rotary Scholar
   Fazal Rabani was born in 1972 in a village called Ali Sheer in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. At the age of six, his cousin encouraged him to get admission into school which was about four km away from home. There was no road so he walked to school. At the end of the school year, President Mohammad Daoud had been killed by Noor Mohammad Tarakee’s organization. War started everywhere around Fazal’s village which made it very difficult to live in the valley anymore so his family immigrated to Pakistan. They were living in an Afghan refugee camp and the Afghan
Commissioner built a school. Fazal attended school there for eight years in the mornings and worked with a shopkeeper in the afternoon to help support his family. Fazal then attended high school in another refugee camp and graduated in 1990.
He decided to continue his education and studied English at Dawa and Jihad University and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1994. Fazal was the only person in his tribe to earn a BA degree and his family was very proud. After earning his degree, Fazal worked as an English instructor at Nangarhar University in Afghanistan. He then applied for a permanent teaching position at the University. The rule for a permanent job as a professor at the university level at that time was to be under the age of 30 which Fazal was not and his application was rejected by the ministry of Higher Education. For those who have a master’s degree, the age requirement is not considered.
While working as an English instructor at the University, Fazal heard about Rotarians who were involved in higher education and offering an opportunity to study in the United States for a master’s degree. His name wasn’t on the short list, but he was able to get an interview and was selected to receive an Ambassadorial Scholarship donated by Rotary District 6290 to study in Michigan. Fazal left behind his parents, six children and a wife, two brothers and three sisters and arrived in Grand Rapids, Michigan in August of 2009 to study in the TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Program at Grand Valley State University. He will graduate with his master’s degree in December of 2010. He is enjoying his educational experience, spending time with Rotarians, attending Rotary club meetings and events, the cultural and
international experiences and being an Ambassador of goodwill.

  Rotarian Larry Snodgrass is married to Carol, "the love of his life" and reside together in Sarasota FL. They are blessed with two children; son Justin, 33 and daughter Lindsay, 30. Larry is National Sales Manager for US Chemical & Plastic’s based out of Massillon, Ohio. Attended
Kent State University and served his country while in the United States Air Force from 1968 through 1972, with overseas duty in both Korea & Vietnam. Family, golf, travel, boating, along with off shore fishing are all favorite past times enjoyed by both, Larry & Carol. Life now takes
on a special meaning for Larry and his newly enlarged family. 154 New family members since the Flight of #1549, on January 15th 2009. …….. "The Miracle on the Hudson"

  Anita Rieder, Annual Giving Officer Zone 28 & 29, The Rotary Foundation

Anita is the primary contact for EREY (Every Rotarian, Every Year) and other fundraising strategies.  She joined the staff at The Rotary Foundation in June 2007 and enjoys assisting Rotarians with growing Our Rotary Foundation!  Her connection with Rotary International began in high school when she received a scholarship from the Rotary Club of Amherst, Massachusetts; and during one summer she temped at The Rotary Foundation in the Ambassadorial Scholarships Division!  In the last five years, she volunteered in leadership roles for several music organizations.  Prior to The Rotary Foundation, she worked in development for Tuesday’s Child, a nonprofit agency that serves children with behavioral and developmental delays. 

Anita is also a classical flutist, and she performed professionally throughout the Midwest as well as in Europe and Japan.  She taught for nine years in higher education and holds a doctoral degree in music from Northwestern University.  A former Fulbright Scholar in London, U.K., Anita has lived and studied in Matsumoto, Japan and Jalapa, Mexico.  While music remains a passion for Anita, she believes in the philosophy of life-long learning and is very much enjoying her new chapter in life at The Rotary Foundation.  She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband Bob, daughters Gillian and Nathalie and their dog Bruce.

Jamie Revord Senior Major Gifts Officer at The Rotary Foundation
                                                        

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