Meeting Summary - June 2, 2015

Gerry Tietz led us in the Pledge and invocation.

 

There were no guests today.

 

President Margaret read two thank you letters from recipients of our scholarships at Irondale.  The recipients were: Ryan Norlinger and Megan Montero.

 

Margaret also read a letter from MaryAnn Bawden praising Dana Rebelein for her inspired speech at the presentation of our "at large" scholarship during the St.Anthony H.S. scholarship awards ceremony.  The recipient of the scholarship was Elena Dorman, a New Brighton resident.

 

Sue Ager announced that her son is engaged and will be married in Bangkok, Thailand.  Talk about a destination wedding!

 

Returning member Jim Kadechka announced that his son and daughter are each expecting a baby and those babies are both due on the same day in November.  WOW!!!!

 

Jeff Benson had the great pleasure of re-inducting Jim Kadechka into the club.  Jim first joined the club in 1984 and was president in '89-'90.  Jim owns a printing company, Apache Print, in St. Anthony.  One wonders if he's rejoining Rotary to escape diaper changes when his 2 grandkids are born in November.  Jeff is making it official, below.

 

Jeff Benson introduced our speaker for the day, Todd Kruse, to present his new member classification talk.  Todd grew up a farm boy in a poor German family in Ida Grove, Iowa.  Todd has been interested in politics and public policy since he was very young and remembers accompanying his father to zoning and planning commission meetings as a child.  Todd related that he has been a member of seven Rotary clubs, joining clubs in most of the many locations where he's been employed.  His first service club experience was with the Kiwanis in Iowa, where it was the only club in town.  This early experience helped to shape and nurture his interest in civil society.  Todd entered Iowa State to pursue a degree in industrial engineering but graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts, Economics, Political Science, with a minor in Speech Communications.  Although he didn't mention it, he also holds an M.B.A. in International Management and has numerous other educational experiences in public policy and public affairs.  Todd has had an interesting variety of occupations including U.S. Senate Campaign Field Representative, Government and Industry Relations Manager for Frontier Communications, Vice President and European Director for DCI Group, Managing Partner of Constantine Group, Adjunct Faculty Instructor for MNSCU and, of course, his current position as the President of Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce.  Todd talked about the roles of local, state and national chambers in providing direct services to businesses and helping to inform policy makers about the needs of businesses.  Todd lives in Inver Grove Heights with wife, Jaleh, and 2 kids, aged 7 & 11.  Gerry and Todd are shown below.