February 16, 2016 - Rotary Club of Shreveport

The Rotaripost
R o t a r y
C l u b
o f
C h a r t e r e d
S h r e v e p o r t
1 9 1 4
Louisiana Highways and Byways
Tuesday,
12:13 p.m.
For the past ten years, Dr. Shawn Wilson has served as Chief
of Staff for the Department of Transportation and Development, a role he filled for three previous Secretaries and under
the executive administration of two Governors. Prior to joining DOTD, Wilson also served as former Executive Director
of the Louisiana Serve Commission and Deputy Legislative
Director in the Blanco administration.
A proud product of the New Orleans public schools, Wilson
earned a B.A. in urban and regional planning from the University of Louisiana, where he served as student government
president and member of the University of Louisiana system
board. He holds a masters of public administration degree and
recently earned a Ph.D. in public policy from the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Southern
University.
February 16,
2016
Shreveport
Convention
Center
Rotarians
Serving Others
Shawn Wilson
Shawn’s community service covers a variety of personal and professional
interests, including scoutmaster for Troop 271 Boy Scouts of America in
Lafayette, Evangeline Area Council of Boy Scouts Board, and American
Associations of State Highway and Transportation Officials. His former
Board memberships include past president of the University of Louisiana
Alumni Association, the National Forum for Black Public Administrators, United Way of
Acadiana and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
Charles
Money
Henington
Table
James
Raffle
Blewett
Shawn and his wife, Rocki, reside in Lafayette and together have two children.
Richard
Brontoli
ScannerGreeter-4Way
Test
Rotary District Foundation Banquet
Hosted by Rotary Club of Shreveport
Saturday, February 27, 2016—Petroleum Club
6 p.m. Cash Bar, 7 p.m. Dinner—Black Tie Optional
Don
Invocation
Howard
Featuring Greg Yank, Rotary International Director 2017-2019
Tom
Musical Entertainment by Dorsey Summerfield
Arceneaux
$50 per person (club pays 50% of member’s fee)
And
Register with Judy Bellew
Kermit
Poling
Music
The Rotaripost
Page 2
New Members Introduced on February 9, 2016
+ 2 w o me n t h i s w e e k = 1 6 . 8 % of o u r me m b e r s h i p !
Verni Howard is a native of Shreveport and an honor graduate of Caddo Magnet High School. She earned a B.S. in
microbiology and a masters in public administration from LSU-Baton Rouge. She was a member of the 2010 class
of Leadership Baton Rouge and the 2012 class of Leadership Louisiana. After serving as a commercial banker for 18 years, Verni
accepted the position of Executive Director of Providence House in
December 2015.
While in the Baton Rouge area, Verni served on the Boards for
Downtown Development District, Redevelopment Authority of East
Baton Rouge, Boys and Girls Club, VOA, Volunteers in Public
Schools and Cancer Services of Baton Rouge. When the Howard
family relocated to Shreveport with Verni’s banking position, Verni
was quickly tapped to serve on the Board at Providence House.
Verni was recognized this month as one of the 10 recipients of the
2016 Outstanding African American Achievement Awards.
Verni is married to Rotarian Don Howard and they have two children Hannah and Matthew. Verni’s club classification is Associations, Charitable & Service and her sponsor is her husband Don
Howard.
Verni Howard
(Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)
Our other new member, Amanda Simpson, is a Bossier City native and graduate of Airline High School. She received her B.S. in marketing from Louisiana
Tech. Amanda begin her career in management with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
She moved into banking, eventually transitioning to mortgage banking. She
came to ANECA Federal Credit Union to build and run their mortgage lending
department. She now serves as the Chief Operations Officer for ANECA.
Amanda is a member of Young Professionals Initiative, YPN (the credit union
league version of YPI), Business Lending Council and the Credit Union Executive Society (CUES).
Amanda and her husband William have one son, Ayden. In her downtime, she
enjoys reading, cooking and trying new recipes, entertaining and traveling.
Amanda Simpson
Stephanie Sievers sponsored Amanda whose classification is Banking, Credit
Union.
Amanda is so excited to be a part of our club that she signed up for most of the
committees. At her orientation, Joe Cooper was able to get her to just mark her preferences (DragonBoat, club scholarships, dictionary project, food bank project) but Amanda said she’s all fired up and willing to serve wherever she’s
needed!
Page 3
The Rotaripost
(Above, from left) Guest Brook Sebren visits with Rotarians David Cromwell and Merrill Wautlet.
(Left photo) Rotarian Kristen Brown introduces
Tina Worms who is new to the area. Tina was
a Rotarian in another state before relocating.
(Below) Don Howard introduces his guest,
Matthew Howard as Verni Howard looks on.
(Left photo) Gotta love the expressions! As Stephanie
Sievers introduced new member Amanda Simpson she
remarked that Amanda has done such an outstanding
job at ANECA and advanced so quickly that the only
job above her is Stephanie’s job. There were chuckles
and grins from Jack Sharp and others in the group
when Stephanie decided she might need to watch her
back! All joking aside, Stephanie and Amanda have
been friends for almost 20 years.
Page 4
February Club Anniversaries
*PHF
Rotaripost
Judy Bellew
Executive Director
P.O. Box 380
Shreveport, LA 71162
Phone: 318-221-3053
Fax: 318-221-6093
shreveportrotary@gmail.com
www.rotaryclubofshreveport.org
Follow us on Facebook
+Past President ♦Major Donor
(consecutive years service)
28 years
Ed Wilkey*
23 years
James Blewett*
22 years
Rich Brontoli*
21 years
Larry Millican*
15 years
Vance Bailes*, Dayne Hassell*
11 years
Mark Snow*
9 years
Kermit Poling*
7 years
Martha Marak*
2 years
David Rowe, Carlton Golden*, Lamar
Goree
Raffle Winners last Tuesday
Foundation raffle— David Bellew
Thanks for the donation to The Rotary Foundation—
your donation was doubled & applies to your PHF
Rose-Neath Flower Shop— Merrill Wautlet &
Doug Bland
Andy Shehee’s chicken eggs—Tom Mee
“Death By Meeting” book from Karen Johnson—
Ernest Lampkins
Thermos from Alan English—Glenn Langley
$50 gift certificates from Rose-Neath Flower
Shop—David Bellew and Merrill Wautlet
Program on February 23, 2016
Dr. Rick Bateman
Bossier Parish
Community College Update
Shreveport Convention Center
Rotarian Robert Murray passed always peacefully in his
sleep on February 12th. As Robert wished, there will be no
services.
Pictured above are Robert and Cynthia Murray as they attended a Rotary meeting in late January. Rotary was a big
part of Robert’s life and he really enjoyed being able to
attend the meetings.