Will Davis | Will Davis is currently the Director of the United Nations Information Center in Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he is the United Nations Secretariat’s senior representative in Washington, serving as a spokesman for the organization and working with officials in the executive branch, the Congress, the media, civil society and the business community to further the relationship between the UN and its largest contributing member state.
Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Davis was the Director for Global and Functional Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Mr. Davis oversaw the Department’s interaction with the Congress on global priorities such as international organizations, human rights, refugees, counter-narcotics and international environmental affairs. He led a staff of ten foreign policy professionals who served as liaisons with the Congress. Mr. Davis was also the Department’s senior legislative adviser on relations with Congress regarding the Secretary of State’s Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Davis was the Deputy Head of the Public Affairs Division for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international organization based in Paris, France. Mr. Davis served as the OECD’s main liaison with the private sector, organized labor, non-governmental organizations, and parliamentarians. He was also instrumental in establishing the now annual OECD Forum, one of the world’s largest high-level civil society/government summits. From 1998-2001, Mr. Davis was the Head of Center for Public Affairs of the OECD’s Washington Office, responsible for all aspects of the OECD’s outreach in the United States and Canada. From 1990-1998, Mr. Davis served in the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs and on the White House’s National Security Council (NSC) staff. At the State Department, Mr. Davis became expert on the annual budget and appropriations process, particularly with respect to funding for foreign assistance. At the NSC, he worked closely with the President’s National Security Adviser and other senior White House and Administration officials, coordinating legislative strategy on major foreign policy matters, such as funding for international affairs programs, trade and sanctions issues, peacekeeping, and counter-narcotics activities. Mr. Davis’ other government service includes tenure as a Presidential Management Intern in the White House Office of Administration, as well as assignments with the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Davis graduated cum laude from Duke University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science. He subsequently earned a Master’s Degree in Public Policy Studies, also from Duke University. He is married with two children and resides in Bethesda, MD. |
| A small town girl from Tarrytown, New York, Carolyn Jones graduated from Stanford University with distinction and received her LL.B. from Yale Law School. She was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Alaska Attorney General's Office for 23 years, and a supervising attorney in the office during the last seven years before her retirement in 1998.
Carolyn joined the Rotary Club of Anchorage East in 1987. From 1997-1998, she was the governor of R.I. District 5010. Her past Rotary activities include: President's Representative to Districts in Italy, Canada, Slovakia and the USA; 2000 and 2005 International Training Leader; delegate to the 2001 and 2004 Councils of Legislation; service on a variety of RI committees; membership on the Northwest PETS Operations Committee; and 2003-2005 Rotary Regional Foundation Coordinator. She was the chairperson of the 2004 Zone 22 Rotary Institute. On 1 July 2005, Carolyn began a four-year term as a Trustee on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Foundation. In 1999 and 2000 she headed the Rotary committee that coordinated the U.S. Library of Congress-sponsored visits to the United States of emerging young Russian leaders. She was a member of the Khabarovsk-Alaska Rule of Law Steering Committee from 2001 to 2005. She is the continual Yale Law School Class of 1966 Class Secretary and Reunion Chairperson. She has received the Rotary "Service Above Self Award" and the Rotary Foundation "Citation For Meritorious Service," as well as the Alaska Bar Association's "Distinguished Service Award." In 2002, she was named over 149 other nominees as the "Volunteer of the Year" by the Russian Children's Foundation - a nonprofit organization based in Moscow, Russia. Carolyn has traveled to Russia 28 times in her service to Rotary - four of those visits as a Rotary Volunteer. Her story "The Children of Russia" was published in the July 2002 issue of the Rotarian and in "Chicken Soup For The Volunteers' Soul." Carolyn has two married, adult daughters but no grandchildren. She loves to fish for salmon; hike Alaska's many trails; see the world; work in her flower garden, and count the stars in the bottom of her champagne glass. | 
Carolyn E. Jones |
Dr. Bill Wittich | Dr. Bill Wittich is a speaker, consultant, and coach in the field of leadership, motivation, and nonprofit management. Bill earned his doctorate from the University of Southern California, and taught for 31 years at California State University, Long Beach.
For the past twelve years, Bill and his wife Ann, have traveled an average of 250 days a year. Their speaking schedule has taken them to all corners of the United States and through much of Europe. They speak to non-profit organizations, government agencies, and professional associations. His client list includes a large number of, hospitals, police and fire departments, labor organizations, associations, and most of the national non-profit organizations. Dr. Wittich has authored seven books in the volunteer management field. Their first book, The Care & Feeding of Volunteers, is now in its second printing and continues to sell around the world. Their audio book, Ten Keys for Unlocking the Secrets to Excellent Volunteer Programs, has been a best seller in the non-profit field. He recently completed two books in the 77 Ways series including 77 Ways to Recruit Volunteers and 77 Ways to Recognize Volunteers. Bill is a member of the National Speakers Association, and serves as the president of the Northern California Chapter. He is also a member of Rotary International and serves as their membership chair. His speaking topics include Understanding Generational Differences, Recruiting and Rewarding Volunteers, and Fundraising for Nonprofits. He conducts a number of board retreats for universities, fire departments and nonprofit agencies. His coaching includes presentation skills, business, and life coaching. Bill prefers coaching in-person, with individuals who have dreams that they are planning to reach in the next few years. He is a member of the Sacramento Coaches Association and the International Coach Federation. Bill and Ann enjoy living in Northern California where they enjoy cooking, collecting antiques, and learning about red wine. |
| Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, USAF (Ret) is president of the Rotary Club of Port Orford. Rick will be speaking as part of the plenary session on Peace and Conflict Resolution Saturday morning at 9:00am, and will participate in the Peace and Conflict Resolution Panel that afternoon at 2:00pm.
Lt Col Francona enlisted in the Air Force in 1970, and served as a Vietnamese linguist until 1973, conducting aerial reconnaissance missions over Vietnam and Laos. After Arabic language training, he served at a variety of locations in the Middle East from 1975 to 1977, and supported the evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1976. In 1978, he became an Arabic language instructor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. Following his commissioning in 1979, Lt Col Francona was an instructor at the Air Force intelligence school in Denver, Colorado. From 1982 to 1984, he was a Middle East operations officer with the National Security Agency. In 1984, he was assigned as an advisor to the Royal Jordanian Air Force in Amman, Jordan. In 1987, Lt Col Francona was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency as the assistant Defense Intelligence Officer for the Middle East. During this assignment, he spent much of 1987 and 1988 at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, as a liaison officer to the Iraqi armed forces directorate of military intelligence. Lt Col Francona traveled extensively as an observer of Iraqi combat operations against Iranian forces, and flew sorties with the Iraqi air force. Immediately following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990 and through the Gulf War, Lt Col Francona was deployed to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf as the advisor on Iraqi armed forces and personal interpreter to commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command, General Norman Schwarzkopf. As such, he was the lead interpreter for ceasefire talks with the Iraqi military at Safwan, Iraq, in March, 1991. After the end of the Gulf War, the colonel served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and was a principal author of the Department of Defense report to Congress on the conduct of the Gulf war. In 1992, he was selected to be the first air attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria, returning to the United States in early 1995. From 1995 to 1996, Lt Col Francona served with the Central Intelligence Agency, and participated in a variety of sensitive operations in the Middle East, including the extraction of an Iraqi scientist's family. During one of these operations, he survived an attempt on his life by Iraqi intelligence service agents. In 1996, the colonel was selected to develop the Department of Defense counterterrorism intelligence branch. In late 1997, the colonel led a special operations team supporting NATO forces in Bosnia - capturing five indicted war criminals. He returned to the United States and retired from active duty in 1998. Since retiring from the Air Force, Lt Col Francona has written Ally to Adversary: An Eyewitness Account of Iraq's Fall from Grace, and consulted with government and private firms. From 2003 to 2008, he was a media analyst on Middle East political-military events for NBC News, and appeared regularly on NBC Nightly News, The Today Show, MSNBC, CNBC, Hardball, Countdown, and others. He currently writes for Middle East Perspectives. The colonel has a bachelors degree in government and the Arabic language, and a masters degree in international relations with a concentration in Middle East studies. His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star, and nine Air Medals, as well as campaign awards for service in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and the Balkans. The colonel was awarded the Central Intelligence Agency Seal Bronze Medallion for his service with that agency. In 2006, Lt Col Francona was inducted into the Defense Language Institute Hall of Fame. Lt Col Francona and his wife Emily reside on the Oregon coast. |  Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona (r)
U.S. Air Force (Retired) pictured with General Scwarzkopf (l) in 1991 |
Jon Richards is a consultant on small business and entrepreneurship. He will be facilitating the "Leadership for the Future" seminar/panel on Thursday at this year's District Conference.
Jon has been a Rotarian for fifteen years with the Coos Bay–North Bend Rotary Club. He has served on the club's board, and has been co-chair of the club's World Community Service (WCS) Committee and its Group Study Exchange (GSE) Committee.
After owning and operating his own business, Jon served as Director for several business development centers at institutions of higher education, including the University of Colorado, the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland, UK), and Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay.
Besides the work in Northern Ireland, he has done extensive consulting on international development projects in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Ukraine, as well as countries in Central and Southern Asia.
Through Rotary, Jon has worked closely with Rotary District 3400 club members to implement a number of clean water and sanitation projects in rural primary schools in East Java, Indonesia.
He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, The University of Michigan, and The University of Colorado. He is married to Kathy. They have two children.
Tim & Lee Mobley
Tim and Lee Mobley will be presenting "Leadership in Business" on Thursday afternoon as part of the "Leadership for the Future" seminar/forum.
Tim has been a life-long educator and is currently consulting in the areas of leadership and organizational success. LeAnn has spent over three decades in healthcare administration and is currently the administrator for a four-clinic private practice in Southern Oregon. LeAnn received her MBA, and Tim received his MS, from Southern Oregon University. Both Tim and LeAnn lead workshops and seminars on a variety of topics from organizational reform to personal success.
Both are passionate Rotarians, are current members of the Bear Creek Valley Rotary Club and have been part of international teams for the prevention of eye disease and vision loss. Native Oregonians, they live in Trail, Oregon where they are also innkeepers of a small Bed and Breakfast.
Dr. Patty Scott
Dr. Patty Scott, President of Southwestern Oregon Community College (SOCC) will be presenting "Leadership in Education" as part of the Thursday afternoon seminar/forum on "Leadership for the Future".
Patty M. Scott has been at Southwestern for 18 years. She started out at Southwestern splitting time as Director of Student Support Services (TRIO) and Counseling Faculty in 1993. She was named Director of Educational Support Programs in 2002 and served as Dean of Students from February of 2006 until being named as Interim President in October 2008. During her tenure at Southwestern, Scott served a five-year stint on the Faculty Senate and spent three of those as chair. She received an excellence in action award in 2005 for her work as chair of a faculty led retention taskforce that resulted in the creation of several new programs and a change in campus culture. Dr. Scott became the sixth president of SOCC on December 14, 2009.
After starting her higher education pursuit at Lane Community College in Eugene, Scott completed a Bachelors Degree in Sociology from the University of Oregon. She went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree in College Student Personnel Administration from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and a Doctorate of Education in Community College Leadership from Oregon State University.
Patty is very involved in the community. She serves on the steering committee for Leadership Coos, is a trainer for the Ford Family Leadership program, is a Parks Commissioner with the City of Coos Bay, serves on the budget committee for the Water Board, and is a member of Rotary and Zonta service clubs.
Prior to coming to Southwestern, Patty worked in student services at the University of Oregon and in Career Services at Roger Williams College (now University) in Bristol, RI.
Judi Beard-Strubing is a native Oregonian, married to Bob Strubing, with three married children, and three precious granddaughters.
Judi joined Merrill Lynch in 1983, where she was an Assistant Vice President and a Senior Financial Advisor prior to her retirement in 2008. Judi remains a partner in the Allen-Strubing-Schleicher Group, and continues consulting with her partners as a portfolio manager.
Judi has been an active volunteer in the Eugene community for some 35 years. Currently, she serves as a Trustee on the Board of Northwest Christian University and on the University of Oregon Student Athlete Mentoring Board. Judi and Bob were inducted in 2009 into the Arnold Bennett Hall Society by the University of Oregon Foundation. In 2001, Merrill Lynch named Judi the recipient of the National Life Time Achievement in Community Service Award.
As a 1993 charter member of the Rotary Club of Eugene Airport, Judi served as club president during 1998-1999 and has served in many district capacities. She served as Governor for District 5110 during the Rotary Centennial Year, 2004-2005.
In 1999, she traveled to Honduras as part of a Rotary Discovery Grant team. In 2004, she went to Bolivia as part of a Rotaplast medical team. And in 2006, she traveled with a team building fuel-efficient stoves in the highlands of Guatemala. She returned to Bolivia in 2008 to oversee the completion of some grant-funded projects and to explore other possible projects to benefit the Bolivian people.
She is a member of the Paul Harris Society and the Rotary Bequest Society, and is a Major Donor. She has served as GNATS and GETS Instructors, GETS Administrative Chair, International Trainer, RI Membership Coordinator for Zone 25, and multiple times as RI President’s Representative. RI President-Elect Ray Klinginsmith appointed Judi to the newly established position of Rotary Coordinator for 2010-2013. She feels very honored to be one of only forty-one in this role world-wide.
Judi and her husband Bob enjoy time in the Southwest and in Latin America exploring their interests in native art. Judi is an avid gardener and a mid-west-trained-comfort-food cook. Fall weekends find Judi and Bob at every University of Oregon football game, whether at home or out of town. Their real joy is family time spent with their children and granddaughters.
Claudette McWilliams
Claudette McWilliams will be speaking at this year's District Conference on Friday as part of a panel discussion on "Women in Rotary."
Claudette is President of the Eugene Delta Rotary Club, past President of the Delta Rotary Foundation, and is a 2010 graduate of District 5110's Leadership Academy. She has been a Rotarian since 1999, and has received a “Four Avenues of Service Award.” She has also received her club’s Service Above Self Award and has been honored as Rotarian of the Year.
Claudette is a Workers’ Compensation Judge for the State of Oregon, having graduated from law school in l977. She is a member of the Oregon and California state bars, and the mother of three polyglots: Kendra, Corinne, and Ian. Claudette and her husband Jim have been married since l984.
Gus Arzner
Gus Arzner is a swimming coach and Director of Aquatics with over 37 years in the aquatics profession. He has coached high school students and age group swimmers in Oregon, California and Indiana. He has directed the operations of four aquatic centers in four states including Washington. Two of the facilities he directed were opened new to communities when as their first director he implemented new swim programs and hired and trained all staff.
Gus has been honored for his high school coaching twice in the state of Oregon. In 1988 was selected Coach of the Year by the Oregon Coaches Association. Last year he was selected the Boys Oregon Coach of the Year by the National Federation of Coaches. During his twelve years in Indiana he coached the Crawfordsville High School Boys swimming team to a 100 straight dual meet record and won eleven of the twelve Sectionals Championship titles.
Gus and his wife live in Lebanon where his hobbies include biking, hiking, beekeeping, vegetable gardening, taking care of his 75 roses and spending time with his four grown sons who live and work in the Willamette Valley.
Gus currently is the Director of the Lebanon Aquatic District where he coaches the Boys and Girls high school swim teams. He is a 6 year member of the Lebanon Rotary Club serving as the 2010-2011 president.
Umar Shavurov, a native of Kyrgyzstan, was nominated for a Rotary World Peace Fellowship by the Rotary Club of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He was awarded the scholarship to begin his studies at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Rotary Center of International Studies in 2004. In 2005 he completed his studies with a focus on combating international terrorism. After leaving Argentina, Umar returned to Kyrgyzstan to become Executive Director of the International Business Council (IBC), the largest broad-based business association in Kyrgyzstan, to advocate for economic reforms in the country. Following that Umar joined the World Bank’s flagship Doing Business Report to promote the removal of administrative barriers to birth, growth and development of companies around the world as a measure to alleviate poverty. Currently, he is with the Global Tax Team within the Investment Climate Department and is actively helping governments in West Africa, particularly Liberia and Sierra Leone to reform their tax systems.
Prior to graduate school, Umar studied at the Kyrgyz State National University’s School of International Relations, graduating in 2002 with a major in Foreign Policy and Diplomacy. As a student, he worked with all the major international organizations on a range of projects from road construction to corporate governance reform that gave him a unique perspective on important problems in Kyrgyzstan and across Central Asia. Upon graduating, Umar joined the Corporate Governance Center under the Prime Minister’s Office of Kyrgyzstan to spearhead the government’s reform agenda. Soon after, Umar went to work for the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Project that focused solely on the volatile Ferghana Valley. He worked with a range of projects that focused on economic and administrative mechanisms to solve cross border conflicts.
Umar has specialized knowledge of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, Latin America, West Africa, international and bilateral organizations, high-level strategic policy development and private sector development promotion. He is currently exploring his skills in social entrepreneurship using new technologies to help empower youth in poverty. Umar is married to Ann-Marie Nguyen, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, whom he met in Argentina in the same graduate school program.
Ann-Marie Nguyen was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship from District 5030 to begin her studies at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Rotary Center of International Studies in 2003. In 2005 she completed her graduate work in International Relations and Peace Studies, while also working at the U.S. Department of State at the Embassy in Buenos Aires. After leaving Argentina, Ann-Marie worked at UNICEF in New York City in donor relations and funding for humanitarian disasters. Currently, she works at the World Bank in Washington, DC. She first spent over three years in the Finance and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency, in charge of dissemination events and the outreach of their financial products and organizing forums around the financial crisis and now works in the Office of Diversity Programs. Prior to graduate school, she studied at the University of Washington, graduating in 1997 in Business Administration, with a Certificate in International Studies in Business (CISB) Program, and Spanish, and at El Colegio de Mexico in Mexico City. Upon graduating, Ann-Marie worked at Accenture LLP as a management consultant in the Communications and Media & Entertainment Industry Groups in Germany and the US for 4 years. In response to the events of 9/11, Ann-Marie became a two-tour Disaster Services Human Resources volunteer for the American Red Cross in New York City as a financial service case worker for those affected by the tragedy.
Ann-Marie has specialized knowledge of Latin America, international organizations, high-level summit coordination, humanitarian policy issues and private sector development promotion. She has studied abroad in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina and believes working and traveling in a multi-cultural world one of the most enriching parts of her life and any life. Born in Vietnam, Ann-Marie is married to Umar Shavurov, a Rotary World Peace Fellow from the Kyrgyz Republic. They reside in Alexandria, Virginia.
Bob King
Robert L. Kings (Bob) was born in Wales and graduated in Public Administration majoring in Economics and Public Finance.
Bob, who has been a Rotarian for 20 years, served as Club President, twice as Club Secretary, and was Rotarian of the Year in 1991-92 and again in 1999-00. Bob also served as a workshop leader at the Pacific Northwest PETS and in 2001 – 2002 Bob served as Governor of District 5110 during which the District took 4 out of 5 first place awards for giving to The Rotary Foundation in Zone 23, achieved $100 per capita giving for the first time, had the largest net increase in membership in District history, and raised over $3.5 million in gifts to the Bequest Society.
On a Zone level Bob has been involved for many years in the G.E.T.S. & G.N.A.T.S. training programs for incoming District Governors, served for three years as the Treasurer of the Pacific Northwest P.E.T.S. and served as the Rotary International Membership Zone Coordinator (RIMZC) for Zone 23 for the Rotary Year 2003-04.
In 2007 & 2010 Bob attended the Council on Legislation as the representative from District 5110. Bob & Barbara have represented the President of Rotary International to District Conferences on three occasions, and have attended many District Conferences, District Assemblies & International Conventions. Bob is a popular speaker at Club Charter Evenings, Assemblies & Conferences.
In July 2008 he began serving for three years as the Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator (RRFC) for Zone 23 (now Zone 25) – an appointment made by the Chairman of the Trustees.
Bob is a Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a Multiple Paul Harris Fellow, a Major Donor and a Rotary Benefactor. Barbara and Bob are the proud parents of three beautiful daughters, Emma, Sian and Megan and parents in law to Steve, Damon & Tim, all of whom are Paul Harris Fellows.
Professionally Bob & his wife Barbara own & operate the Lakeview Lodge in Lakeview, Oregon, but their real joy in life is having fun with their grandchildren Olivia, Sophie, Oscar and Elizabeth.
2011 District Conference Information Menu
