Events

Dr. Karin Lightfoot earned her Baccalaureate of Science degree in Nursing at Cal State Bakersfield and has been a registered Nurse for 37 years. She worked mostly in the areas of public health nursing and obstetrics. She earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing at CSU Chico and began teaching at Chico State School of Nursing in 2007. She earned her Ph. D in Public Health from Walden University in 2016 and she became Director of the School of Nursing in 2017.

She is Nationally Board Certified in Community Health Nursing and holds a Public Health Nursing certification from the California Board of Registered Nursing. She is currently the President-Elect for the California Association for Colleges of Nursing, is a State Grassroots Liaison for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and a board member of Kappa Omicron Chapter of Sigma Theta Tau International Honors Society of Nursing.

In her spare time, she enjoys camping, gardening, and taking long walks with her husband Robb Lightfoot. They raised their four children in Palo Cedro, California before moving to Chico in 2017, when she took the Director position. With the support of the University administration and the committed nursing faculty and staff, she has navigated the School of Nursing through the challenges of the Camp Fire and now the COVID pandemic.

Frank Schulenberg - Wiki Education Foundation - Schooling with Wiki

Frank Schulenburg is the Executive Director of Wiki Education, the non-profit that connects Wikipedia with subject-matter experts in higher education and cultural institutions. Frank is motivated by the desire to provide people with free access to accurate and trustworthy information, so they can make their own best choices as informed citizens.

Since the early days of his involvement with Wikipedia, Frank’s work has focused on improving content quality and broadening participation. Until 2014, he served on the Executive Team of the Wikimedia Foundation and spearheaded a number of global initiatives aimed at improving the encyclopedia’s coverage and quality.

Frank has been involved with Wikipedia as a volunteer since 2005, both as an author and as a photographer. His encyclopedia articles and photographs have gained widespread acclaim. 

Colonel Heather Fox is the Commander, 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, CA. She is responsible for approximately 7,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel, and the entire Air Force high-altitude reconnaissance fleet of U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is comprised of four groups and four overseas operating locations, executing worldwide missions in support of all six geographic combatant commanders.

Colonel Fox is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and started her career as a T-38 instructor pilot before transitioning to the U-2 program as a mission pilot. Col Fox’s staff duties have included exchange officer service in the UK Royal Air Force Strategy Division, the Joint Staff J3 Reconnaissance Division, and as a strategist and speech writer for the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She has earned three Master's Degrees from the American Public University, King’s College London, and the National Defense University. Her combat experience includes missions over Iraq and Afghanistan during Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM, and she has commanded EQ-4, RQ-4, and U-2 combat missions for Operations INHERENT RESOLVE, FREEDOM’S SENTINAL, as well as Sensitive Reconnaissance Operations in the Arabian Gulf.

Colonel Fox is a command pilot with over 2,400 hours in the U-2, E/RQ-4, and T-38A. She has flown 69 combat missions in the U-2 and has over 650 hours of combat time. Prior to her current position, she was a student at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

Ingelise Mahlis-Miller graduated from Inspire School of Arts and Sciences a year early and embarked on an adventure as an Exchange Student with Rotary to Taiwan. She is eighteen years old and has lived in Chico for almost all of her life. She is very excited to have been on exchange to Taiwan through Rotary, and sharing her story with us, and expresses her thanks to Rotary for this wonderful opportunity. 

Katy Thoma - Katy came to Chico in 1974 from Aptos, CA to attend Chico State where she graduated with a degree in Economics. Katy has 25 years of banking experience, and 16 years’ experience working in the non-profit sector. She also spent 2 summers during college working as a ride operator at Magic Mountain – one of her favorite jobs. She can still recite her “spiel” on demand. Katy takes great pride in the fact her family has been in California for 9 generations. She is a 3rd generation Rotarian. Katy is honored to be the CEO of the Chico Chamber where she works on behalf of the business community.

Scott Blow

Chiara Savage Schwartz and Lilah Parker are Caliifornia high school juniors and student ambassadors for Wonderbag, where they have been working since 2106 to bring the Wonderbag non-electric slow cookers to low-income communities around the world. Together, they visit classrooms and community centers both in California and South Africa to raise awareness and understanding of the challenges that face the most vulnerable and teach everyone how more efficient home cooking can be a recipe for change. Chiara and Lilah's efforts have helped thousands of women and girls recover the time to determine their educational and financial futures. They were honored with a Bay Area Jefferson Award from Multiplying Good in 2019 and the Marin Academy Juniors Grant in 2020. 

Lilah Parker and Chiara Savage Schwartz will present a new approach to both local and international women's and homeless impowerment. One Wonderbag, one family, one year, resilience.

On the international front, each wonderbag provides 70% less feul needed to cook, up to 1 ton carbon emissions mitigated, 60% less indoor pollution, up to 1,000 hours diverted, 1,000 liters of cooking water spared, and 5 large trees saved from deforestation.

What is this miracle bag? Lilah and Chiara will explain.

Frederick W. Penney is the host of Radio Law Talk, a radio show discussing the latest trending legal topics and news, broadcast throughout many areas around the country and can be found on SRN Radio networks.

The Penney and Associates firm has now expanded to offices in Sacramento, Roseville, Chico, Rocklin and Irvine with satellite offices in Fairfield, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Southern California. Penney and Associates Cases have been featured on the National Nightly News, local nightly news, radio news programs and numerous articles in print media, and Penny Lawyers have handled numerous high profile personal injury cases and thousands of personal injury cases..

Fred was Born in 1963 and admitted to the California State Bar in 1992, receiving his B.A. degree from Brigham Young University in 1988 in Philosophy, and receiving his J.D. degree in 1991 from J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Following his admission to the bar he briefly worked for a nationwide personal injury firm. Within six months of passing his bar he was lead trial lawyer in a large Superior Court personal injury case. Early in his career Mr. Penney has been featured in magazines, newspapers and on the local nightly news about a number of cases.

Mr. Penney is the author of numerous personal injury articles. He became a member of the California Trial Lawyers Association in 1993, has been admitted in 1992 and 1993 to the Federal Eastern District Court and the 9th District Court of Appeals. Fred Penney is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar and an officer of the court. Mr. Penney is a settlement conference judge for the Placer County Superior Court.

Johrita Solari - A Rotarian since 1993, Johrita is currently a proud member of the Rotary Club of Anaheim, California. She served as District Governor for District 5320 in 2010-2011. Additional service has included chair of the 2013 Southern California/Nevada PETS, training leader at the 2014 and 2015 International Assemblies, chair of the 2015 Institute for Zones 25/26, and membership on Rotary’s Peace Major Gifts Initiative Committee. On July 1, 2019, she became the Rotary International Director (2019-2021) for the newly configured Zones 26/27.

As District Governor, Johrita held the first District 5320 Million Dollar Dinner for The Rotary Foundation. Under her leadership, District 5320 became the second district in the world to become a 100% Paul Harris Club District.

Johrita is Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Solari Enterprises, Inc., a full-service property management company employing 300 team members who specialize in the management of more than $1B of affordable multifamily housing. She works together with her husband and daughters to create a working environment with a high level of ethics and integrity. She has served in many capacities on community and industry boards.

Rotary plays an important role in the lives of the Solari family. Johrita, her husband Bruce, and their two daughters, Gianna and Tressa, are all past club presidents and with their son-in-law, Reece are active supporters of The Rotary Foundation. Johrita and Bruce are members of the Arch Klumph Society.

They live in Villa Park, California, U.S.A.

Laura R. Cootsona holds a Masters in Nonprofit Administration (MNA) from University of San Francisco and a BA from UC Berkeley in Religious Studies and worked with nonprofit organizations as a consultant for 21 years. Cootsona built her consulting practice focused on fundraising, marketing, CEO coaching, strategic planning, and board development. In October of 2015, Cootsona became the Executive Director of the Jesus Center, a social service nonprofit in Chico, CA focusing on reducing the impact of homelessness.

She describes her commitment to folks living on the streets as her first passion, dating back to the early eighties while in school in Berkeley. As an undergraduate she volunteered at the Berkeley Emergency Food Project first as a job coach (and expert spades player) and then as a board member. Since assuming the role of Executive Director, Cootsona focuses on building strategic collaborations for the overall improvement of the community and of those who struggle the most with childhood trauma, mental illness, substance use, and circumstantial challenges. Post Camp Fire, Cootsona serves on the Executive Committee of the Long-Term Recovery Group Board of Directors and is focused on building a full service campus called The Renewal Center.

When she is not at work, Laura enjoys time with her two daughters (22 and 25), biking, reading, swimming, taking pictures, hanging out with friends, and traveling. She and her husband, Greg, a lecturer at CSUC in Religious Studies, are about to celebrate 35 years of marriage.

Susan Cohen Grossman

Colonel Heather Fox is the Commander, 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, CA. She is responsible for approximately 7,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel, and the entire Air Force high-altitude reconnaissance fleet of U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft. The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is comprised of four groups and four overseas operating locations, executing worldwide missions in support of all six geographic combatant commanders.

Colonel Fox is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and started her career as a T-38 instructor pilot before transitioning to the U-2 program as a mission pilot. Col Fox’s staff duties have included exchange officer service in the UK Royal Air Force Strategy Division, the Joint Staff J3 Reconnaissance Division, and as a strategist and speech writer for the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She has earned three Master's Degrees from the American Public University, King’s College London, and the National Defense University. Her combat experience includes missions over Iraq and Afghanistan during Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM, and she has commanded EQ-4, RQ-4, and U-2 combat missions for Operations INHERENT RESOLVE, FREEDOM’S SENTINAL, as well as Sensitive Reconnaissance Operations in the Arabian Gulf.

Colonel Fox is a command pilot with over 2,400 hours in the U-2, E/RQ-4, and T-38A. She has flown 69 combat missions in the U-2 and has over 650 hours of combat time. Prior to her current position, she was a student at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

Acheivment Builds Choice Awards presented to students at Fair View High School.

Contact Dick Stein for more information

Tara Campbell - An Anime Perspective

Mike Guzzi

Megan Gaddis

Bill Brouhard