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Dirk McMahon is speaker at May 12 Rotary meeting
Dirk McMahon of UnitedHealth Group will be the program speaker at the Thursday, May 12 Rotary Club of Edina meeting. He will give an overview of UnitedHealth Group as his presentation.
 
McMahon currently serves as executive vice president and chief of Enterprise Operations for UnitedHealth Group. In this capacity, he ensures the operations of UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare and Optum are aligned to serve our customers. McMahon has responsibility for the operations, technology, network, clinical and integration functions. Previously, Dirk was chief executive officer for OptumRx, where he oversaw UnitedHealth Group’s pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company, including pharmacy network, mail service and specialty pharmacy services. 
 
He joined UnitedHealthcare in 2003, holding various management positions in information technology, operations and finance. Prior to his current position, he served as president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare benefit operations. Before joining UnitedHealthcare, he was head of airport operations worldwide for Northwest Airlines for 19 years. 
 
McMahon received a bachelor's degree in finance from Marist College and a master's in Business Administration (MBA) in finance from the University of Notre Dame. He serves on the board of directors for Bridging, a non-profit organization in Minneapolis that provides families and individuals transitioning out of homelessness and poverty with furniture and household goods to improve their lives.
 
New member Tom Cook will be officially inducted into the club at the meeting.
In Review...
Our May 5 meeting day was a beautiful, sunny and warm spring day. Club President Jennifer Bennerotte got us started with a warm and touching story from the Depression Era about Mayor LaGuardia of New York, in which he presided as judge over a case involving a widowed grandmother who stole a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren. Jennifer told the story as an example of the meaning of the word “grace," and gave one definition as “When someone with superior power shows kindness and mercy to another." 
 
Greeters were Steve Buettner, Val Burke and Toni GerardJim Ryman handled front desk duty.
 
Dan Mott did a nice invocation based on a quote from Mother Teresa of Calcutta, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance and Four-Way Test. Next we got a rousing rendition of the “Walleye” song done to the music of the “Rawhide” tune by Bill Lindberg from the Eagan Rotary Club in honor of the fishing opener on May 14.
 
After the “Walleye” song, Keith Benson made a presentation to the Majestic Hills Ranch of a donation in the amount of $3,000 from our Edina Rotary Foundation to pay for a riding rake for the ranch. We learned that the Majestic Hills Ranch conducts equine therapy for disabled and challenged children, as well as for injured military service members through a program called “Heroes on Horseback."
 
Next, John Buttolph introduced the guests. After John’s guest introductions, Meg Boehne gave her classification talk centered on her family, faith and career, all of which provided various means for her to pursue her substantial interest in helping poor women and children in Africa. Meg is now pursuing an encore career at Edina Realty and working harder than ever. She gave us one fun fact: that she had been given a student award by a Rotary Club exactly 39 years to the day before our May 5t club meeting, and she had the award along to prove it!
 
After Meg’s classification talk, Dave Hatzung, wearing some very snazzy Pippi Longstocking socks (really!), got up to introduce our speaker. Our speaker was Kelly Schuller from the Viracon Company located in Owatonna, Minnesota. Viracon, together with Harmon Glass, is owned by Apogee Enterprises, a publicly traded company. Kelly told us that Viracon was a world-class company “right in our back yard” that not a lot of people knew much about.
 
Viracon is the leading glass fabricator in the Americas, dealing only in the commercial building market, and providing the widest variety and highest quality window possible. Viracon does not actually make glass. Rather, it fabricates glass made by others, and customizes it using a variety of proprietary coatings. Viracon is currently approaching $400 million in revenue, and has approximately 2,200 employees worldwide, of which 1,500 are employed in Owatonna. The company works on approximately 500 commercial building projects per year involving some 50 million square feet of glass, and holds a 70 percent market share in the commercial building glass market. The company was founded in 1970 and its Owatonna facility is approximately 1.5 million square feet, soon expanding to approximately 2 million square feet. It is the second largest glass fabrication facility in the world (the biggest one is in China).
 
According to Kelly, Viracon’s success derives primarily from its proprietary glass coatings, unique manufacturing processes, very low defect rate, high on-time delivery rate (95 percent-plus), and by providing the best technical resources to architects. The company has participated in many premier projects in the Twin Cities metro as well as globally, including the Vikings stadium, One World Trade Center in NY, as well as major projects in Chile, Singapore and many other places.
 
Viracon will soon be able to handle “jumbo” sheets of glass measuring about 10 feet by 20 feet. Each and every sheet of glass sold by the company is shipped in its own custom made wooden crate. Lumber is the second largest raw material used by the company, after the glass itself.
 
Paul Peterson did a great job as the closer, and Jennifer reminded us to sign up for the District Conference on May 12 and 13, as well as the Fireside Chats, which are getting underway with the first one at Josh Sprague’s house May 11, then at Gordy Lewis’ house May 12, and then at John Flynn’s home May 17. Stay tuned for more Fireside Chats, which will be announced soon.
 
Jennifer closed the meeting with a quote from Caroline Myss emphasizing the importance of “grace” in our lives, and got us out into the warm sunny day at 1:30 p.m. sharp.
Meet a member...Renee Harberts
Periodically we feature a newer member of the Rotary Club of Edina in The Barker. The Rotary Club of Edina welcomed Renee Harberts as a member in October 2015. Renee's sponsor to the club was Ann Platt. 
 
Name: Renee Harberts
 
Classification: Financial Planning
 
What was your first job? Secretary to the County Attorney
 
Who was your first role model and why? My Aunt Esther (who lived to be 94).  She was genuine, smart, independent and loving. She had a way of making everyone she knew feel special. She was the special one.
 
Why did you want to join Rotary? It’s an efficient use of time. It’s a great way to meet new people, interact with business professionals, get involved in my community and give back all at the same time.
 
What do you like best about being part of the Rotary Club of Edina? The wide range of projects to get involved with.
 
What one piece of advice do you offer other business leaders? Be flexible. Be strong enough to bend. Palm trees survive hurricanes when other more stately tress don’t, because they can bend to ground.
 
Thanks for your involvement with the Rotary Club of Edina, Renee!
Letter Bag
“On behalf of the City of Edina, I would like to thank you for the Rotary Club of Edina’s generous donation of $4,199. Your donation of the ‘Write Blocker’ makes it possible for the Edina Police Department to continue its forensic examination of devices such as cellular, computers and other digital devices.
 
“Once again, thank you for helping to make Edina a better place.”
 
-- Police Chief Dave Nelson and Mayor Jim Hovland
 
“Thank you for your donation of $300 on April 18 for World Water Day 2016 and in support of our community development work in Haiti. Your donation will help create another community-managed clean water well, along with hygiene and sanitation education, in a rural community. In these communities, people must walk long distances to get water, given no other option than to gather contaminated water just to survive. Hundreds of people will benefit directly from your generosity.
 
“60 community wells were inaugurated in2 015, which is another new annual record for Haiti Outreach! That level of achievement will bring clean, community-managed water to about 17,000 people in 2015 alone! On top of that, our team has trained these communities to manage their own wells, so that the clean water will be maintained for many years to come.
 
“We are extremely impressed and proud of the increasing success of our team of animators’ sanitation education and latrine promotion. Without Haiti Outreach actually constructing the latrines, we have enrolled people to build their own latrines in 95 percent of the homes in communities where we have worked this year. This is up from an average of 40 percent of the homes that initially have a latrine. This is a tremendous accomplishment, and we intend to maintain this momentum going forward.
 
“Thank you again for your generous support. It is truly amazing what can be accomplished when we work together. We could not continue this life-changing work without friends like you!”
 
-- Executive Director Dale Snyder, Haiti Outreach
 
“Thanks for this great experience. I enjoyed Camp RYLA. I gained many new skills that will contribute to my excellence in the future.”
 
-- Abdigani “Giani” Abdulkadir, Edina High School
 
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in RYLA. This experience changed how I think about life and it has helped me become a better leader. I have gained a connection with more of my peers which was my goal for this trip.”
 
-- Santino Kretz
 
“Thank you for sponsoring me through this experience. I appreciated it and enjoyed lots. This experience will better help me become a leader in my community and helps students better understand leadership. I hope to use what I learned which was how to present by voice.”
 
-- Abdi Ali, Edina High School
 
“Thank you so much for inviting me and Dick Crockett to [a recent] Rotary meeting. It was so nice to meet so many great people in your organization. I have been inspired by your “Service Above Self” mission and will continue  to put it into practice.
 
“Thank you for the generous grant for our Access students. I can’t wait to start ACT prepping! We’ll keep you posted on the great impact you’ll be making with our students.”
 
-- Abby Lugo, Edina Give and Go
Meeting Responsibilities
Front Desk
Jones, Les
 
Greeter 1
Carlson, Rick
 
Greeter 2
Buttolph, John
 
Greeter 3 (new member)
Smith, Katie
 
Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance/Four-Way Test
Mogck, Alan
 
Introduce Guests
Stevens, Terry
 
The Barker writer
Byun, Wooj
 
Introduce the Speaker
Hare, Dan
 
Thank the Speaker
Peterson, Ross
 
Upcoming Events
Spring Fireside Chat hosted by Josh Sprague
Josh Sprague's home
May 11, 2016
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Rotary District 5950/5960 2016 Conference
Mystic Lake Conference Center
May 12, 2016 – May 13, 2016
 
Spring Fireside Chat hosted by Gordy Lewis
Gordy Lewis's home
May 12, 2016
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Spring Fireside Chat hosted by John Flynn
John Flynn's home
May 17, 2016
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Rotary Board training
Southdale YMCA
May 18, 2016 5:30 PM
 
Feed My Starving Children
Feed My Starving Children
May 21, 2016
9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
 
Rotary Club of Edina Family Picnic
Bryant Lake Regional Park
Jun 14, 2016
5:45 PM – 8:00 PM
 
Executives & Directors
President
 
President Elect
 
Treasurer
 
Secretary
 
Past President
 
Club Service (Administration) Director
 
Community Service—Local Funding Director
 
Community Service—Programs Director
 
International Service Director
 
Membership—Recruitment Director
 
Membership—Retention Director
 
Public Image Director
 
The Rotary Foundation Director
 
Youth Service Director
 
Club Administrator
 
Photo Albums
April 7, 2016 Meeting
March 10, 2016 Meeting
Skate to End Polio
Feb. 11, 2016 Meeting
Feb. 4, 2016 Meeting
2016 Bowling Party
Jan. 21, 2016 Meeting
Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Gerry Norton
May 1
 
Alan Mogck
May 2
 
Dennis Hykes
May 3
 
Ross Peterson
May 5
 
Adam Stanzak
May 7
 
Bob Harvey
May 9
 
Daniel Mott
May 11
 
Joe Arends
May 12
 
Nate Wenner
May 14
 
Erick Ries
May 15
 
David Kunz
May 17
 
Arthur Rouner
May 21
 
James Perkins
May 21
 
Hugh Hadlund
May 22
 
Joel Jennings
May 24
 
Tom McNellis
May 31
 
Anniversaries
Wooj Byun
Jennifer Park
May 22
 
Join Date
Chrysanne Manoles
May 1, 1988
28 years
 
Colleen Simpson
May 1, 2006
10 years
 
Jim Roberts
May 7, 2015
1 year
 
Shelly Loberg
May 7, 2015
1 year
 
Jodie Jennings
May 8, 2014
2 years
 
Scott Tankenoff
May 8, 2014
2 years
 
Mitch Robinson
May 10, 2012
4 years
 
Charlie Barer
May 13, 1982
34 years
 
Dale Walker
May 17, 2007
9 years
 
Robert Gubrud
May 17, 2007
9 years
 
Erick Ries
May 31, 2001
15 years
 

The Edina Country Club will serve members and guests Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy or Chicken Caeasar Salad at the Rotary Club of Edina's May 12 meeting. 

The Rotary Club of Edina's Administrator, Jennifer Garske, works part-time Tuesday through Friday. To contact her, call 612-875-3109 or write to jgarske@EdinaRotary.org.