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John Montague to speak at May 19 meeting
The Rotary Club of Edina will welcome John Montague as the program speaker at the Thursday, May 19, meeting. He will speak about "Aspire to Greatness: How Two Minnesota Hockey Dads Solved a Real Problem and Built a Great Company." 
 
Montague is the co-founder and chief aspiration officer of Aspire Beverage Company, a Minnesota-based maker of natural sports drinks. During his presentation, Montague will talk about entrepreneurs being problem solvers. He will tell the story of two Minnesota hockey dad that couldn't find healthy sports drinks for their active families—so they created one. Montague will talk about how the "why" behind their business has provided a mission that drives everything that the company does. He shares how they are building a great company with an innovative, grass-roots approach that sets them apart in the beverage industry. Aspire sports drinks have rapidly grow from the ice arenas and ball fields of the Twin Cities to retailers, schools and sports facilities throughout the United States. He encourages everyone to "Aspire to greatness!"
 
Prior to Aspire, Montague founded and built two software businesses. As an entrepreneur, his primary expertise is building strong brands to drive marketing, sales and business development. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, he began his career in the financial markets and advertising/marketing industries. He was awarded the Minnesota Cup in 2007. Recently, he was named to the Minnesota Business "Real Power 50" list and was an ACG "Bold Awards" recipient. 
 
Montague is an Edina resident, and father of two children—Evan, 11, and Elle, 7. He coaches youth hockey, football and soccer. He actively consults with companies, large and small, on marketing, sales and business development.
 
John Mazzara will give his classification talk at the meeting.
 
In Review
The greeters at the May 12 Rotary Club of Edina meeting were Rick CarlsonJohn Buttolph and Katie SmithLes Jones helped at the front desk and Alan Mogck lead us in the invocation, Pledge of Allegiance and Four-Way Test. His invocation focused on the diversity of our club and different religious backgrounds

Terry Stevens introduced guests:
 
  • Wooj Buyn introduced Brandon Azbill, a real estate agent and on his fourth meeting visit
  • Tom Cook had guests including his wife, Britton Cook, a history and science teacher; and his daughter, Candice Cook, a hockey star
  • Jennifer Bennerotte welcomed Beth Landers, business development at Brookdale Senior Living
Hugh Hadlund kindly reminded our club about the upcoming Rotary Family Picnic. Sign-up sheets were at our tables and the event will be Tuesday, June 14, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the pavilion at Bryant Lake Park in Eden Prairie. We are in need of volunteers to help with the picnic. 
 
Sue Spalding, The Rotary Foundation director for our club, introduced Paul Harris Fellows:
  • John Solberg—PHF+1
  • Axel Steuer—PHF+1
  • Greg Yoch—PHF+1
  • Bill Milota—PHF+2
  • Sonja Tenjdin—PHF+2
  • Josh Sprague—PHF+3
  • Tom Bach—PHF+6
Jim Ryman, who is on the Community Service—Local Funding Committee, introduced Patricia Harmon, Executive Director of CornerHouse. Jim presented a $4,600 grant check from the Edina Rotary Foundation to CornerHouse. Patricia spoke to our group, thanking Edina Rotary Foundation for the grant, and mentioning Edina Rotarian Ed Padilla as a former board member for the organization. CornerHouse helps physically abused, sexually abused and those who have witnessed a violent crime. Some of the support CornerHouse provides is training for people under stress and family support services such as therapy and home visits. To date they have trained an impressive 30,000 people. The biggest service that is critically important comes from their forensic team. They provide the medical care and in-depth heath examinations, which their clients need. 
 
Next Brad Hepp, a past president of our club, came up and introduced the newest member of our Rotary Club, Tom CookDavid Clynes is Tom’s sponsor. We learned that Tom's father was a past Rotarian in Florida, and was the past president and a Paul Harris Fellow, which has inspired Tom to get involved with Rotary. Tom is currently the Senior Priest of Saint Stevens Church in Edina. His classification will be Clergy. 
 
Dan Hare introduced our speaker, Dirk McMahon with UnitedHealth Group. Dirk started out speaking about UHG’s  mission statement, which guides their company. UnitedHealth Group’s mission is to help people live healthier lives and to help make the health system work better for everyone. They try to carry out their mission by concentrating on: 
  1. Enhancing the performance of the health system and improve the overall health and well-being of the people they serve within their communities.
  2. Work with healthcare professionals and other key partners to expand access to quality health care so people get the care they need at an affordable price.   
  3. Support the physician/patient relationship and empower people with the information, guidance and tools they need to make personal health choices and decisions.  
Dirk then spoke about UnitedHealth Care’s core values:
  1. Integrity—honor commitments and never compromise ethics.
  2. Compassion—walk in the shoes of people we serve and those with whom we work.
  3. Relationships—build trust through collaboration.
  4. Innovation (improvements & efficiencies)—invent the future, learn from the past.
  5. Performance—demonstrate excellence in everything we do.
UHG’s corporate headquarters is in Minnetonka. They employ 13,000 individuals within the Twin Cities and a total of 16,000 individuals within the state of Minnesota. The corporation is a Fortune 15 company. The company believes in giving back and does so by sponsoring the Twin Cities Heart Walk, that took place at Target Field May 14. This year they raised a whopping $2,027,127. This is an annual walk, and UHG partners with the American Heart Association. 
    
The corporation is divided into two sections—Heath Services and Health Benefits. 
 
There are four subsidiaries of the Health Services division:
  1. OptumHealth—this service is provided locally within four to five hospitals and covers 300 health plans. 
  2. OptumInsight—a subsidiary concentrating on the overall analytics within the organization. The goal is to help better decisions made within heathcare system. 
  3. Optum Care—focuses on health intervention and prevention by designing and implementing custom information technology systems, and offers management consulting in the healthcare industry nationwide. 
  4. OptumRX—focuses on pharmacy benefits and lowering medication costs. Optum recently bought Catamaran RX for $14 billion. The company is similar to express scripts and CVS. They bought this so they could better service their plan sponsors for pharmacy benefits.
In 2015, Optum bought Med Express. Med Express is similar to an urgent care that we have here in the midwest. They purchased 170 stores that were located in the mid-Atlantic states. They felt this was a good step as it was brining a retail feel to health care. The current average visit at one of these clinics is 55 minutes and performs 90 percent of the services that an ER would, but that is cost effective, faster and has a nicer atmosphere than a hospital.
 
The following is under Health Benefits:
 
UnitedHeath Group’s benefit company is called UnitedHeath Care. There are 320 million people in the United States and UHG wanted to concentrate on how to better service individuals and companies through benefits. They currently provide commercial insurance, work with Medicare Retirement Services, Medicaid and Tri-care. Tri-care is a division of UnitedHeath Care that focuses on helping veterans and their families. 

Dirk also let us know that UnitedHealth Group recently created a company called Amil in Brazil. Amil is Brazil’s largest healthcare company, providing a wide range of medical and dental benefits, hospital and clinical services and advanced care management. Amil’s products and services range from free-choice comprehensive insurance coverage to more affordable products that cater to customers and consumers with a broad range of incomes and healthcare needs.
 
Dirk went on to say that out of the 320 million people living in the United States, 30 million people are not covered under the current Obama Care act. 
 
UnitedHeath Group’s stresses the importance of partnering with doctor and nurses so they provide good data to their medical team and individuals hoping to optimize the healthcare practice. UnitedHeath Group strongly believes in the importance of technology. They spent $3 billion in technology last year. They processed 2 million claims in 2015. The money and technology has been invested in administrative, clinical efficiency and technology that helps individuals pick out their healthcare costs. 

One of the programs that help individuals look at their healthcare coverage is called Link. Link helps providers talk and work better. An example is prior authorizations from doctors online. This helps with overall efficiencies and consumers. And ultimately, Link provides better outcomes and lowers costs.

Ross Peterson thanked Dirk. We donated an e-book to Edina High School in the speaker's honor.
 
Interships, host families sought for New Generations Exchange intern
The International Service Committee needs your help! We are hosting a New Generations Exchange student through Rotary International. Ji Hyeion "Andrea" Kim will arrive in Minnesota June 10 and will stay through July 3.
 
The committee is searching for internship opportunities for Andrea while she is here. They are also looking for families to host Andrea during her stay, and help with transportation to and from the internships. Andrea is majoring in Sports Medicine, focusing on treating and preventing athlete injury. 
 
If you are interested, or know of someone who may be able to help, please contact Shelly Loberg at Shelly@Edina.org or 952-806-9064. Thank you in advance for your consideration!
 
New Generations exchanges usually last from a few weeks to three months, making this a suitable option for recent secondary school graduates, young professionals and Rotaractors. These exchanges may be arranged for individuals or groups and can involve homestays, tours or camps. Exchanges often can also include a vocational element, and some districts offer specialized internships. New Generations exchanges provide the opportunity to learn about a different culture while fostering goodwill and understanding.
 
Letter Bag
"We are honored that the Rotary Club of Edina has made a contribution to The Rotary Foundation in memory of Donald Hustad. As a former member of the Hopkins Rotary Club, he would be pleased to know that our club chose to honor him by helping others. We sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness, and thank you very much for your very generous gift to The Rotary Foundation."
 
-- Steve and Mary Hustad
 
"It is with deep appreciation that I am writing to thank the Edina Rotary Foundation for the generous donation ... toward our Arena Rake which will ensure even more safety for our riders, animals and participants in our therapeutic riding programs at Majestic Hills Ranch. In this current economic climate, competition for funding is fierce, so we are especially grateful for your support. Back in 1997 when we started providing our services, we saw a handful of children. In 2015, we built our attendance to serving 67 children per week, and also continued with our advanced riding program for children who are clearly able to go on and learn independent riding skills. We are pleased to announce that we are about to start our 19th year of service to our children and young adult riders and our seventh year with our "Heroes on Horseback" Veterans' program, serving 24 in 2015 and continuously increasing. It is a small way we can give back to those military veterans who have given so much to our country.
 
"This expansion and growth is only possible through the generous support of Foundations, corporations, organizations and individuals who believe in our work as strongly as we do. When we see the weekly improvements in the children and veterans and hear the stories of the changes that are occurring, how can we not fight tooth and nail to keep our services available to as many as possible?
 
"The Ranch is open to visitors with appointment, and we welcome you to come down and see our riders in action. Their smiles and successes are because you helped put them there."
 
-- Larry R. Johnson, Majestic Hills Ranch Foundation Board President
 
"On behalf of our entire staff and the families we serve, thank you for your recent grant award to purchase computer work stations and printers designated for families accessing Cornerstone services. This will ensure that participants have much-needed access to technology in order to help achieve their self-identified goals -- supporting their efforts to build safe, stable and healthy futures.
 
"Our Executive Director, Meg Schnabel, is looking forward to attending an upcoming meeting in June to share a few comments and receive the award. Please know we are thrilled to be able to offer these work stations and appreciate your recognition of the importance of this need.
 
...
 
"Cornerstone remains deeply committed to addressing the needs of our community. We rely on community support to sustain these efforts and extend our sincere thanks for the loyal support for the Rotary Club of Edina. It makes a difference."
 
-- Ann Harrington, Cornerstone Grants Coordinator
Meeting Responsibilities
Front Desk
Kalal, Kevin
 
Greeter 1
Schmit, Libby
 
Greeter 2
Cardarelle, Frank
 
Greeter 3 (new member)
Brown, Stan
 
Invocation/Pledge of Allegiance/Four-Way Test
Moore, Terry
 
Introduce Guests
Steinke, Will
 
The Barker writer
Buttolph, John
 
Introduce the Speaker
Harmon, Wayne
 
Thank the Speaker
Perkins, Bob
 
Upcoming Events
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
 
Spring Fireside Chat hosted by Paul Mooty
Paul Mooty's home
May 24, 2016
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Spring Fireside Chat hosted by Rick Carlson
Rick Carlson's home
May 25, 2016
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Rotary Club of Edina Family Picnic
Bryant Lake Regional Park
Jun 14, 2016
5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 
Rotary Rally with the Twins at Target Field
Target Field
Jun 18, 2016 1:10 PM
 
Frampton concert with Paul Peterson and pre-party
Rock Bottom Brewery
Jul 13, 2016 6:00 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
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 the "Edina Rotary Big Buffet" at the Rotary Club of Edina's May 19 meeting. Buffet items will include Garden Salad, Fruit, Beef Pot Roast, Sliced Turkey Breast, Baby Green Top Carrots and Mashed Potatoes.

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.