Events

Rest up for an exciting new Rotary year beginning on July 1.  

Our meeting on tuesday, July 1 will the new rotary year and our new president Russell King and includebe a short talk  by Davis Crayroft  and a slideshow to honor and thank Bob Teraff for his excellent job as our president since January first.

Russell King will grasp the gavel and kick off the 2025–2026 new Rotary year as our new president.

Our program will be led by devoted Demoter-in-Chief Davis Cracroft who will entertain us and honor dearly departing President Bob Teaff.with stories, photos, and some facts about his life and  reign.

Keith is an advocate for preserving architecturally unique homes and maintaining & supporting our diverse communities.  He will talk to us about modernism and  mid-century modern architecture in and around La Jolla.

London-Moeder Advisors is a diversified real estate strategic advisory, development, management, investment, capital access and analysis firm.ondon Moeder Advisors 

It prepares residential and commercial market and financial feasibility studies. We also analyze real estate investments for prospective investors and prepare investment packages to assist in the marketing of real estate projects and portfolios. Our practice focuses on the states of California, Arizona and Nevada. Our clients include major developers and institutional investors in both the residential and commercial fields.

This wil be our fun,  often annual,  meeting with our fellow service club  in La Jolla, the Kiwanians.

Joe is the councilman  for District 1, which consists of the beach cities in San Diego. Last  year he was elected president of the San Diego City Council.

Councilmember LaCava is honored to represent the residents and businesses of San Diego City Council District 1 where he is currently serving his second term. Joe was unanimously elected by his colleagues as the President of the City Council and chairs the Council's Rules Committee. He continues his work on the Environment Committee and is First Vice Chair on the SANDAG Board of Directors.

In 2024, he served as chair of the Board of Directors for San Diego Community Power and the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority, and chaired SANDAG's Regional Planning Committee.

He is a San Diego native and San Diego State University graduate. He has lived in District 1 since 1983 with his wife Lorene, a retired kindergarten teacher, where they raised two daughters.

President LaCava is a licensed civil engineer bringing extensive experience on land use, housing, infrastructure, climate change, and the environment. Prior to his election in 2020, he served on nearly 30 civic boards, planning groups, and commissions. The combination of technical expertise and community engagement makes him an effective leader on policies, legislation, and budgets that meet the needs of his district and all San Diegans.

Joe usually talks for a bit and then takes questions so please bring some.

Steve Brown is a longtime member and past president of the La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary Club and served as District Governor of Rotary District 5340 in 1995–96. His dedication to Rotary extends globally: he served as a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation from 2010 to 2014 and was Vice Chair in 2012–13. He has received some of Rotary's most prestigious honors, including the Citation for Meritorious Service, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Service Above Self Award.

Steve and his wife Susan are members of The Rotary Foundation’s Arch C. Klumph Society, Chair’s Circle, and Bequest Society. He currently serves as Vice Chair of Rotary’s Countdown to History Committee, which works to raise major gifts to support polio eradication efforts worldwide.

He is especially well known for leading his club’s impactful educational initiatives in Afghanistan. Beginning in 2002, Steve spearheaded the construction of a girls’ school in Jalalabad. That initial effort grew into a major educational campus that now serves nearly 9,000 students, both girls and boys, in daily shifts. The campus also includes the Steve Brown International Learning Center, a women’s dormitory for university students, a faculty training center, and a large auditorium.

Beyond Afghanistan, Steve has helped lead numerous international projects, including clean water wells and the innovative Hippo Fence project in Africa, as well as vocational and economic development initiatives such as a Somali sewing center.

Chuck Dick will be introducing Steve, whose work continues to exemplify Rotary’s motto of “Service Above Self,” with a focus on education, sustainability, and global collaboration.

Our former member Earl Edwards is Special Advisor to the Chancellor and immediate Past Athletics Director for UCSD.

Earl is always an interesting speaker. He will talk to us about the UCSD Athletic Department’s transition to Division I status with the NCAA and the new pressures promoting athletes transferring colleges in search of a payday. 

Earl W. Edwards  led UC San Diego Athletics from the year 2000 until two months ago guiding the program through an unprecedented rise from NCAA Division III to Division I. Under his leadership, the Tritons have achieved historic milestones, including their first Big West baseball title in 2023 and becoming the first institution in NCAA history to have both its men’s and women’s basketball teams reach the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility in 2025. UC San Diego also boasts the highest graduation rate of any public Division I institution.

During his tenure, Edwards has overseen multiple national championships at the Division II level, earned eight CCAA Commissioners’ Cups, and maintained UC San Diego’s consistent presence among the nation’s top programs in academic and athletic rankings. He has spearheaded significant facility upgrades, including renovations to LionTree Arena, Triton Soccer Stadium, and Canyonview Aquatic Center.

Named NACDA’s West Region Athletics Director of the Year in 2007 and one of its national Athletics Directors of the Year in 2017, Edwards has served on numerous national committees, including chairing the Big West Conference’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. His extensive career also includes leadership roles at East Stroudsburg University, University of Massachusetts, UC Davis, University of Michigan, and Drexel University.

A graduate of East Stroudsburg University with a bachelor’s in Physical Education, Edwards holds a master’s in Sports Administration from the University of Massachusetts. He is active in the San Diego community, serving on boards for San Diego Bowl Games, and San Diego Sports Innovators.

Misty Jones serves as the Director of the San Diego Public Library, where she oversees the Central Library and 35 branch locations. In her previous role as Deputy Director for the Central Division, she managed the complex move, grand opening, and day-to-day operations of the Central Library at Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common.

A graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science program at the University of South Carolina, Misty began her career at the Greenville County Library in South Carolina. She then spent nine years at the Charleston County Library, where she founded and chaired Libraries Out Loud, a grassroots advocacy initiative dedicated to restoring library funding through public engagement and legislative outreach.

Upon relocating to San Diego, Misty immediately joined the California Library Association’s Legislative and Advocacy Committee and went on to serve as CLA President in 2016. She currently contributes her expertise to the Public Library Association’s Committee for Advocacy and Strategic Partnerships and sits on the boards of Calix and the USC Center for Library Leadership and Management.

Misty believes that libraries are the great equalizer, always inclusive and never exclusive, and thrives on their capacity to evolve with community needs. She is passionate about shifting public perception of libraries as essential components of both educational and economic ecosystems, and she remains committed to making the San Diego Public Library a dynamic hub for opportunity, discovery, and inspiration.

Elizabeth will talk about the various works of Episcopal Community Services, but her emphasis will be on Head Start and the implication of federal funding

Elizabeth Fitzsimons is the Chief Executive Officer of Episcopal Community Services (ECS), a San Diego nonprofit providing early childhood education, homelessness services, and mental health and substance use disorder treatment. A seasoned nonprofit and community leader, she previously served as Vice President of Leadership & Engagement at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, where she led LEAD San Diego and launched programs advancing women in leadership and addressing equity gaps.

Her career includes senior communications roles at Rady Children’s Hospital and the County of San Diego, as well as work as a journalist at The San Diego Union-Tribune. Fitzsimons holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s from American University. She serves on the City of San Diego’s Board of Library Commissioners and other civic boards, and lives in Del Cerro with her husband, daughter, and twin sons.

Gil Cabrera has been a leading attorney in San Diego for more than two decades, specializing in business and employment litigation as well as serving as outside counsel to regional businesses through his firm, The Cabrera Firm. He began his career with Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP before joining Cooley Godward, where he focused on securities and complex business litigation. Recognized among San Diego’s top attorneys by the San Diego Daily Transcript, San Diego Business Journal, and Super Lawyers since 2012, Cabrera brings extensive legal and governance expertise to his role.

Deeply committed to public service, Cabrera has served on numerous boards, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation (local and national), the San Diego Convention Center (Chair, 2017–2018), the San Diego LGBT Community Center, Alliance for Hope International, and Sharp Healthcare (Immediate Past Chair). His public service began in the late 1990s co-chairing the San Diego Police Department’s Use of Force Task Force, and he later chaired the San Diego Ethics Commission, leading a major overhaul of the city’s lobbying laws.

Appointed by the Mayor of San Diego to a term ending in 2027, Cabrera continues to shape the city’s future while living in San Diego with his wife, Krista, and their two daughters.

Each district governor crafts, a message for his or her year and delivers it to each of the clubs in the district. It's always interesting to see what our new district leadership has in mind for the coming Rotary year.

Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire, who has spoken to us before,  is a structural biologist and immunologist who serves as President and CEO of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Renowned for pioneering work on the molecular structures of deadly viruses—including Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, and measles—she has revealed how viral proteins function, adapt, and can be targeted by therapeutics. Her career spans groundbreaking discoveries such as the first complete structure of human IgG, the Ebola virus glycoprotein, and the architecture of viral replication factories inside cells. A champion of global scientific collaboration, she directs major international consortia to accelerate treatments for viral hemorrhagic fevers and COVID-19, and leads innovative programs to counter herpesviruses. Her leadership blends high-impact research with a commitment to uniting scientists worldwide against emerging infectious threats

Dr. Miguel Reina-Campos is an Assistant Professor at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, where he leads the Laboratory of Tissue Immune Networks. A biochemist from Barcelona with expertise in cancer cell biology and immunology, his research centers on tissue-resident CD8⁺ T cells: specialized immune sentinels embedded in organs such as the liver and colon. By uncovering how these “professional survivalists” adapt to different tissue environments, his lab aims to harness their strategies to strengthen cancer immunotherapies and potentially address autoimmune diseases. Using advanced tools like spatial transcriptomics and CRISPR, Dr. Reina-Campos seeks to reveal the hidden lives of immune cells and collaborate across disciplines to accelerate life-saving treatments.

Vice Admiral Robert Thomas retired from the U.S. Navy in January 2017 after 38 years of Naval Service. He then accepted an appointment as a Senior Research Fellow with the University of California’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). He is also a full time faculty member at UC San Diego’s Graduate School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS). Vice Admiral Thomas’ last operational tour was in command of the U.S. 7th Fleet from July 2013 to September 2015. His final assignment before retiring was Director Navy Staff in the Pentagon. Vice Admiral Thomas graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He holds a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from the National War College in Washington, DC.

Come hear what Charles has to tell us. Maybe he will tell us about his key role in the rescue of Jessica Lynch from Saddam Hospital in 2003.

 CHARLES HARTFORD WORK

• 2022 - now  Private Wealth Advisor, Senior Vice President, Hartford Group at Rockefeller Capital Management @ Rockefeller & Co., Inc.
• 2009 - 2022 Wealth Management Advisor, Senior Vice President @ Merrill Lynch
• 2012 - 2016 Sales Manager @ Merrill Lynch

 CHARLES HARTFORD EDUCATION

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce  Master's Degree 1998 - 2000

University of Kentucky  Master's Degree1997 - 1999

United States Military Academy at West Point Bachelor's Degree 1985 - 1989

As the Area C Superintendent, Mitzi Merino, overseas the K – 12 schools in La Jolla, University City, Mission Valley, and Point Loma.

Mitzi Merino graduated from San Diego Unified, which is the same public school system she has helped lead as an area superintendent for the past 15 years. She began her career as a teacher before serving as an elementary school principal for 10 years. She is equity driven and focused on designing professional learning for school leaders, developing systems and structures for monitoring student learning, supporting principals through job embedded coaching and feedback, and putting support for student learning at the heart of her work.

Diego Project Heart Beat is the City of San Diego's Public Access Defibrillation/CPR Program managed by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

Project Heart Beat has one main goal: to save lives through early defibrillation. San Diego Project Heart Beat's objective is to make Automated External Defibrillators (AED) as accessible as fire extinguishers throughout our community.

Partners in San Diego Project Heart Beat are San Diego Fire Fighters Local 145, the County of San Diego, the American Heart Association and AED Brands, LLC.

AED Advocate Karen McElliott has lived in San Diego since April of 1972. She attended Colorado State University and has served on and chaired various organizations and task forces within her community focusing on health, education, and land use issues. Karen McElliott was appointed to the Division of Medical Quality in 1992 by Governor Pete Wilson, Karen served as President of the Division of Medical Quality from 1993 to 1995. She served as Secretary, Vice President, and President of the Medical Board of California from 1996-2000. She is a former public member of the California Board of Podiatric Medicine where she served as President in 1991