Gordon grew up in an
agricultural community in eastern Arkansas. Both father and grandfather were
Rotarians and president of their club.
He graduated from the
University of Arkansas and earned an MBA from the University of Texas at
Austin. From there he received a direct commission as an officer in the U.S.
Army for two years. He and his wife moved to Atlanta where he worked as a
CPA and a manager of management information systems projects throughout the
Southeast for an international consulting firm. Gordon was the CFO for
Chatham Steel in Savannah for 22 years. Presently he coaches and consults
with management teams in private business, which has involved several trips
to China.
Gordon is past-president
of the Rotary Club of Savannah-East. His first district involvement came
when he led District 6920's Group Study Exchange team to Bolivia in 1999.
His second Group Study Exchange was in 2001 where he led a team to Poland
and Ukraine in 2001. He participated in Polio National Immunization day in
India in 2010. He serves on the Board of Directors of Medical Equipment
Transport Services and has managed Matching Grants in India and South
America. He even played the saxophone at the Savannah area’s Rotary
Foundation fund raiser “Rotarians Play it Forward” in 2010.
In 2009 he received the
Citation for Meritorious Service from the Rotary Foundation “for furthering
of better understanding and friendly relations of people of the world”.
Gordon will serve as the District Governor for 6920 in Georgia for 2011-12
and has championed the application of branding concepts to Rotary since
2009; he facilitated the Zone 33-34 workshop on branding at Governor Elect
Training in October 2010 and he spoke on this topic to the general session
of PETS for District 7770 in 2011.
He has two married
children, one living in Texas and the other in Florida.
Overcoming Our Geography with Technology
I see the use of web technology as especially important to the members of
District 6920. Unlike other districts, we cover a large area and do not
have a concentration of members near the center of our district. Many larger
clusters of District 6920 Rotarians are on the edge of our district. This
creates a challenge for training our club leaders and members.
To address this challenge, I want to promote the use of
several technologies available to those members with internet access: the
District & Club Database; Facebook and; the District 6920 web site.
Information and details on how to access these resources will be sent to
members in the very near future. In addition, I want to conduct several
webinars addressing topics considered important and helpful by our new club
Presidents.
Listening to Members and Attracting Younger Generations
Each member is an important and contributing part of Rotary’s success. By
listening to members and actively soliciting their feedback we can discover
ways to improve our members’ Rotary experience.
I want to encourage each club to conduct a candid survey of
club members to ask three simple questions. What is valuable and important
that our club does and should continue to do? What could our club change or
improve to be more worthwhile for you? What advice do you have for the
officers of our club?
At the club level, I hope we will experiment with ways in
which to better attract and retain new members under the age of 40. These
younger members will eventually grow into future leaders, not only of
Rotary, but also of our communities. I believe it is important for Rotary to
play a central role in supporting and developing these emerging community
leaders.
Looking Forward to the Rotary Year 2011-12
One year isn’t a lot of time; it will be over before we know it. I
especially want to thank PDG Lloyd for all of his support and assistance
with preparing me for this year! I am looking forward to getting to know the
Rotarians of our district and hearing stories about your clubs."