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CONFERENCE
SPEAKERS
We
have many speakers lined up for the conference.
Among them are Nicholas Mancus, Sylvia Whitlock
and Rodney Bullard.
Nicholas
Mancus is
the current chairman of operations of the Water
& Sanitation Rotarian Action Group
(WASRAG).
In
1990, Nicholas moved from the US to Africa
thinking he’d stay two years, but never
left. He’s worked for the US Embassy in
Cotonou, Benin, co-owned and operated a
commodity trading firm, and has worked with a
number non-profits and humanitarian
organizations, including the Clinton Health
Access Initiative, Malaria No More,
International Lifeline Fund, UNICEF, and
currently is the Country Director of Helen
Keller International based in Abidjan, Cote
d’Ivoire. He holds degrees from Georgetown
University and Des Moines
University.
He was inducted into the Rotary Club of Cotonou
(Benin, District 9102) in 1997, and through
Rotary, Nicholas has been directly and
indirectly involved in more than a hundred water
and sanitation projects in A frica.
He served as Rotary District 9100’s Water,
Health, and Hunger Task Force Chairman
(included
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia,
Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and
Togo), District 9100 Water Task
Force Chairman, and District 9100 World
Community Service Committee Chairman. As a
Rotarian, he was able to help spearhead
strategic partnerships with the US Peace Corps,
bilateral aid agencies, UN Agencies and NGOs in
order to increase the impact of Rotary’s
investments in water and sanitation. In
2006, Nicholas received Rotary’s
prestigious “Service
Above
Self” award.
Nicholas believes that beneficiary community
ownership of water and sanitation projects
should be a baseline requirement. To him,
this means that any community receiving Rotary’s
support should also be required to contribute
financially and in kind towards the
project.
Nicholas has a wide range of
interests and hobbies. He is an active
member of REMaRAG (Rotarians Eliminating
Malaria, a Rotarian Action Group), has produced
television documentaries for National
Geographic, and has earned his private pilot
license
ROTARY’S
FIRST FEMALE CLUB PRESIDENT AFTER THE SUPREME
COURT DECISION
Sylvia
Whitlock
was born in New York City but was educated,
through high school, in Kingston, Jamaica. After
returning to New York City she earned a B.A. in
Psychology from Hunter College. Sylvia worked
for the United Nations, as a Statistical Clerk,
at the Secretariat Building in New York, before
moving to California to start a career in
Education. In California she went on to earn a
Masters Degree, cum laude, in Education from Cal
Poly, Pomona, and a Ph.D., cum laude, in
Education, from Claremont Graduate School.
Subsequently, she earned another Masters Degree,
in Marriage and Family Therapy, from Azusa
Pacific University, and began a second career as
a therapist. She is licensed by the Board of
Behavioral Sciences in
California.
In
1982, while an Elementary School Principal in
Duarte, CA., she was invited to join the
history-making Ex-Rotary Club of Duarte. Sylvia
became President of that club in 1987, the year
the United States Supreme Court ruled that the
club be reinstated, thus making her the first
woman in the Rotary World to head a club as
President. She has served as President twice,
Secretary, Treasurer, and Foundation
Representative. At district level, she chaired
the Four Way Test Speech committee for six
years, the Ambassadorial Scholarship Committee
for six years, receiving a Service Award from DG
Don Aikin, and Simplified  Grants
for two years. She has been an assistant
governor, presenter in Governors Institutes, and
speaker in Rotary Clubs conventions and
meetings, here and overseas, including South
Africa, Jamaica, Washington and
Texas.
Other
community activities have included being a
member of the Board of the Spanish Trails Girl
Scout Council, volunteer at Pomona Valley
Hospital, Recorder for the Blind and Dyslexic,
and Commissioner at TriCity Mental Health
Agency. In 2000 she was named Woman of the Year
by NAACP and in 1998 she was named Distinguished
Alumna by Cal Poly, Pomona. She also chairs
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
accreditation teams and has been, for eight
years, a member of the Committee on
Credentialing for California State Department of
Education. She attends Trinity United Methodist
Church where she is often a lay
reader.
Sylvia
considers Rotary to be the best vehicle she
knows for humanitarian ventures in service to
mankind. Some favorite club projects, while in
Duarte, have included sinking water wells in
Nigeria, setting up an AIDS Center in Jamaica
and supporting an orphanage in Mexico. She
continues to be inspired by the many Rotarians
who have taken the organization to the edge of
tomorrow and is committed to using the
opportunity she has been given to further the
cause of Rotary, in her community, in her
country, and in the
world.
Sylvia is a
multiple Paul Harris Fellow and benefactor. She
has three adult children - Meredith - a Paul
Harris Fellow, BG is a deputy county counsel in
San Mateo County, and Arlan. She considers
raising her children the most satisfying and
enjoyable job she has ever
had.
Women Also
Serve shares a compelling history of the Duarte
Rotary Club online at http://www.amazon.com/Women-Also-Serve-Duarte-Invites/dp/1491760591/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426181502&sr=1-1
Rodney
Bullard is
currently Vice President of Community Affairs at
Chick-fil-A, Inc. and Executive Director of the
Chick-fil-A Foundation where he leads the
company’s corporate philanthropic and social
responsibility strategy, which is focused on
fostering youth and furthering education.
Before coming to Chick-fil-A, Rodney
served as an Assistant United States Attorney
prosecuting complex criminal cases. For
his service, the United States Attorney General
presented him with the Department of Justice
Director’s Award. Prior to this role, Rodney was
selected as a White House Fellow, the nation’s
most prestigious public service
Fellowship. As a White House Fellow,
Rodney was placed at NASA working directly for
the NASA Administrator. A decorated
veteran, Rodney also served in the United States
Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps
eventually working at the Pentagon as a
Congressional Legislative Liaison in the Office
of the Secretary of the Air Force.
Rodney is a an alumnus of the United States Air
Force Academy, Duke University School of Law,
the University of Georgia’s Terry School of
Business and the Harvard Business School.
Rodney currently serves on several national and
local boards of  directors
to include: the Salvation Army National Advisory
Board of Directors, the University Of Georgia
Terry School Of Business Board of Directors, the
Junior Achievement USA National Board of
Directors, the Professional Association of
Georgia Educators (PAGE) Foundation Board of
Directors, and the Leadership Atlanta Board of
Directors.
A few of Rodney’s recent recognitions include:
Recognition by the Atlanta
Business Chronicle as one of
Georgia’s top young Business Leaders for 2013;
by the Atlanta
Business League as one of the 2013
Men of Influence, The University of Georgia’s
2013 listing of the 40 alumni leaders under the
age of 40, The Georgia
Trend Magazine’s 2011 listing of the
40 Best and Brightest Leaders Under 40, The
Leadership Atlanta Class of 2012, and as one of
10 Outstanding Young Leaders in Atlanta for
2010.
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