Events

Chris Hollins has shown what local government can achieve when new ideas and accountable leadership are met with real purpose.

Chris led the 2020 elections effort in Harris County as County Clerk and gained national acclaim for protecting and expanding voting rights for 2.5 million Houston-area voters during the most important election in our lifetime. His innovations – which included drive-thru voting, 24-hour voting, online mail ballot tracking, and tripling the number of early voting centers–led to eye-popping record voter turnout despite the ongoing global pandemic.

Chris developed a commitment to public service through the selfless example of his parents and their devotion for improving the lives of others. His father, George, served for 34 years in the Houston Police Department, and his mother, Christie, managed a career as an administrative assistant while raising Chris, his two sisters, and more than 20 young foster children. Chris has served as a mentor to youth for over 20 years and has been a Big Brother for over a decade.

Today, Chris serves as a volunteer member of the METRO Board of Directors, where he is helping to oversee METRO's $1.3 billion budget, shaping its $7 billion expansion plan, and leading its full transition to renewable fuels by 2030.

He is active in his church and civic club, and he serves on the boards of Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston and the East Downtown TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone).

Chris has worked at some of the world’s most distinguished professional service firms. As a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, he pioneered strategies for large government agencies–in public safety, defense, and security – and assisted multinational companies in improving results for the people they serve.

 
Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Morehouse College. Chris also completed a joint program with Yale Law School and Harvard Business School, earning both his Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees.
Chris is admitted to the State Bar of Texas and Federal Courts for the Southern District of Texas. He is currently in private practice as the Principal Attorney at Hollins Law Group PLLC.

Chris and his wife Morgan live in Houston’s Third Ward with their daughter Vivian and their son George. The Hollins family attends Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

Bucky Ribbeck is a board certified pediatrician currently training as a fellow in sports medicine at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital.  Bucky's introduction to the medical field was as a patient in 2009 when he was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma (a rare type of bone cancer).  He was treated with chemotherapy at Texas Children's and with a surgery to remove the tumor at MD Anderson.  While he was a patient, Bucky was invited to be a Front Line Kid at the Rotary Lombardi Award, and he was further honored to have presented the award and spoken at following events.  He is a living and breathing example of the benefits of cancer research, and he hopes to be an example for how people can make the best out of any poor situation with which they are faced.  That is what has kept Bucky involved with volunteer organizations such as The Periwinkle Foundation, The Snowdrop Foundation, and The Rotary Club: all of which provide a great deal of hope and charity for those affected by cancer.

The Rotary Club of Houston

Cordially invites you to the 

The 112th Installation of the 2022-2023

Officers & Directors

June 23, 2022
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Tony’s Restaurant
3755 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77046

Officers

Ken Mattox, President

Robert Eckels, President-Elect

Karen Sotallaro, Treasurer

Elizabeth Jackson, Treasurer-Elect

Lisa Dobey, Secretary

Nathan Allen, Sergeant-At-Arms

Richard Meek, Past President

Directors 2022-2025

Hussain Ali

Brandon Cofield

Lisa Dobey

Sherry Menger

Bob Seekely

At Large 2022-23

David Ahlquist

Master of Ceremonies - Richard Meek

Installation by– Michelle Bohreer, District Governor 2021-22

*FMV for lunch is $28.00. All additional funds raised will be donated to The Rotary Club of Houston Foundation (501C3) for RCH Community Service projects. Additional donations are accepted with our thanks. 

While Rotarians are committed to improving the lives of humans both globally and locally, some of our clubs in the U.S. are not growing in membership. Maintaining the status quo means future business leaders are missing an opportunity to serve their local communities through Rotary.

In our next meeting, sales trainer and author, Catherine Brown, will be sharing a strategy for communicating the value of Rotary membership to the next generation of Rotarians.

About our speaker:

Catherine Brown is a veteran of 25+ years of B2B (business-to-business) selling and recruiting. She runs the sales training firm, ExtraBold Sales, where she coaches others to sell with confidence. Her sales system includes psychology research that gets at the heart of why people don’t sell effectively. In her new book, How Good Humans Sell: The Proven Path to B2B Sales Success, she combines best sales practices with social psychology principles. The training can be used in combination with other programs to help people overcome the hesitation that keeps them from recruiting members, fundraising, and closing new business. You can learn more about Catherine on LinkedIn Here. 

Come join us at the ION as we continue to integrate our newest Rotarians into our club!

We'll be discussing some of the current service projects the Rotary Club of Houston participates in as well as doing a hands on workshop!

William E. Cohn, MD

Dr. Cohn is a Vice President at Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies (JJMDC) and the
Executive Director for the Johnson & Johnson Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center.
He is also a professor of surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and an adjunct professor of
Bioengineering at Rice University, the University of Houston and Texas A&M. Prior to joining JJMC, he
served as Director of the Center for Technology and Innovation and Director of the renowned Cullen
Cardiovascular Research Laboratory at the Texas Heart Institute.

Dr. Cohn has been deeply involved in developing the continuous-flow, totally implantable, artificial
heart. In 2011, Dr. Cohn and Dr. O. H. Frazier successfully implanted the first pulseless total heart
replacement device in a human patient.

Dr. Cohn has been granted more than 90 US patents or patents pending. Since 2012, Dr. Cohn has
served as the Chief Medical Officer and on the Board of Directors for BiVACOR and CSI Inc.

In a summer setting record high temperatures in Houston, we are entering the height of the Atlantic/Gulf hurricane season.  
 

From Hurricane Carla in 1961 to the more recent Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Ike and Harvey, Houston knows the challenges of building resilience into our community. 

Five years ago, the voters of Harris County approved a record setting $2.5 billion for flood control projects in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.  Charged with the planning and execution of those projects is the Harris County Flood Control District.  

In our meeting on Thursday July 21, Scott Elmer from the Flood Control District will visit with our club about the progress of that plan and a look at the future of stormwater management to protect the people of our community.

Scott Elmer, Assistant Director, Operations at Harris County Flood Control District. 

Rotary Club of Houston's first RCOH PHILOSOPHICAL STRATEGIC interaction on a high ranking social issue, facilitated by President Ken Mattox.    

Many RCOH members, have weekly requested of me that we have more interactive discussions relating to LOCAL crisis social & community issues, avoiding politics, but data driven and be a blue skying broad based strategic planner & resource.   On 7/28 we will have the first such session on Houston/ Harris County/ Texas rising rate of violence associated with deadly weapons of many sorts.    The views/data expressed off line by many in this club to me will be discussed, looking for root causes, process analysis, & possible options for community improvement via Truth, Fairness, Trust, GoodWill, Respect, Benefit.    The composite brain trust of RCOH will make this philosophical social exercise an enjoyable, needed, and outcomes directed locally beneficial function, facilitated by KLM (Kenneth L. Mattox).   This is not a members only meeting.  Do bring a guest(s) & potential member(s).    I plan to bring 2-3.

The Membership Committee is pleased to announce RCoH's first Happy Hour event of 2022. We will be gathering informally at Decant Urban Winery in the Heights at 5:30 on Thursday, July 28th. It is located at 948 Wakefield Dr. Houston, TX 77018. 

In an effort to increase member engagement in the club, we will be having more informal events like this moving forward. Our hope is that this will give our club an opportunity to form deeper connections with members throughout the organization and strengthen our ability to all contribute to the success of our service projects. 

With that in mind, we look forward to seeing each of you there. 

Join Rotary Club of Houston member at a free legal seminar  

TOPIC: “Deciphering the Markets Difficult Message”
3^rd Quarter Market and Economic Outlook
 

DAVID AHLQUIST - RAYMOND JAMES

CFP^®, AIF^®

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, WEALTH MANAGEMENT

REMINDER: FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING @ 1:00 PM TODAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

JOIN VIRTUALLY ===> SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

Come join us at the ION for a Social Event and a Rotary Presentation.

The Innovation Club has been working hard laying the foundation for our new club and are ready to open up the doors!

The price helps to subsidize drinks (alcoholic and non-alcholic), room booking, and possibly some finger foods for members and guests.

5:30 - 6:00 - Social / Arrival

6:00 - 6:30 - Social

6:30 - 7:00 - Presentation

7:00 - 7:30 - Social / Depart

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Michele M. Loor, M.D. is a board-certified surgeon in Houston, Texas. Dr. Loor earned her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School in 2001 and completed general surgery residency training at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois (2008). During that time, she spent two years completing a Burn Research Fellowship (2005). She then went on to complete her training in a Critical Care and Burn Fellowship at the University of Chicago Hospitals (2009).

After completing her training, Dr. Loor had faculty appointments at both Cleveland Clinic and the University of Minnesota. Her training and time spent at these institutions fostered her interest in the care of patients with complex abdominal wall problems. Dr. Loor offers robotic surgery as an option, which can decrease hospital stay and overall recovery time for her patients.

Dr. Loor’s research interests include surgical critical care, surgical infections, preoperative optimization, and enterocutaneous fistulas.

Savitri Fedson, MD, MA is an Associate Professor in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, a Clinical Ethicist at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, and an Associate Professor in Cardiology at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. She is a graduate of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics Program as a Clinical Fellow at the University of Chicago where she served as a consult attending for inpatient ethics consultation. Dr. Fedson is an advanced heart failure/transplant cardiologist and before her move to Texas, worked with the busiest heart transplant center in Illinois. She has been a speaker at national and international heart failure and transplant meetings on topics such as of End of Life, Ethical Dilemmas in Heart Transplant Candidacy, and Candidacy for Mechanical Circulatory Support.

Dr. E. Ramsay Camp, M.D., FACS, is professor and chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate degree at Davidson College and his medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina. He performed his general surgery training at the Shand's Hospital at the University of Florida and went on to complete a surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in 2007. He joins the faculty of Baylor as the Chief of Surgical Oncology coming from the Medical University of South Carolina where he has practiced for the last twelve years. Dr. Camp’s clinical practice and expertise has focused on treating patients with complex gastrointestinal tumors including pancreatic and gastric malignancies as well as sarcoma and melanoma.

Dr. Camp has an active externally funded research laboratory supported by a VA Merit Award with a focus on mechanisms of chemotherapy and radiation resistance in pancreatic and colorectal cancer. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of various oncology societies including the American Surgical Association, the Southern Surgical Association, Society of Surgical Oncology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, American Association of Cancer Research, National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project (NSABP), Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG), and the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group (ACOSOG).

Dr. Kenneth L. Mattox is a Distinguished Service Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and Chief of Staff and Surgeon-in-Chief at Ben Taub Hospital, where he has worked since 1973. BTH has been at the forefront of surgical critical care, breaking ground with its automated system for the storage and retrieval of laboratory data in 1975. Dr. Mattox helped develop the internationally renowned Ben Taub Hospital Emergency Center and its equally respected Trauma Center. His reputation as an innovator in trauma care is known worldwide. Dr. Mattox is past President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Secretary-Treasurer of the Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society. He previously chaired the Mayor's Red Ribbon Committee to address Houston Fire Department Emergency Medical Services and sat on the Hospital Subcommittee of the Mayor's Special Task Force on the Medical Aspects of Disaster. Currently, Dr. Mattox serves as consultant to the Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research of the FDA. Dr. Mattox has served on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Houston, Doctors’ Club of Houston, Wayland Baptist University, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the Southeast Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council, the American College of Surgeons Board of Governors, and serves as Chairman of the Board of the John P. McGovern Museum for Health & Medical Science.

49^th Rotary Lombardi Award Committee Meeting

Prestigious college football award – presented annually to the top college football lineman

Tuesday, September 27^th

5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

San Felipe Plaza Building

5847 San Felipe St., Second Floor Conference Room

Note: Please park in the Visitors Parking in the adjacent parking garage.

There are entrances to the garage from both Augusta and San Felipe.

 Parking is free with validation which we will provide at the meeting.

This national college football award was created by the Rotary Club of Houston in 1970 and is presented annually to the top college football lineman. This year’s award gala is Wednesday, December 7, 2022 and all net proceeds support cancer research.

Please join us for this meeting to learn about the many ways you can get involved. We have a wide range of subcommittees and all need your help. This meeting is open to everyone, Rotarians and non-Rotarian, who are interested in being part of this great award. I encourage you to invite friends, family members and co-workers who may have an interest in getting involved as well.

And, adult beverages and snacks will be provided to inspire some RLA fun!

We look forward to seeing you on the 27^th!

To Register, please click the Registration button below and provide the information requested. If you are interested in joining the Rotary Lombardi Award committee but are unable to attend on September 27^th, please email me at thomas.vann@raymondjames.com  And don’t hesitate to call me at 713 824-4563 (cell) or 713 787-2171 (office) if you have any question.

Tom Vann

National Chair – 49^th Rotary Lombardi Award

Chair of the RLA Executive Council

For a real world view of crime and criminal activities in Houston, our speaker on October 6th is the voice of reality and reason. Never one to shy away from difficult questions or topics, he has dedicated himself to to getting answers to the public. Join us to hear speaker:

Ray Hunt
Executive Director
Houston Police Officers' Union

Ray Hunt is a native Houstonian and product of the Houston Independent School District.  Ray graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and has been employed as a Police Officer at HPD since 1989.  Ray worked night shift for 18 years in SW Houston where he served as a Field Trainer and Evaluator for new officers.  In 1999, Ray was appointed by then-Governor George Bush as a Commissioner of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.  Ray has served as a Board Member, Secretary, Vice President, and President of the Houston Police Officers’ Union prior to being appointed Executive Director.  Ray is married to his high school prom date and they have 2 grown children, 4 grandchildren, and 1 more on the way.  

JOIN VIRTUALLY ===> OCTOBER 6, 2022

It’s safe to say that cancer has touched each and every one of us. We all know someone – a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, a client, a sibling – who has had to deal with cancer. Great strides are being made in treating all forms of cancer but, still, far too many people are dying.

As you may know, Kitty, my wife of 45 years, lost her very courageous battle with breast cancer last year. It was a devastating loss for me and my family and we miss her every day. A few months after Kitty’s passing, Ken Mattox asked if I would consider chairing this year’s 49th Rotary Lombardi Award. While I have been actively involved in the award for the last 12 years, I had never entertained the idea of chairing this great event. But, after a good bit of soul-searching and talking to past chairs, I accepted Ken’s invitation (he’s not the easiest guy to say “no” to) as a way to honor Kitty and do whatever I can to raise as much money for cancer research as possible.

I am passionate about this award and what it stands for and I want each and every member of the Rotary Club of Houston, including our newest members at the Innovation Club, to join us at the Hilton Americas Hotel on December 7, 2022. And I have an offer that will make it a little easier for some of you to attend.

In recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in honor of Kitty, I am offering to pay the first $1,000 on five $2,500 Lettermen's tables, lowering the cost per seat from $250 to $150. This will be on a first come, first served basis and will run until Friday, November 11. I am reserving two of the tables for Rotarians and their guests who have never attended the award. And, although I’m not putting restrictions on the other tables, in the spirit of the Four Way Test my goal is for them to be filled with Rotary Club of Houston and Innovation Club members and their guests.

Please reserve seats for you and your guests by clicking on the link below and registering. If you have any questions, please call me at 713 787-2171 (office) or 713 824-4563 (cell).

I look forward to sharing the evening of December 7^th with you as we, for the 49^th time, proudly present the Rotary Lombardi Award to the top college football lineman in America.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Tom Vann
General Chair
49^th Rotary Lombardi Award

For decades our speaker has researched and reported on the ever evolving demographics in Houston while watching the country mirror those changes. Our Oct 13th speaker is always popular and engaging:

Stephen L. Klineberg, Ph.D.
Founding Director, Kinder Institute for Urban Research
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Rice University

Dr. Stephen Klineberg has been shaping local thought on the ongoing trends in Houston for almost forty years. As the director of the annual “Kinder Houston Area Survey” (1982-2020), he has tracked the economic outlooks, demographic patterns, life experiences, and beliefs of area residents through 39 years of remarkable change. His book exploring the national implications of the first 38 years of this research, entitled Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America, was published in June 2020 by Simon & Schuster. Klineberg is the recipient of twelve major teaching awards at Rice and a much sought-after speaker in the Houston community and beyond. He is a graduate of Haverford College, with an MA from the University of Paris, and a PhD from Harvard. He and his wife Margaret have lived in Houston since the early 1970s; they have two children and five grandchildren.

JOIN VIRTUALLY ===> OCTOBER 13, 2022

Come support the RCOH Satellite club's first event program by volunteering for Barktoberfest 2022!

Local beer, food trucks, a dog costume contest judged by local celebrities, a vendor market, a silent auction, dog adoptions, and more!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you so much for your interest in helping out at Barktoberfest. 

The following are the available roles, shift times, and descriptions. 

Here is the link to sign up. 

https://timecounts.org/houstonpetsalive/events/45239

Barktoberfest Event Volunteer Volunteer Task: 

● Manning Registration Table 

● Manning Marketing Table 

● Manning Contest Table 

● Manning Vendor Table 

● Manning Volunteer Check-in 

● Clean up during the event 

● Help with the Costume costume contest 

● Manning Silent Auction table 

● Assist with Dog Care at the Adoption station 

We will assign volunteers to a specific assignment when they check in at the event. Each area will have a volunteer lead that will give them instructions for that shift. 

Shifts: 1:30-4pm & 4pm-6pm 

This meeting has been changed to a VIRTUAL only meeting.

Come join us for an informal Happy Hour located at Second Draught at the ION!

Second Draught is a beer hall that recently opened on the first floor at the ION. 

Parking is available in the main parking lot in front of Second Draught or across the street in the gated parking area. You can press the call button when you pull up to the gate and they will let you in the gated lot after hours.

There's no registration for the event. Feel free to come and go as you please.