Events

Jim Szczesniak, A.A.E.

Director of Aviation for the Houston Airport System (HAS)

Jim has more than two decades of management experience in both the public and private sector. He is responsible for the overall management of the Houston Airport System’s three aviation facilities: George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) and Ellington Airport (EFD).

Previously, Mr. Szczesniak served as the Airport Director for the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC). ANC is the world’s fourth busiest air cargo airport and gateway to Alaska. Jim also spent a decade at the Chicago Department of Aviation. Jim started in airport operations at O’Hare International Airport, became Director of Airport Planning and ultimately Deputy Commissioner of Aviation at O’Hare and Midway International Airport.

Mr. Szczesniak holds a MBA from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s in Aviation Management from Southern Illinois University. Jim is a licensed commercial pilot and aircraft mechanic. Jim is an Accredited Airport Executive by the American Association of Airport Executives.

Join us for our monthly evening Social at Tumble 22 on Houston Avenue.  A great oipportunity for fellowship with other RCoH members and their guests.  Food and Beverage avaialble for purchase.  

Are we ready for an emergency Houston?

Join us on Thursday, June 11th to ask your questions.

Former County Judge and current TABC Chair, Robert Eckels, will chair this meeting.

Speaker:

Mark Sloan – Coordinator, Harris County Homeland Security and Emergency Management

Mark Sloan is Harris County, Texas’ Coordinator for Homeland Security & Emergency, serving more than five million incredibly diverse residents and covering more than 1,770 square miles. Because of Harris County’s large population, port operations, transportation infrastructure, and concentration of petrochemical plants, the Department of Homeland Security has identified Harris County as a Tier 1 region. To meet the growing expectations of emergency management, Sloan is streamlining regional emergency response coordination through the use of automated flood warning systems, traffic management systems, broadcast media capabilities, first responder and community alerting, GIS mapping systems, and regional interoperable communications.

As the director of Harris County Citizen Corps, an innovative, award-winning public preparedness initiative, recognized as a National Best Practice, he coordinates all aspects of the program. Working with a team of county technology experts, he developed one of the first websites devoted to the sharing of community preparedness volunteer opportunities and tracking of volunteer hours. The site links users to the most helpful and informative websites on citizen preparedness throughout the country. Since 2002, over 40 million individuals have visited the website (www.harriscountycitizencorps.com) and over 68,000 have completed the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training course.

During the Katrina relief effort at the Astrodome, Sloan was assigned to the Unified Command to coordinate volunteers. During the 21 days more than 60,000 volunteers received various assignments that helped over 65,000 evacuees from New Orleans. On September 9, 2005, Sloan was recognized for his efforts by ABC Nightly News as the Person of the Week and received the Special Award: Texas’ Response to Katrina Evacuees at the 2006 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando in recognition of his leadership and coordination.  Mark was also honored with “The President’s Call to Service Award” in September of 2007 recognizing the accomplishments of the Harris County Citizen Corps and for coordinating the volunteer response during the Katrina relief effort.

In the fall of 2008, Sloan was also recognized by the Houston Texans football team on Reliant Stadium’s 50-yard line and later received the John C. Freeman Weather Museum’s Hurricane Hero Award for his exemplary leadership during Hurricane Ike.

In November of 2010 the Department of Homeland Security appointed Mark to serve on the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council that coordinates critical infrastructure protection guidance and strategies across all levels of government.

He is a member of the San Jacinto Type III All-Hazards Incident Management Team.

Sloan is a board member on the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, Regional Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, and Big City Emergency Managers, where he serves as the Chair.

In 2018, the Emergency Management Association of Texas (EMAT) named Sloan the recipient of the “Lou Harrell” Emergency Management Coordinator of the Year award.

Sloan is also a member of the National Homeland Security Consortium and is serving as one of the Tri-Chairs.

Since 2008 as EMC, he has led the organization in over 270 EOC activations some of which include Hurricanes Ike, Bill, Harvey, Imelda, Laura, and Beryl, Winter Storm Uri, numerous floods and other weather events, Super Bowls, World Series and other special events as well as COVID-19.     

Please Join The Rotary Club of Houston with installing officer PDG Sunny Sharma as we celebrate the installation of our 2026-27 Officers and our 2026-2029 new directors

President Tom Vann

President Elect Mike Winckler

Secretary Kate Gabriele

Treasurer Shahla Mohammad-Hosseini

Sgt at Arms Martin Cominski

Treasurer Elect Jay Wilson

Directors

Paul Bonner

Connor Grill

Rosa Tang

Join RCoH for the the Installation Dinner for our 2026-27 District 5890 Governor, Camille Hamilton.

Rotary Club of Houston

Planning Meeting for 2026-27

Saturday, June 27, 2026

Goodwill Industries
1140 West Loop North
Houston, TX 77055

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Coffee and continental breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Planning sessions

Fellow Rotarians,

First of all, I want to thank you all for your continued support and commitment to the Rotary Club of Houston and for your willingness to serve as officers, directors and committee chairs for the upcoming Rotary year. As we kick off this new year, it’s very important that we come together as a team to discuss where we are as Club currently and where we’d like the Club to be going forward. While I have lots of ideas about ways to improve the Club, this is OUR club and I want to hear from each of you about what’s working and what’s not, and any suggestions and concerns you may have.

There are so many areas that we could consider but, for our purposes on the 27^th, I’ve identified five critical topics that I want us to focus on:

1. Membership and engagement
2. Weekly Meetings
3. Legacy Service Projects
4. Community Service
5. Fundraising

We could spend hours discussing each of these, but I plan to keep to a very tight agenda in order to end the meeting by noon. In order for that to happen, I want to give each of you a homework assignment. I’d like for you to take a few minutes on each of these topics and consider:

1. Membership and engagement: What can we do to improve the new member experience? How can we improve the red-blue badge process? Do we even need a red-blue badge program? How can we get new (and existing) members more engaged?
2. Weekly meetings: What do you like and/or dislike about our weekly meetings? What impression of Rotary and our Club do guests and our speakers leave with? How can our meetings facilitate members getting to know each other better? What about the mix of speakers we have?
3. Legacy Service Projects: Are all of our legacy projects still viable? How do we measure the impact/benefit to the community of our projects? Do we have enough members to actively continue all of our projects?
4. Community Service: Rotary is a service organization. Should we be doing more local service projects to support our community? Would doing so potentially increase member engagement? How do we encourage (recruit) members to participate in our service projects?
5. Fundraising: In order to pay for our projects, we MUST do fundraising in order for the Foundation to be able to support us and our Community Service Budget. Should we abandon the Distinguished Citizen Award and find another major fundraising opportunity? Should we consider multiple smaller fundraisers throughout the year? If so, do we risk “fundraising fatigue? How do we get member “buy-in” on the importance of supporting our fundraising efforts.

Clearly, if we tried to discuss all of these questions in one sitting it would be impossible. So, what I’d like you to do is share with me any thoughts you have on any or all of the five topics. I’ll compile what everyone sends me and keep your ideas anonymous if you wish. My email address is rcoh2026Tom@gmail.com . Your input will be greatly appreciated.

I believe in Rotary and what it stands for and I love the Rotary Club of Houston. However, I personally don’t see our Club growing and being successful if we continue plodding along, simply doing things the way we’ve always done them. In some cases, it may just need a little tweaking here and there. But, in other areas, we may need to rethink, revamp and shake things up a bit. Times are changing and so is our membership and the Rotary Club of Houston must adapt.

Please make plans to join us in person on Saturday, June 27^th. I know your time is valuable, especially Saturday mornings. However, we have an important responsibility as leaders of our Club and this planning session is a critical step in working as a team to make the coming year a huge success. I look forward to working with each and every one of you.

Yours in Rotary Service

Tom Vann

713 824-4563

As we begin a new Rotary Year, join us to hear plans, meet members, voice your opinions, and learn some new secrets about navigating the world of Rotary.

We look forward to hearing the annual Kinder Houston Area Survey - The economy, the environment, and the Importance of Social Connection. Our speaker will present the 45th edition of the survey with a new component and several surprises. The data should interest anyone who lives or works in Houston and surrounding areas, wonders how Houstonians are doing in a changing economy, and those who have following this survey for so many years.

Ruth N. Lopez Turley, Director, Kinder Institute

Professor Turley is the director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. Prior to her current right, she directed the institute's Houston Education Research Consortium during which time she raised over $30 million so school districts would not have to pay for research. She also founded the National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships, which connects and supports over 70 partnerships between research institutions and education agencies throughout the country. She served on the National Board for Education Sciences which advised and approved priorities for the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education.

For those of you who heard our speaker previously, you know how engaging and knowledgeable he is about the world of AI. His presentation is new and reflects current highlights and cautions. What an educational treat!!

Dr. Vincent R. Solis, President of Brazosport College

Dr. Vincent R. Solis is a life-long educator with almost three decades of service in higher education.  He previously served as the President for Western Nevada College located in the state capital of Nevada.  More than half of the years he has in higher education have been in senior or executive roles.  He has served as Chief Academic Officer, Chief Enrollment Officer, and Chief Student Success Officer.  During his tenures in various roles, Dr. Solis has had the privilege of providing leadership for many other essential campus operations such as community outreach services, athletics, dual enrollment initiatives, auxiliary business services, special projects, construction, facilities management, and student success/engagement/graduation programs. 

Dr. Solis began his post-secondary education at Chemeketa Community College and later transitioned to Texas A&M-Kingsville where he received his Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and Sociology (graduated with honors), his Master of Science in Psychology, and his Doctorate in Bilingual Education.

The units he has helped lead over the last three decades have received numerous achievement awards that include the Commitment to Excellence Award, the Innovation Award in Student Success, and the Team Effort Award.  Dr. Solis is a recipient of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence Award, and in 2014 he was selected to participate in and successfully completed the State of Texas Governors Executive Development Program (Class XXXIII).  At that time, he was only one of a handful of community college representatives to complete this prestigious leadership development program in the State of Texas.  Dr. Solis also served as co-chair when working with the Foundations of Excellence Institute which was a campus wide student success program.  Dr. Solis was selected to participate as one of 30 chief academic officers from across the country in the Digital Fellows Program sponsored by the Association of Chief Academic Officers.        

Dr. Solis is not only committed to his professional endeavors in higher education, he has also served his local communities in various service roles including the serving as Vice President and later President of the Community Boxing Club of Brownsville, Vice President of the Police Athletic League of Brownsville, volunteer instructor for Sexual Assault Prevention, Chair of the United Way State Employee Campaign, and has served as proud member of Rotary International where he was has received the distinctions of having been awarded the Paul Harris award, selected as Rotarian of the month twice, and was selected as the 2016 Ignite Member of the Year for his work in outreach for Rotary.  He also serves as a mentor in with the Big Brother/Sister organization in Reno, Nevada.  He also enjoys teaching and serves a volunteer adjunct psychology instructor for the Latino Leadership Academic at Western Nevada College.   

Dr. Solis frequently has roles as keynote speakers for various events.  Some of these include the Department of Education on the Impact of Executive Leadership on Student Success.  He also served as the keynote speaker for South Texas Hispanic Male Leadership Summit, guest speaker for the 2016 regional Rotary Conference, and keynote speaker on Student Services for Latino Millennial Students with the National Community College Hispanic Council.  He has also served as a keynote speaker and pod cast presenter for Workforce Solutions of South Texas. 

Dr. Solis has also been honored to share his own experiences and educational journey with many different audiences.  As the youngest of eleven children of migrant workers and a high school dropout, Dr. Solis shares his story of the transformative power that education can have on an individual.  He has been privileged to share his story and experience with different audiences that include the 2019 Graduating class of Great Basin College, TEDx Carson City, and for Regional Adult Educators in Las Vegas, and most recently was able to share his story with incoming freshman students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.