FogHorn February 23, 2017 SHOP TALKS - Kevin O'Brien/Dave Cresson

Kevin is married to Debbie and they have three children; Kim, a graphic designer; Tom, a financial advisor; and Mike, employed at Pixar. They also have eight grandchildren all of whom are both brilliant and beautiful. (Clearly they favor their maternal grandmother.)

How does one become district governor? First there is prior service as a club president, then district level participation, then nomination by the club, then nomination by the five past district governors, then a lot of training and, finally, election by acclamation at the annual convention. Dave achieved that final step at the Glasgow convention. Governors go through governor training. This includes Rotary leadership training and organizational strategy. By definition, Rotarians are leaders, but leadership in the context of a nonprofit is different. While there is much in common with corporate leadership, a major distinction is that the volunteers that the district governor leads are all leaders in their own right. (Herding cats comes to mind).

 

Each year the Rotary international president picks the jacket to be worn by the district governors of the 500-odd districts. For Dave's year the blazer was teal, which was apparently a lot better than red or mustard. The district governor for district 5150 is responsible for San Mateo, San Francisco and Marin counties. Previously the district had extended all the way to the Oregon border. As district governor, there were three major things that were measured and emphasized. These were: build membership, bring money to the Rotary foundation and build attendance at the district conference.

 

Some of the exciting aspects of Dave's term as district governor included an opportunity to serve as a  PETS (President-elect training) instructor even before he officially became the district governor. He had an opportunity to attend a district conference as a guest of a fellow district governor in England. He made his first trip to the Ukraine where he got hands on involvement in a Rotary grant project involving a network of computers and a health reporting system similar to CDC.

 

When district governors finish their year they have the choice of remaining involved at the district level as a "district heavyweight", returned to the local club and remain active on that level or become involved on the zone level. Rotary has 17 zones. Dave became involved on the zone level doing training throughout the western United States. He had an opportunity to serve as the stand-in for the Rotary international president at the Pennsylvania district conference. He was a zone coordinator for bringing in new members and motivating them. He consulted on public relations (his professional expertise) and he was the North American manager for Rotary PR. He served as training chair for all of the Western PETS, training chair for the Governor Elect Trainings and he did business research projects for the president of Rotary International. He was a speaker at the international convention. His post-district governor Rotary service has taken him to the Ukraine, the Philippines, China and Venezuela. About five years ago Dave stepped down from his zone level involvement in Rotary.

 

Dave is not an emotional person but there were two memories that brought him to tears. The first occurred at the international convention in Calgary (Dan Bodmann’s club president year) when he was moved by a choral group of children singing "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me". The second incident occurred when he was with Rotarians distributing toys at an orphanage in Kiev. Instead of swarming the toys the children smothered him in hugs and love. Dave reminds us that hands and hearts start at the club level. He is proudest of his role while district governor as a cheerleader for the individual clubs. It was tons of fun. Service brings us all joy.