Events

Beth was on mission trip to Honduras back in March and she will be sharing about her trip. 

Celebrating the end of a great Rotary year and installing officers for 2023-24.

Onion Creek Country Club

6 pm 

Hank Stringer, former Head of Recruiting at TruPlay, recruited the starting lineup of talent. TruPlay is thankful for Hank's tremendous efforts recruiting like-minded, top-notch new talent to build and launch our mission. Now serving as an advisor, Hank will still aid in the acquisition of talent here at TruPlay.

Hank’s history includes Executive Recruiter, Consultant, Author, Industry Speaker, Entrepreneur / Founder / and Visionary in creating Internet technology for the recruitment process. Hank brought over four decades of experience to global executive search and staff recruiting to TruPlay. Hank founded Hire.com, a pioneering SaaS internet recruiting technology (acquired by Authoria in 2006.) He co-authored Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business with Rusty Rueff, the former EVP of Human Resources at Electronic Arts and a Founding Board Member of Glassdoor. Hank also has extensive experience recruiting sales executives for Dell Technologies

Jim is a native Texan having lived in Texas all his life. He was born in Longview, attended one year at Kilgore Junior College and then transferred to Baylor University in Waco where he obtained his BBA degree and later his JD degree from the Baylor University School of Law.

Jim and his family moved to Austin in 1989 and Jim went to work for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) as a right of way attorney. He progressed to Deputy Director and Interim Director of the Right of Way Division for TxDOT. In 2000 he left state employment and joined a right of way consulting firm which was later purchased in 2015 by a larger company. Jim is now retired from full time employment.

Jim is the first in his family to be a Rotarian, having joined the Northwest Austin club in 1990. Jim is a very active member of the club having held numerous offices including President, President Elect, Vice President of Community Service, Club Service, International Service and Vocational Service and served on the club’s Past Presidents Council.

He is a Rotary Benefactor, a member of the Paul Harris Society and a Major Donor. He remains very active in supporting all of the clubs projects throughout the community.

At the district level, Jim served as an District Governor 2019-20. Jim continues to serve the district as membership chair. Jim’s passion in Rotary is membership. Not just obtaining new members but obtaining and retaining Rotarians.

Our next golf tournament will be our 25th one and we will celebate this one!  It will be held at Falconhead Golf Club on Friday, April 19. 

At this meeting we will discuss things to upgrade the golf experience for our golfers, how to best promote the tournament, and retaining and adding new sponsors.

Everyone, please come and help us on this exciting event!

Join us at 400 Rabbits located at Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane. 

Jenkins Lumpkin is the librarian at our local Will Hampton Library. Jenkins wants to live in a world where libraries are fiercely funded, all mockingbirds are spared, and every love letter is written by hand. Jenkins earned a Bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College, a Masters in Modern Irish Literature from University College Cork, and a MLIS from the University of Washington iSchool. When she’s not writing, reading, and thinking about libraries, you may find her re-reading Ender’s Game on a rainy beach somewhere or binging Community for the 22nd time.  

Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Bob Crouch grew up in a military family and graduated from high school in Heidelberg, Germany. He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of Tampa ROTC program, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in May 1990. During his 20+ year Army career, Bob served in various command and staff positions in units across the United States, in Germany, and in Iraq. He currently serves as the Vice President of the National Mounted Warfare Foundation.

His education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of Tampa, a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma, and he is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration with a specialization in Leadership from Capella University.

Bob became a Rotarian on April 6th, 2012. He has served the Rotary Club of Killeen Heights in multiple capacities, including Programs Chair (2 years), Director, Service Projects (3 years), President-Elect, President (2017-18). At the District 5870 level, Bob has served as an Assistant Governor (3 years) and Chair of the Career and Technical Education Scholarship program (1 year). He is a Paul Harris Fellow, a member of the Paul Harris Society, a Major Donor Level 1, a Rotary Benefactor, and a Sustaining Member. He inducted to the District 5870 Roll of Fame in 2018.

Bob is a lifetime member of the National Eagle Scout Association, the Association of Quartermasters, the 13th COSCOM Association, the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the National Society of Leadership Excellence. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors for the Central Texas-Fort Hood chapter of AUSA, board member for the Cove House Emergency Homeless Shelter and the Copperas Cove Boys and Girls Club, and is very active in his church.

Bob and his wife, Dr. Coleen Crouch, have a son, Kennedy, a graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, and a daughter, Lucy, a graduate of the University of Tampa.

A native of Beaumont, TX and graduate of Texas A&M University and the French Culinary Institute, Barclay trained formally at Ristorante Degli Archi in San Quirico d’ Orcia, Tuscany and Blue Hill in NYC.  After returning to Austin, he worked under acclaimed chefs Todd Duplechan and Jessica Maher at Lenoir followed by time in Nashville as Chef de cuisine at Merchant's with Strategic Hospitality.  Barclay moved to Birmingham, Alabama to open OvenBird, where he helped realize JBF Award Winning Chef, Chris Hastings’ vision for southern food, inspired by the Americas and Spain using live fire cooking techniques.  Upon Barclay’s return to Austin, he has consulted on numerous projects in Texas and Nashville, including "Greenery Co" "The Switch" and "Texas Keeper Cider".  He now owns Golden Hour Cafe & Wine Bar in South Austin, TX, where they specialize in natural wines, european style cuisine, and specialty coffee.

Theresa is a native Texan who brings 27 years of corporate, non-profit and community board leadership experience to the Austin EDC. She joined the Austin EDC in February 2002 as the CEO and President.

One of her proudest accomplishments at Wells Fargo includes working with the Mexican Consulate office and the Austin Police Department to secure bank accounts for undocumented people, becoming the first bank in the country to open accounts using the Mexican Consulate card as a primary form of identification. This unique experience shaped Theresa’s understanding of the various ways her professional contributions could impact individuals, families, and communities. She then went on to win a global fellowship with the Grameen Foundation and spent three months working on an economic development project for rural farmers in Medellin, Colombia.

To connect her professional involvement more directly with local efforts in community development, Theresa has served on 20 local non-profit boards, committees and task forces. She chaired the board of the Ann Richards School Foundation, Foundation Communities and an art education organization known as “Believe in Me.” She was selected to serve on the Mayor’s Task Force for Institutional Racism and Systemic Inequities. Theresa is the co-founder of an Austin housing non-profit organization, the East Austin Conservancy, working to support East Austin families at risk of displacement. She currently serves on the board of the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy, as Treasurer of the East Austin Conservancy and the Advisory Board of the Ann Richards School Foundation.

Theresa graduated from the University of Texas (UT) business school with a degree in Finance. While attending UT, she served as the President of the UT Ballet Folklorico team and as an officer in the Hispanic Business Student Association. She studied abroad at El Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico, one of Latin America’s top tier universities. Theresa has won several awards recognizing her commitment and work in the Austin community from The Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Area Urban League, Ballet Austin, Girls Scouts, Seedling, Inroads, PODER and Avance. Having been a former performing artist, dancing with the Aztlan Dance Company, she served on the Aztlan board as well as the Mexican American Cultural Center (MACC) Bond Committee.

Bob DeJong grew up on a farm in South Dakota, he graduated in 1986 from the University of South Dakota where he received a Bachelor of Science Degree. He was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army, after 30 years of active service he retired as a Colonel in 2016. Bob served in several posts throughout the United States, overseas in South Korea, Germany, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Japan.

After his military service, Bob received his Real Estate License and later his Brokers License. He is associated with Coldwell Banker Realty in the Austin area. He specializes in Residential properties including Farm and Ranch properties. Bob is currently the Commander of the Dripping Springs Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2933. He is also a member of the Dripping Springs American Legion Post 290. Bob has been a member of the VFW since 1991 and a Life Member since 2005.

His hobbies include flying his airplane (a Cessna 172) and occasionally golfing at one of the local golf courses. Bob is a graduate of the US Army War College MS National Strategy, US Naval War College, MS Strategic Studies, and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, MS Aeronautical Science and Aviation Management.

He is married to the former Elizabeth (Betty) Ann Fox, they have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Kaavya Venkat serves as the coordinator for the Texas Public Health Coalition (TPHC). She is also a Public Health Policy Analyst for the Texas Medical Association (TMA). As part of her role in TPHC, she works with multiple stakeholders around the state to develop educational one-pagers and talks titled "Distinguished Speaker Series" on public health priority topics. 

Kaavya grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, TX and now resides in downtown Austin. She spent a few years in California completing her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley and then went to Dartmouth for her Masters in Public Health. She is passionate about working towards creating an equitable and just world. For fun, Kaavya loves to create graphic design artwork!

TPHC meets once a month to discuss organizational/legislative updates and plans for future public health advocacy and awareness. To learn more, feel free to contact Kaavya at kaavya.venkat@texmed.org. Thank you!

Welcome Kaavya!

Please join us as we recap the first half of the Rotary year, elect officers for 2024-25 and discuss our new bylaws.

Thank you!