Guest Speakers Biographies
2025 March 4 Guest Speaker: Gray Francois
 
Gray Francois is the Donor Relations Manager for Inside Out Youth Services.  She sent this message to RISE after receiving a donation from us.  
 
I wanted to thank you for your recent gift to Inside Out Youth Services.  With your help, we have served over 3,500 young folks already this year.  Check out our 2023 Impact Report to see what donors like you make posible!
 
I've attached the pictures for the January Meeting (one is of me and one is of us at Pride) and here is a description of IOYS:
At Inside Out Youth Services, we are dedicated to providing quality programs and services to LGBTQIA+ youth in Coloarado Springs and the surrounding counties.  Our wide range of offerings inclues support groups, mentoring opportunities, educationl workshops, and social activities, designed to meet the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults at all stages of their journey.  IOYS builds access, equity, and power with LGBTQIA+ young people through leadership, advocacy, community-building, education , and peer support.
 
I just wanted to thank you again for your donation to IOYS.  We couldn't do it without you.  Please let me know if you ahve any quesetions of need anything at all!
 
With Pride,
Gray Francois
Pronouns: they/them (what is this?)
DOnor Relations Manager | Inside Out Youth Services
 
 
 
2025 February 4 Guest Speaker: Bette Hall
Rotary 5280 District Governor 2020 - 2021
 

A member of Calabasas Rotary Club since 2007, Bette Hall has held various positions, both within her Club and District 5280. Positions held include Club Avenues of Service and Events Chair, Board member, Club President, Assistant Governor, District Trainer for several years, and three years as the Senior Assistant Governor, Youth Services for District 5280.. She has also chaired both the 2019 District Club Assembly and District Conference.

Bette has been very involved in developing and providing training for the Youth Protection Program and if asked to select an area she is most passionate about in Rotary, the answer has to be our Youth Programs. In 2017 Bette was one of two members who received the Rotarian of the Year award for District 5280. She is so very honored to be the District 5280 Governor, 2020-21.

Originally from London, England, Bette is a long-time resident of the West San Fernando Valley, and retired a few years ago from a long and varied career in Human Resources after holding positions such as Director and Vice President of Human Resources for large, multi-state/International companies, prior to running her own HR consulting company.

What Bette enjoys most about retirement is having more time to volunteer with Rotary and an extra bonus – spending more time with her family, and especially the grandchildren. She feels very fortunate to have them all living within easy driving distance, and being able to go to their activities, including baseball games, to cheer them on, and yes she has been known to be very loud, especially when they hit a home run!

 
 
2024 October 15 Guest Speaker: Albert Hernandez
 

District Governor Albert Hernandez is no stranger to hardwork and perseverance. Having grown up in a low income community, number five of eleven brothers and sisters, and in a single parent household he had to take on many responsibilities at an early age. Having attended Camp RYLA in 2002 as a high school junior he shares that he will always remember that weekend as the moment he realized he had something inside him to help others in need. He was blown away that 40 Rotarians would volunteer their weekend to help students find their leadership potential. The following year he returned to RYLA as a counselor and wanted to give students the same experience he was fortunate enough to receive.


In 2005, at the age of 19, Albert was invited to join the Rotary family. He became a proud member of the Rotary Club of Burbank Noon where he remains active. Albert spent the next few years volunteering for various positions in the Club from Youth Service Chair to President of the Club's Foundation. He helped organize several projects that he is proud of including the Rotary Reads program, Shop with a Cop, co-chair the Club's Centennial Celebration and the installation of the Rotary Clock Tower in beautiful Downtown Burbank. Albert became Club President in 2018, a year he says he will always cherish.


Albert works full-time as the Chief Executive Officer of Home Again Los Angeles an organization he has dedicated the last nine years of his life in building. Home Again Los Angeles is non-profit homeless service agency committed to helping homeless families with children move into shelter and work towards securing permanent housing. Albert lives in Santa Clarita with his wife Elizabeth and their 1 year old daughter Madison. Albert's hobbies include volunteering alongside his daughter, traveling, trying new restaurants, and Dodgers baseball. Albert may be our District's youngest District Governor, something he wants to bring to light as a way to encourage others who are working full time with a young family to consider working towards giving our District new leaders we can all learn from.

2024 September 17 Guest Speaker:  Brooke Elder
 
Brooke Elder is a Captain in a Metro Denver Fire Protection District.  She has been in the fire service for 15 years and a Paramedic for 14 years. 
 
In  her words:
"I graduated from Colorado State University with a Biology degree and worked in breast cancer and endocrinology research for six years. I decided to pursue a career in the fire service after an incredible crew helped my family in an emergency.  I wanted to provide that kind of kindness, support and service to others. I love my job. I love the eclectic nature of it, my amazing, fun and caring coworkers, the physical aspects and providing care and service to citizens."
2024 August 20 Guest Speaker: Olivia Strohman
 
Olivia is a 6th grade teacher in the Hueneme Elementary School District. She runs two clubs after school: Harry Potter Club and PRISM Club (LGBTQ+ Club). In her free time she is an active member of Ventura Rotaract. She has been president of the club three times, and is currently the club’s International Chair.
2024 July 16 Guest Speaker:  Dr. Mike Saag
Dr. Saag is Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Microbiology and Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During his fellowship in Infectious Diseases, Dr. Saag conceived the concept of a comprehensive HIV outpatient (1917) clinic dedicated to the provision of comprehensive patient care in conjunction with the conduct of high-quality clinic trials, basic science, and clinical outcomes research. Over the last 35 years, the clinic has treated more than 12,000 patients and has become recognized as one of the best sites for clinical research and care in the United States. Dr. Saag has published over 750 articles in peer reviewed journals, including the first description of the quasispecies nature of HIV (Nature, 1988), the first use of viral load in clinical practice (Science, 1993), the first description of the rapid dynamics of viral replication (Nature, 1995), the first guidelines for use of viral load in practice (Nature Medicine, 1996), the first proof of concept of fusion inhibition as a therapeutic option (Nature Medicine, 1998), and directed the ‘first-in- patient’ studies of 7 of the 25 antiretroviral drugs currently on the market. Dr. Saag has received the Myrtle Wreath Award from Hadassah, was listed as one of the top ten cited HIV researchers by Science (1996), and received multiple Argus Awards for Best Lectures to the 1st year medical students at UAB. In 2014, Dr. Saag was named the Castle-Connolly National Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence and was inducted into the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. He is Co-Editor of the Sanford Guide. During the COVID epidemic, Dr. Saag has appeared frequently on CNN, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, and the Paul Finebaum Show and has published frequent OpEd features in the Washington Post. Dr. Saag published a memoir entitled, “Positive: One doctor’s encounters with death, life, and the US Healthcare System,” which is in its third printing.