Category Archives: New Member

Information Technology-Cloud Services

Phil Silver is the Business Development Manager for Amazon Web Services.

Earlier in his career, Phil joined the Rotary Club of White Plains (NY) but had to step away for work, family and military service, including starting a company, Mad Science of Greater New York, which provided STEM enrichment programs to over 50,000 3-12 year-olds every year.

Phil is a retired US Navy Captain, serving for 25 years.  He received his BS in Chemistry and BA in History at the University of Florida.  He also received his MBA in Finance and Information Technology from Fordham University and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from UCSD.

He is a native of Florida and lived in New York for 25 years, before coming to San Diego.  He and his wife, Lisa, just celebrated 30 years of marriage.  They have two daughters: Melanie, who will be getting married next May, and Maya, a senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Now settled in San Diego, it is Phil’s desire to continue to be in service to the local community and his friends in Rotary, John Neuhart and Evan Wahl, recommended he join our wonderful club!

Solveig Deuprey was his sponsor.

Associations-Cancer

Amy is the Senior Executive Director (Southern CA) for the American Cancer Society, West Region.

She has spent the last 21 years working in the non-profit sector, working for many years at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and for Big Brothers Big Sisters.  She was hired at Big Brothers and Big Sisters by the late Club 33 member Paul Palmer, who was the first to introduce her to Rotary.

Volunteering and giving back to her community is very important to her.  Amy is proud to be a Big Sister to Trinity, her Little Sister from the Operation Bigs military mentoring program.  For 10 years, she led walks for breast cancer causes and she is an avid blood donor.

Amy is originally from Kansas City and and received her undergraduate and master’s degrees at Kansas State University.  She met her husband, Mike (a Navy veteran), in San Diego, though he is also a KC native.  They enjoy the outdoors and keeping up with their 4-year-old daughter, Madelyn and their Goldendoodle, Murphy.

Price Adams, David Oates and Ann Hill were her sponsors.

Shipping Logistics

Karen is the Director of Operations for Woodward Logistics Services, a company that provides planning and assistance for exporters of all sizes to help maximize their success in the Mexican market and around the world.

Karen was born in San Diego and raised in Tijuana and is a proud binational citizen.  She has a Bachelors degree in Architecture from Universidad Iberoamericana in Tijuana, and a Masters of Science in Landscape and Urbanism from Woodbury University San Diego.

She is passionate about youth empowerment and gender equality in STEM, and volunteers at the David’s Harp Foundation.  She is a founding member of DHF’s Circle of Influence.

Mia Harenski, Brandon Steppe and Price Adams were her sponsors.

Traffic Management-Military

Shaneese has been serving in the United States Air Force for the last 13 years, where she works in Logistics for Traffic Management.  She serves as a her unit’s training and career advisor.

Shaneese was first introduced to Rotary as a 13 year-old student at Monarch in 1998.  She was invited to our Holiday program where she would meet Nancy Scott, who became her mentor and an important part of her family.  She and Nancy have shared many incredible adventures since they met 22 years ago.

She was born and raised here in San Diego and is the 2nd eldest of seven children.  She graduated from Hoover High school where she participated in Interact and also attended Camp Enterprise.

After high school, Shaneese spent six years with the Army Reserves as a hospital nutritionist.  But she was lured away by the USAF because the hats were cuter!

She and her husband, Randy, have been married for 16 years and have 3 children ages 11, 13 and 15.  She mentors your girls through coaching her daughter’s cheer squad and softball team.  She is also a co-leader for her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

Shaneese is grateful for how Rotary has changed her life and and looking forward to giving back to the club and to her community.

Nancy Scott, Patti Roscoe and Solveig Deuprey were her sponsors.

Us Navy-External Affairs

Caitlin is the Public Affairs Director for Navy Region Southwest.  She coordinates all public information and communications functions for 10 shore installations throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.  She leads a team of communication experts versed in all aspects of public affairs, community engagement and social media outreach.

She has worked for the Federal Government for 10 years and moved to San Diego from Washington D.C. 18 months ago to work for the Navy.  Before joining the Navy, Caitlin worked for FEMA, traveling all over the country responding to major disasters.

She is originally from Reno, Nevada, which she will always call home.  She first lived in Southern California 20 years ago to attend USC, then she left for NYC to attend New York University where she earned her Masters in Public Administration.

Caitlin recently got engaged.  She and her fiance live in Bay Park with an adorable dog whose breed is yet to be determined.

Rick Huenefeld, Mike Caruso and Peg Eddy were her sponsors.

Marketing-Digital, Additional Active

Thomas is the Co-Founder and Creative Director for Weaponized Creativity, a digital marketing and design agency. He is also the marketing director for The Truffleist.

He and his wife, Alice, moved to San Diego 2 years ago.  Philanthropy and serving their community is a big part of their family.  They have 2 Bengal cats that they adopted from the ASPCA.  They are also big supporters of the Helen Woodward animal center.  In 2012, Thomas helped launch and lead the fundraising for the Market Studio Kitchen in Detroit, a year-round program designed to teach culinary skills and basic nutrition to food challenged individuals.

Originally from Detroit,  Thomas started to study and win awards for his art at a very young age.  He attended the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, then the Montserrat College of Art in Boston.

Prior to moving to San Diego, Thomas spent 20+ years in New York as a creative director working for some of the largest digital agencies in the world (he was responsible for the E*Trade “Talking Baby” Superbowl ad and for the campaign that launched the HBO Game of Thrones series!)

He is a workout fanatic and at one point trained professionally in mixed martial arts.

Suzanne Frontz, Duke Sobek and David Oates were his sponsors.

Youth Organization-Reality Changers

Tamara is the new President and CEO of Reality Changers, a nonprofit organization  that provides youth from disadvantaged backgrounds with academic support, financial assistance and leadership training to become college graduates.

Living in San Diego for almost a year now, she is originally from Columbus, Ohio. She left Ohio to attend UCLA where she studied history and psychology.

Tamara is a proud mom to Sterling, who is now in his last semester of college. She absolutely loves sports, particularly football and boxing.  She also loves to travel and add those stamps to her passport.  Tamara most recently visited the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands.

Jordan Harrison, Toni Giffin and David Oates were her sponsors.

Museum-Comic-Con

Ingrid is the Director of Philanthropy for the Comic-Con Museum.  Scheduled to open in Spring 2021, the museum in Balboa Park will be interactive and celebrate the impact of popular culture in everyone’s lives.

She is a board member for the San Diego Public Library Foundation and the Epilepsy Foundation, and recently joined the Barrio Logan College Institute.

She is originally from the Pasadena area and has lived in San Diego for 6 years now.  But her family has long ties to the San Diego community.  Her grandfather worked on the 1915 Exposition in Balboa Park!

Ingrid graduated from Cal Poly Pomona and from the Epicurean School of Culinary Arts.  She holds 2 international certifications in fundraising, and is a 2015 LEAD graduate.  She enjoys entertaining, food and wine.

Wendy Urushima-Conn, Alan Spector and Patti Roscoe were her sponsors.

Associations-Homeless

Kristie is the President and Founder of The Thumbprint Project Foundation, a 501c(3) non profit that aides in the transitional process of homeless children impacted by childhood domestic violence, including human trafficking.

Kristie was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA.  She graduated from Cal Poly where she earned two Bachelors of Science degrees in Nutritional Science and Crop Science with a Biotechnology minor.  She settled in San Diego in 2011 and lives in 4S Ranch with her husband Todd and their 5-year-old son Luke.  Kristie enjoys serving her community and is involved in such organizations as The Door of Hope, San Diego Food Bank, Illuminating Pathways and the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast.  She also enjoys surfing, sports, travel and Yoga Sculpt.

Tom Cohen, Duke Sobek and Kimberley Layton were her sponsors.

Manufacturing Services, Additional Active

Rachel is the Chief Operations Officer for Workshops for Warriors, a nonprofit school founded in 2008 to provide quality training and accredited STEM educational programs for veterans, transitioning service members, and other students to be successful in their chosen manufacturing career field.

Rachel grew up in Naples, Florida. She attended the University of Central Florida then obtained her Masters in International and Intercultural Communication at the University of Denver. After deciding that she didn’t want to be a ski instructor, she flipped a coin and headed to Washington D.C. For 15 years, she did research and development for the Graduate Management Admission Council.

She met her husband, Club 33 member Hernan Luis y Prado, “at a gas station a few hundred miles from D.C.” He asked her on a date, they eloped a year and a half later and now have two beautiful daughters and two awesome pets. Rachel joined Hernan at Workshop for Warriors, its founder and CEO.

Dick Eger, Mia Harenski and David Oates were her sponsors.