Category Archives: New Member

Social Services-Just In Time For Foster Youth

Diane Wells is the Development Director for Just In Time For Foster Youth. They engage a caring community to help transition age foster youth with critical resources and lasting relationships to achieve self-sufficiency and well-being as they become confident, capable and connected.

A graduate of University of Michigan, Diane was a sales representative for First American Title for 20 years. But prior to that, she was an English teacher, hitch-hiked across the United States, lived in a Zen Monastery on top of a mountain, then started a town paper in northern CA, but ended up joining a commune in southern CA, before deciding she had to actually make a living!

Diane found a way to further leverage her success in the corporate world for the greater good in 2003 when she co-founded Just in Time for Foster Youth, starting with a simple concept of transporting gently used furniture donated by her clients in Rancho Santa Fe and Del Mar to the empty shells of apartments occupied by young adults leaving the foster care system and who had accessed subsidized housing but lacked basic furnishings such as beds, vacuums, and kitchen supplies.

In 2014, Diane joined the staff of Just in Time and graduated from the Hudson Institute of Coaching with the specific intention to develop a coaching model to assist foster youth to heal from adverse childhood experiences and train volunteers to see themselves in partnership with youth who are creative, resourceful and whole. CA2M training has also been provided to other San Diego nonprofits, including Children’s Legal Services, National Charity League San Diego del Norte Chapter, and Community Resource Center.

Alan Spector, Judy Thompson and David Kvendru were her sponsors.

Investment-Fiduciary

Shelly Verhoye is a licensed professional fiduciary with ProFiduciary, Inc., one of San Diego’s largest private fiduciary firms providing trust and estate administration services.

Shelly’s husband is San Diego’s treasured concert pianist Bryan Verhoye.  But she wants you to know some other things about her that you may not know….

The first time she ever sang in front of an audience, she was about 6 years old.  She sang I’m A Little Tea Pot for a family dinner party.  It went over pretty well and she has been singing ever since.

Another activity near and dear to her heart is dancing.  She began dancing as a teenager, joined a professional dance company as a young adult, and went on to manage her own dance company for a number of years after that.

But her most favorite of all…is her beautiful daughter, Molleigh Rae, who is now away at Columbia College Chicago, an Arts & Media college.  She is  majoring in Musical Theater and minoring in Non-profit and Public Affairs Communications.

But through all the years, Shelly also worked developing her career in the area of trust and estate administration.  She worked as a Trust Officer in several bank trust departments and joined ProFiduciary in 2008.  She says her career keeps her extremely busy, so unfortunately there hasn’t been much time to sing and dance!

Jan McDonough, Suzy Spafford and Debbie Day were here sponsors.

Associations – LEAD San Diego

Samantha Beck is the Executive Director for LEAD San Diego, which is a nonpartisan, leadership arm of the San Diego Regional Chamber.  LEAD offers a diverse suite of programs designed to mobilize leaders by enhancing knowledge of key regional issues, strengthening personal leadership skills and establishing strong community connections.

She is originally from Sacramento.  She left to attend Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri where she earned a degree in International Relations.  She then returned to Sacramento and became the Membership Director for the Sacramento Metro Chamber.

Growing up with a minister as a father, volunteering and service to her community are in her DNA. As a child and teen, she was actively involved in homeless outreach. As an adult, she volunteered and served on the board of Team Giving, a non-profit that serves as the matchmaker for corporate and individual volunteers with non-profits in need.

Samantha says it was always her dream to live in San Diego.  She would often visit Petco Park to watch her San Francisco Giants play.  So she says she was lucky to have found a position with the San Diego Regional Chamber that met a lot of her passions and skill sets.  She moved to San Diego in June of 2020.

Divya Kakaiya, Trevor Blair and Wendy Urushima-Conn were her sponsors.

Athletics-Track & Field

Al Joyner is a track and field star who won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles for the triple jump, the first American in eight decades to win the event and the first African American.  He attended Arkansas State University, where he later returned as a coach, and was the winner of the prestigious Jim Thorpe award, honoring the best American field athlete at the Olympics.  He was married to the late track legend Florence Griffith, who came to be known as “Flo Jo”.

In 1997, Al was inducted into the Arkansas Track and Field Hall of Fame, and in 1999 the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.  In August 2000, he returned to the track and field staff at UCLA as assistant coach and women’s jump coach.

In 2003, he accepted a job as track coach for the U.S. Olympic Training Center and directs the Flo Jo Community Empowerment Foundation and the Final Kick Marketing Group.  Currently, he is training athletes for the 2021 Olympics, but more importantly, he is training others to follow their dreams.

Tracy Sundlun, Paul Nestor and Phil Blair were his sponsors.

“Research-Gemology”

Vicki Gee Horiye is the Director of Product Marketing for the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).  Established in 1931, GIA is the leading source of knowledge, standards, and education in the gem and jewelry industry.

Service to the community became a significant part of her Vicki’s life by the age of 16.  She was involved at the club and district levels of another service organization during high school and college, serving in roles including club president, lieutenant governor and district secretary.  During her undergrad, she re-chartered the club at UCSD and she is proud that it remains active today.

The San Diego Foundation, Jackie Robinson YMCA, Francis Parker School, and the Asian Business Association Foundation are amongst the organizations she has been involved in.  She is interested in joining our Senior Services Committee, Camp Enterprise and our Badge Committee.  But says she will continue to “shop” the other committees because she wants to meet everyone!

Vicki is a marketer by passion having earned her MBA at SDSU.  Her greatest joy is her 18-year-old son Carter, who is a freshman at Northeastern University.  Her husband is Joe Horiye, a Club member for the last 20 years.

Wendy Urushima-Conn, Andrea da Rosa and Valerie Attisha were her sponsors.

Insurance  – Consumer, Additional Active

Valerie Gomez is Director of Operations/Agent for Farmers Insurance.

She is a native San Diegan and attended Valhalla High School.  Before going into sales, she tried a career in web design and in pastries.  Now while working in insurance, she has started her own business selling gemstones and crystals because she really enjoys teaching customers about them.  But first and foremost, she is mom to her 4-year old son.

Valerie enjoys networking and says she couldn’t think of a more better place than Rotary.  She says it was the warmest group of people she has ever met! And she says what better way to connect with others than to do work alongside them in service.

Duke Sobek, Stephanie Saathoff and Annie Rodriguez were her sponsors.

Community Liaison-MCRD, Additional Active

Jimmie “Jim” Gruny is the new Community Liaison Officer for MCRD San Diego.  He is responsible for high level community engagement on behalf of the MCRD and is also responsible for resolving conflicts between the depot and the city, port and Airport Authority related to land use.

Jim is a retired Marine Colonel.  His 30 years of service in the Marine Corps as an Armor Officer included two combat tours in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Born and raised in Kentucky, he holds a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University and a Masters in Management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

Prior to his current position, Jim was the COO for Workshop for Warriors. He and his wife, Teresa, have been married for 35 years and they have 2 sons and 1 grandson.

Rick Huenefeld, Doug Taber and Rachel Inmon were his sponsors.

Human Resources-Job Training, Additional Active

Peter Callstrom is the President & CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) which funds job training programs to empower job seekers to meet the current and future workforce needs of employers in San Diego County.

Peter had led nonprofit organizations in the San Diego region since 1986, including services to people with disabilities, the homeless, and under-represented job seekers.  He has led the SDWP since 2012 and was awarded the 2021 Nonprofit CEO of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal.

A Minnesota native, he moved to San Diego in 1986. He and his wife, Patricia, have been married for 26 years and they have 2 daughters.  On his free time, he enjoys racquetball with his favorite “target”, President Phil Blair.

Peter is a returning Club 33 member (2013-2018).

Associations – CCCBA

Constance Carroll is the President and CEO of the California Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCCBA), a non-profit 501(c)(3) she founded that is dedicated to the promotion and expansion of baccalaureate programs among California’s 116 community colleges in workforce fields.

Constance grew up in Baltimore, Maryland during the period of segregation.  It was that experience that generated in her a great passion and commitment to diversity and expanding equity and opportunity to everyone.

She has had a distinguished career in higher education for almost 50 years.  And on July 1, 2021 she retired as the longest serving chancellor for the San Diego Community College District in which she served for 17 years.  She also served as President of San Diego Mesa College for 11 years.

Constance’s professional history includes service on national boards, numerous awards, and publications.  In 2011, she was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the US Senate to serve a six-year term on the National Council on the Humanities.  In 2020, she was appointed to serve on the College Promise National Advisory Board, which leads a nonpartisan initiative dedicated to building public support for tuition-free Promise programs across the country.

She holds a BA in Humanities from Duquesne University, an MA and Ph.D. in Classics (Ancient Greek and Latin) from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Certificate of Proficiency in Hellenic Studies from Knubly University in Athens, Greece. She also attended the Harvard University Institute for Educational Management.

She says she is looking forward to being a very hardworking and active member.

Mark Stuart, Jim Hughes and Chris Sichel were here sponsors.

Youth Organization – First Gen Scholars

Jonathan Burgos is Founder and Executive Director of First Gen Scholars, a 501(c) 3 whose mission is to provide superior support to underserved first-generation high school students in San Diego by navigating them through the college application process and mentor them throughout college towards a prosperous career.

Jonathan founded First Gen Scholars in 2019 with 26 students in South San Diego, expanding city-wide in 2020 to serve 78 students from 13 high schools and 11 different ethnicities.  In addition, he spent 15 years (primarily in City Heights through Cardinals Interact) creating a college essay-writing curriculum that helps applicants share their authentic stories.  Jonathan has helped hundreds of students get into some of the most elite colleges in the United States, with most students graduating with zero to little debt.

He attended UCSD and graduated with a degree in Sociology. It was there where he met his wife of 20 years, Laurie. They have two children, 13 year old Theo (a black belt) and 10 year old Penelope (a Girl Scout cookie selling machine!)  Jonathan considers his family his “why” as he does First Gen Scholars.  He was a first generation student himself and almost did not graduate college without the help and support from others.  This is what motivated him to start his own non-profit.

He says a personal health scare in 2015 and the current pandemic has taught him two things: to be appreciate everyday of his loved ones, and that “it is not about what I have, but what I have to give in terms of my heart, my time and my energy.”

Mia Harenski, Massey Pitts and David Oates were his sponsors.