Last year, Caterpillar announced it will relocate its Surface Mining & Technology division to a centralized hub in Tucson, Arizona. Christophe Dupont, Regional/Group Financial Officer, will talk about the division's decision to move to Tucson, our proximity to customers and transforming in this age of smart iron.
Biography - Christophe Dupont
Christophe Dupont is the Chief Financial Officer for Caterpillar Surface Mining & Technology based in Tucson, AZ. He has worked for Caterpillar for 18 years in a variety of roles starting in 1999 as senior auditor in Grimbergen, Belgium.
In 2001, he then moved to Geneva, Switzerland where he had his first leadership role as Sales Accounting Supervisor. In 2007, Christophe moved to Tokyo, Japan to become the Controller of Caterpillar Japan, and in 2010 he became the CFO of Caterpillar Japan reporting to the Vice President of Caterpillar Japan. In 2012, Christophe moved to Geneva to become the CFO for European and South America Operations. In the summer of 2014, Christophe moved to his current position. He is a Chartered Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor.
Christophe was born in Belgium. He graduated with a Bachelor in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp, Belgium and Lancaster, UK. He also has a Masters in Business Administration at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Christophe has two children, ages 11 and 6. He loves to travel, is an active runner and cyclist.
It’s about time that we begin this week’s Mystery Editor column at the end with JON WANG’S introduction of U of A Coach, Mike Candrea. Coach Candrea is the most decorated coach in U of A history! Eight times World Series Champions plus countless other awards, gold medals, and championships. Coach Candrea opened his heart to us club members when he spoke about the “Pillars of Success”. He began with an insightful quote, “men have to play good to feel good – women have to feel good to play good.” Wow, I knew that we were in for a great program. This son of a jazz piano player literally stumbled into coaching women’s softball in Casa Grande, AZ. From there and throughout his career, he learned the craft of coaching people and encouraging his teams to rise above all that life throws at you. His wife passed away in 2004 – coach persisted. His young son asked him to watch him play baseball – Coach left the National Softball team – Coach moved on. This is a man that could teach us and remind everyone what life is truly about. So here we go …
Have passion for what you do.
Surround yourself with great people.
Nurture the environment.
No matter what happens today – it will not be life threatening.
Enjoy the small victories.
Don’t live in the submarine.
Process is everything.
Keep your life in balance.
Family is the balance.
People need to change.
Be where your feet are.
Work smart and not hard.
Mom’s – don’t give your sons a choice.
Faith can get you through life.
Finally, Coach hasn’t missed a player’s wedding yet!
Our meeting began with PRESIDENT ELLIE asking for a moment of silence for Martin Bacal. He was a long time member and active Democrat National Committee person. Our birthday boy was now 70 year old TIM PUNTENNEY. TIM was a rancher’s son and contributed bigly to our “Win a Dream Home” raffle.
GARY HIRSCH was on the piano and WOCKY REDSAR-WIERZBINSKI leading us in the pledge and song. Rowdy CHARLIE MEAKER introduced our many cold country guests and visiting Rotarians.
HOOT GIBSON presented to the club, new member RACHEL SCHAMING – executive director of the Community College Foundation.
CHARLOTTE HARRIS and BOB LOGAN presented Paul Harris pins to DARREL STEWART, PAT ZUMBUSCH and Rabbi “Woman of the Year” STEPHANIE AARON. FONDA INSLEY, Sergeant At Arms, fined STEVE CHRISTY, our County Supervisor and ELLEN WHEELER, who donated to the Helen Middleton Endowment.
Finally, the announcements were the following:
PRESIDENT ELLIE – Make Way For Books project – 2 hours of cleaning on 2/18/17.
PRESIDENT ELLIE – a social mixer at the Trident II on February 23rd at 5:30 p.m.
PRESIDENT ELLIE – The Vocational Services Institute.
FONDA INSLEY – Dress for Rodeo at next week’s lunch meeting.
DOT KRET – Blue Badge to JULIE PAULSON – Congrats Julie!
MERLE HENKEL – Salvation Army Closet Cleaning Day – 3/15/17.
JIM MURPHY/CINDY GODWIN – Thanks FAYE MORSE and Ken Abrahams of Cadre Partners for their sponsorships of our car show and FAYE sponsored our silent auction dinner.
Former President MIKE ANDERSON and "committee of one” gave us a 5 minute history of the car show corvette prize.This hardworking man presented our new 2008 white convertible beauty.Thank you PAST PRESIDENT MIKE for all that you do to find the car, fix it and make it so beautiful.
PRESIDENT ELLIE closed the meeting with a toast about attitude inspired by our Coach Mike Candrea.
Michael Peller was born and raised in Chicago, IL. He studied law at DePaul University and worked for several years as a law clerk at Rosenfeld, Rosenberg, Swartzman, Hafron and Shapiro, with his eye on a career as a lawyer. BUT, while still in school he saw the error of his ways when he discovered a love for computers and internet technology. His career path was set.
Mike’s career as an entrepreneur and security specialist reaches back more than 30 years to the early days of personal computers and bulletin board systems. Mike started his first company, Micro CO-OP, back in 1982. By the early 90’s the Chicago-based business had evolved into Micro Computer Systems and was providing hardware and software solutions across the nation. Eventually he sold that company and in 1999 moved his family to Tucson where he formed his current venture, Pelstar Computer Systems, located on Pima just west of Craycroft.
At Pelstar, Michael continues to focus on providing cybersecurity solutions with federal and local authorities to fight mail order fraud, provide cybersecurity services with vendors like Cisco and Fortinet, and train as well as assess risk implications of newly emerging technologies. Mike and his Pelstar team have built their business for over 15 years, providing on-site and in-shop computer services. Having used their services since they first came to Tucson, I can personally attest to their skills and professionalism. You can discover more about Pelstar and all they do by visiting Pelstar.com.
Mike’s community involvement in the past was to serve as a coach and on the board of directors of Sabino Canyon Little League for over a decade, and I was pleased when he said he was ready to serve his community as a member of Rotary Club of Tucson.
Mike is married to Sharon and they have three children: Son Joey who went into the military with deployments in Afghanistan and Okinawa. He went on to graduate from the Tucson Police Academy and is now an officer with the Tucson Police Dept. Daughter Niki graduated from NAU and now lives and works in the medical field in Denver and youngest son, Steven is a student at UA.
Sharon is a stay-at-home mom and Ninja volunteer from running the snack bar at the Little League for 8 years to all of the school fundraisers, and currently volunteers at the Veteran’s Administration. Before he was officially a member of our club, Mike and Sharon immediately volunteered to work on the TCCS silent auction and Mike recently joined this year’s TCCS Marketing Team to help promote the show using his computer skills. Please say hello to our new member Mike Peller!
We’ve had a terrific response to the launch of the RCOT Business Roundtable. If you have already expressed interest you will have received an email from Gary with information in anticipation of Tuesday’s organizational meeting.
RCOT is launching this program primarily to help ensure the success of our member businesses and to also help attract more members. The premise is simple. Whether you are at 1 million or 150 million in revenues, when it comes to solving business problems, thinking strategically about your business and making tough decisions 15 heads are better than one.
It was a fun and productive Saturday morning with a good turnout of amazing members from our Rotary Club. We painted, cleaned walls, books, and windows, picked up trash and raked the grounds outside making the colorful and inviting Make Way For Books Center even more inviting. Teamwork all the way around.
The encouragement of members to bring in a family member to expand our family member category and increase our overall membership was stressed after family member, Tom Patterson, was approved by the board. There are 7 members on Leave of Absence.
Bylaws addition to Article 2 Board stating that the RCOT Foundation President will sit as an ex-officio member on the RCOT Board was approved. This amendment had been approved by the general membership in PP Phil’s year.
PP Phil Gutt will conduct a review of the Bylaws since there has been no review since 2012.
A Membership Report of Zone 26 showed our District 5500 is down in membership by 56 members compared to this time last year and a much higher loss than Arizona’s othe two Districts.*Let’s help our DG Sheryl in reaching her goal of 21 new members in our District to sustain growth.
Committee members are needed on the new committees being formed: Newsletter committee, Social Media Committee, and Website Committee. We are one of the few large clubs that do not have committees in these areas.
Our Finance report shows net income over budget by $3455.48.
Highlights from Large Club Conference included the challenge of diversity in Clubs, ours included and the need to have our Club reflect the Tucson Community. Our Classics Car Show stood out as one of the best and most successful fundraisers among large clubs and how it not only benefits our community but also our Club. All Clubs are struggling in attracting younger professionals.
The Replacement meeting in March will be taking shape soon.
Tucson Rotary's monthly Social Mixer is scheduled for February 23rd, 5:30 pm-7:30 pm and again will be held at the very popular Trident II, located in Plaza Palomino, 2900 N. Swan. Last month's mixer brought 55 members and guests together for a very enjoyable evening out. Bring a family member, a potential new member, a friend and your business cards. This will be a great time to socialize, network, and enjoy the fellowship and fun of Rotary. No reservations or registrations necessary. (no host bar)
"Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves.” Paul Harris, Rotary founder
How could such a statement be made 112 years ago and proven true by millions all over the world? Paul Harris, a Chicago attorney, shared his vision of bringing together professionals of diverse backgrounds who would meet on a regular basis to exchange ideas, form meaningful friendships and give back to the community. They coined the word Rotary as a result of rotating their meetings among the offices of the various members.
Since its founding on February 23, 1905, John F. Germ, President of Rotary International, 2016-17 affirms the results that Paul Harris envisioned. He wrote: "We've answered conflict with peace and poverty with education. We've responded to a lack of basic health care with projects large and small, from equipping clinics in tiny villages to eradicating polio across the globe."
In 1915, Paul Harris wrote: "we're passing our tenth milestone now. May our happiness increase with our usefulness. What Rotary will be one hundred years hence, none living can imagine. There is nothing impossible to Rotary." And don’t we all agree, there is truly nothing impossible to Rotary. We have much to celebrate.
NESDAYS, 12:00 PM-1:20 PM
Last year, Caterpillar announced it will relocate its Surface Mining & Technology division to a centralized hub in Tucson, Arizona. Christophe Dupont, Regional/Group Financial Officer, will talk about the division's decision to move to Tucson, our proximity to customers and transforming in this age of smart iron.
HOOT GIBSON presented to the club, new member RACHEL SCHAMING – executive director of the Community College Foundation.
Michael Peller was born and raised in Chicago, IL. He studied law at DePaul University and worked for several years as a law clerk at Rosenfeld, Rosenberg, Swartzman, Hafron and Shapiro, with his eye on a career as a lawyer. BUT, while still in school he saw the error of his ways when he discovered a love for computers and internet technology. His career path was set.
It was a fun and productive Saturday morning with a good turnout of amazing members from our Rotary Club. We painted, cleaned walls, books, and windows, picked up trash and raked the grounds outside making the colorful and inviting Make Way For Books Center even more inviting. Teamwork all the way around.
Tucson Rotary's monthly 
"Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves.” Paul Harris, Rotary founder
