Despite some confusion over the location of the gavel, the bell was rung at 12 noon, and we started the meeting by singing a patriotic song, and Dennis Burke’s inspiration reminded us that we are part of a number of communities, including the Ann Arbor community and the Rotary community. After recognizing Jody Tull as today’s pianist, Jim Irwin then led us in rousing renditions of three UM songs: Varsity, the alma mater, and, of course, Hail to the Victors. Guest were then introduced, meeting volunteers were recognized, and birthdays and anniversaries were announced.

We then had a series of short presentations on different club activities. Dallas Dort exhorted the membership to join the Program Committee and recommend new speakers. Mary Steffek-Blaske encouraged members to sign up as a Rotaract mentor, explaining how it has enhanced her life. Dawn Johnson described our new strategic planning effort.

Barbara Eichmuller kicked off the new member introductions. Sponsors Nancy Harrison and Carolyn Hiatt introduced Bonita Singal, a retired physician and biostatistician.

Agnes Reading introduced Gertrude Waigumbulizi. She came to the States from Uganda when her father received an appointment at the University of Oklahoma. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma and moved on to Wisconsin to obtain a graduate degree in city planning. Gertrude became the Director of Residence at South Quad three years ago. Her passion is fair housing and equitable development. She is talking with local developers and housing authorities to gather information for publication. Gertrude is interested in working with youth and our one-off projects.

Here’s Carolyn’s introduction of Bonita:

I am so pleased to introduce Bonita Singal M.D., Ph.D., a retired physician and biostatistician who practiced emergency medicine and did health services research in Cincinnati, and Ann Arbor, before retiring in 2019. She served in the US Army Medical Corps, and served as a volunteer physician for the International Medical Corps under UN auspices in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and spent two years in Washington, DC as an American Association for the Advancement of Sciences Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the US Department of Energy. In Ann Arbor, she has been a volunteer with Food Gatherers and is currently active with the Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti. She is the Michigan State Network Representative for Braver Angels.

Bonita has a passion for community and international service. She is highly motivated to foster understanding and good will across our nation, where our differences are amplified by media and political groups to produce outrage and distrust between people whose underlying values are not that different. She feels strongly that with enough goodwill, we can listen and learn from each other, and can come together to solve tough problems and advance human flourishing. With that in mind, Bonita hopes to meet and work with a variety of people within the local community and beyond to promote health, nutrition, safety, and peace internationally, with a special emphasis on the wellbeing of children.

She is eager to learn how Rotary functions and what skills are needed most to achieve the stated goals of the organization. Bonita hopes to learn how to combine her active engagement with Braver Angels and Rotary to further her mission of emphasizing our similarities over our differences to build a better world. Please welcome Bonita Singal.

Please look for these new members and introduce yourselves.

Nishta Bhatia then bestowed on Past President Jim Cook Emeritus status. She described Jim’s professional career and broad range of community service activities. See the full text at the end of this post.

The Future of Energy

Rich Sheridan then introduced our speaker, Danny Ellis, CEO of SkySpecs, who talked about his experience in building a business from his interest in drones and a graduate student project into a company with worldwide operations. He described many of the successes and failures of his business, which was founded in March 2012.

One of the major hurdles that they had to overcome was the early ban on any commercial application of drones. Then, they had to find an application for their drone technology that would actually make them some money. Fortunately, in its early days, a mentor suggested that they use their drones to inspect wind turbines and enter the Ross School of Business Clean Energy Venture Challenge. They won that competition and the rest is history. Their drones now automatically scan wind turbines and find possible failures before they happen.

Not only that, the company now finds, fixes, and manages all aspects of wind energy generation. The company makes its own drones and manages approximately 65% of all the wind turbines in the U.S. It’s a true U-M/Ann Arbor success story.

The meeting was closed at 1:30

p.s. Here is the text of Nishta’s remarks in awarding Emeritus status to Jim Cook:

It is my pleasure today to reintroduce James Wallace Cook, a member in long standing. Jim is a man of action. After his retirement from CMS Energy in 2002, he immersed himself in community non-profits. He has served as a board member of the Ann Arbor Art Association, on
the board of the Michigan Diabetes Association, and as the board chair of the Washtenaw Chapter of the Red Cross. He was president of this club in 2008-09.

His imprint on the club, which he joined in July 2002, has been significant. As a member of the International Humanitarian Projects Committee, he championed the club’s involvement in the Lingap Center, a home for homeless children in the Philippines. This was a big step for the club in the international arena. On the home front, he chaired the annual golf outing when the event was still in its infancy. He was also a tutor at Angel School. As president, he marshaled our members and presidents of other clubs in Washtenaw County in response to the Gates
Foundation’s Polio Plus matching grant challenge. The fun part of that effort was the Three Men and a Tenor performance at Skyline High School where Jim was Master of Ceremonies. $35,000 was raised, after expenses; about $50,000 in today’s money, no small feat.

Outside of Rotary, Jim became an advisor to a Michigan company shaping and designing clean energy solutions. One of the projects of the company on which he had a key role was the Fremont County Anaerobic Digester Plant. And remember, he did all this after he had retired from his regular job.

I recently read this line by Elizabeth Strout: “ People did not care, except for maybe one minute. It was not their fault, most just could not really care past their own experiences.” Jim Cook has cared much beyond what was expected of him and brought his experience to bear on what he has contributed to the community. Tell Me Everything Though his professional work was also for the greater good, Jim’s involvement in the community personified “service above self.”

Jim attended Princeton University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He went on to get an MS in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State. His career spanned 40 years of designing power plants and executive leadership in the energy industry. In 1989, he became the president of the independent power subsidiary of CMS Energy, the holding company of Consumers Power. His work took him around the world to oversee the building of nuclear and conventional power plants. He retired as Senior  Vice President of Technology and Development for CMS Energy.

Jim and his wife Connie have lived in Ann Arbor since 1990. Their son Jay, daughter-in-law, Rita, and grandson, Oliver, live in Ann Arbor as well. Their daughter Amy lives in New Mexico with her husband Mike and a blended family of daughters and sons. I don’t think Jim has ever done anything half-heartedly, whether it was playing tennis, golf, or following Michigan football and basketball. There is a lot of football to be played in the next few months and I’m sure he can tell you who is playing whom and where.

We wish you, Jim, all the very best and thank you for your service.