Events

Miss Diana’s music career started from the age of 2 learning ballet and tap and absorbing the music from her father’s orchestra rehearsals and performances in San Francisco.  She began piano at the age of 4 and violin from the age of 12.  She always sang (her first solo performance was at the age of 5 before parents and children from her elementary school). She auditioned before the great teacher and Operatic star, Frederick Jagel, who accepted her as his student.  Within 2 years she became a regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.  Miss Diana has performed in Operas, Musical Theatre, and concerts and has also produced and directed various shows.  Miss Diana performed for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s 20^th Anniversary on the Supreme Court in New York City and was the soloist for the International Music Concert in Bern, Switzerland. She has produced and directed and teaches voice, violin, acting, and piano to children for more than 7 years.  She has a B.A. degree in Humanities and a J.D. in law; had a law firm in Silicon Valley for 20 years and then founded and developed for profit companies for another 20 years.  For more than 30 years Diana has helped children with special needs in literacy programs as well as using music to engage and enhance their well-being. Diana has focused on helping children with autism for the last five years and has had a great deal of success in improving their development utilizing the performing arts as tools.

David D. Spitzer has practiced in Northern Nevada for over 40 years in both criminal and civil law. In addition to practicing in criminal law and working to design and establish the Second Judicial District Court’s Drug Court and other Diversion Courts in the 1990s and early 2000s, he has been the supervising attorney in the Adult Guardianship unit at Northern Nevada Legal Aid since 2013. In November of 2024, he was appointed the Executive Director of Northern Nevada Legal Aid (formerly Washoe Legal Services).

Valieria Koss is a nonprofit leader and advocate dedicated to advancing equity, opportunity, and systems change for young people with lived experience in foster care. She brings extensive experience in public policy, program development, and cross-sector collaboration to her work at the RennerVation Foundation, where she focuses on building innovative pathways that support youth and young adults in achieving stability and independence.

Valieria holds a Bachelor’s degree from UCSD and a Master of Public Policy from Pepperdine University, grounding her work in data-informed decision-making and community-centered policy solutions. Her academic background informs her commitment to creating trauma-informed, youth-centered programs that address gaps in access, education, and economic mobility.

She is actively involved in the Junior League of Reno and is a proud member of Delta Gamma, where she continues to support leadership development, service, and philanthropy within the community.

Kurt Mische, President and CEO of PBS Reno, and Nancy Maldonado, Vice President of Education at PBS Reno, will give us a presentation about the 2026 PBS Reno Writers Contest.

The annual PBS Reno Writers Contest, part of PBS Reno Curiosity Classroom, invites local students in kindergarten through third grade to submit their own illustrated stories. 

The PBS Reno Writers Contest is a local contest designed to promote the advancement of children’s literacy skills through hands-on, active learning. The Writers Contest encourages children in grades K-3 to celebrate the power of creating stories and illustrations by submitting their own original pieces. Each year, thousands of northern Nevada children participate in the PBS Reno Writers Contest, building their creative voices, and developing critical reading and writing skills.

Dr. Ron Aryel is a pediatrician and disaster medicine  who, along with his wife Stacey Knobler, ran a joint practice in Reno that saw difficult, complex cases. His practice won awards from Senator Dean Heller, the City of Reno, the City of Kansas City, MO, Drexel University College of Medicine, Immunize Nevada, the CDC and the American Cancer Society for outstanding medical care and outstanding community service; he was cited twice by Disaster Medical Assistance Teams for outstanding care and leadership and collaborated on biosurveillance/WMD projects with the US Marine Corp. CBIRF team and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Police Department.

Dr. Aryel co-led the development of the COVID Risk Meter and Predictive Tool used by Northern Nevada Public Health.

Dr. Aryel was a key contributor to RODS, the United States’ first automated bioterror warning system (used in Washoe County) and co-conceived of the National Retail Data Monitor. President George W. Bush personally visited the RODS laboratory. Dr. Aryel cowrote and coedited the first textbook used by Ph.D. graduate programs in biosurveillance. 

Dr. Aryel has an M.D. from Drexel University, an M.B.A. from University of South Florida and is a life member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Every Mind Matters is a 501-c-3 non-profit that serves Northern Nevada. It offers Fellowships to students of high potential who suffer from poverty, often chaotic social backgrounds not conducive to learning or sometimes even economic survival.  Through our program, thus far 100% of Fellows graduate from the University of Nevada and either begin a professional career or win admission to graduate school.

Tracy Ostrem was named Vice President for University Advancement at the University of Nevada, Reno on April 1, 2025.

Tracy’s advancement career launched at her alma mater, Washington State University, beginning a meaningful journey that eventually led her to the University of Washington. During her 25 years at the University of Washington, Tracy has led units in the execution of two major university-wide fundraising campaigns, the $2.7B “Creating Futures” campaign and the $6.3B “Be Boundless” campaign. During the former, she received national recognition for successfully leading the campaign for the top-ranked School of Nursing and tripling their philanthropic support. For the latter, Tracy was responsible for the successful execution of the College of Arts & Science’s most ambitious fundraising campaign to date, raising nearly $600M, doubling fundraising levels from the college’s previous campaign.

Since 2022, Tracy has served as Principal for the Ostrem Leadership Group, which has collaborated with universities and non-profit organizations in meeting immediate and long-term fundraising needs. Tracy has been actively involved with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) as a member of the District VIII Board of Directors, 2015 Conference Chair, and the 2012 Program Track Chair for Major Gifts.

Joe Flores joined the Nevada compliance staff in August of 2015, and was elevated to his current role as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Compliance Services in 2021. In his current position, Flores supervises the Athletic Department’s Compliance and Governance efforts, as well as overseeing the department’s Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) and House Benefits programs. Flores serves on the Leadership Team and is the liaison to Nevada’s admissions, financial aid, drug testing, and residential life offices.

Prior to coming to Nevada, Flores spent three years as an athletics administrator at CSU Bakersfield. During that time, he was responsible for the day-to-day operations of all compliance efforts related to NCAA, WAC, and MPSF regulations. Flores also served as the life skills coordinator and the liaison with academic services.

Prior to Bakersfield, Flores practiced law for two years in Dallas, Texas in the private sector with a primary focus on commercial litigation.

Flores earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego in 2006. He then earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2010 and was accepted into the Texas State Bar that same year.

Dr. Muge Akpinar-Elci is Dean and Professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Reno. A physician, researcher, and public health leader with more than 20 years of experience in clinical practice and field research, she brings deep expertise in environmental and occupational health.

Before joining the University of Nevada, Reno in 2021, she served as Associate Dean in the College of Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Global Health at Old Dominion University. Dr. Akpinar-Elci previously worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and led the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Environmental and Occupational Health in Grenada. 

Tom Hall’s Rotary vocational classification is Active-Law Practice, Real Estate, and when he’s not in the courtroom, or getting ready for it, he’s president of whatever organization he currently belongs to.

Tom is a native of southern California, grew up at the Lake Tahoe (Nevada Side), and came to UNR in the early sixties, earning a BS degree in 1965 in Finance and Economics. He received his law degree from Northwestern University in 1971 and has been practicing law in this area for for the past fifty-three years. He’s played a vital role in precedent setting land use cases at Lake Tahoe. Once, he represented the FDIC and received a personal call from its president.

He and his wife Peggy have five children, all well-educated with doctorate degrees. They also have five grandchildren, ranging in age from 9 to 24. A forest fire burned down they family home in Washoe Valley in 2016 and they rebuilt an Airplane House in west Reno.

Tom served seven and a half years in the Air National Guard; he is an elder and president of the Spanish Springs Presbyterian Church, a licensed contractor for 60 years, former president (three terms) of the UNR Alumni Association, former chair of the UNR Foundation, former chair of the Community Foundation of Western Nevada, member of the Whittell Board for Little Valley Forest, and current member of the Washoe County and American Bar Associations.

Tom piloted his own Beech Bonanza until last April, ending his flying which started in April 1966. His current passion is aviation and aerospace education. He is president and co-founder of Pathways to Aviation. He is also currently a Trustee, President, and Board Chair of the George W. Gillemot Foundation.

Tom will discuss the $38M Gillemot Foundation gift to UNR for an Aerospace Engineering Department, Scholarships through Pathways to Aviation, and the president, Washoe County School District’s first Aviation Academy.

Our program on Monday is our annual Rotary Club of Reno Speech Contest. The contest provides young people in our community an opportunity to develop their speaking skills.  Each year, talented high school students demonstrate their speaking skills in front of Rotarians, guests, and families… it is amazing to watch! 

CARE Chest, located at 7910 N. Virginia St., in Reno, is a Nevada nonprofit that provides medical resources—including equipment, supplies, prescription assistance and independent-living home modifications—free of charge. The acronym stands for Community Assistance Resource Endowment. Since the group was founded 34 years ago by three local pharmacists who saw a need, CARE Chest has provided nearly 600,000 unique consumer services to the community. Anne McNulty is the group’s executive director.

CARE Chest consumers are typically Nevada residents living at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In addition to our headquarters in Reno on North Virginia Street, CARE Chest also has a second office in Las Vegas and travels to more than 40 communities and community-based locations across the state of Nevada each month to distribute our programs closer to where our consumers live and work.

Achievement Beyond Obstacles is a joint youth program with four Area 8 Rotary Clubs. High School counselors and Principals select seniors who are on track to graduate despite enormous challenges in their life. In this program, students spend a Leadership Weekend with professional coaches Dean and Rochelle Whellams, receive financial aid education and college mentoring, and guidance to help them with their next step in life.

These students have an opportunity to apply for a Rotary scholarship to college or vocational school ranging from $500 to $2,500. This ABO luncheon is one of four Rotary luncheons honoring these students from Washoe County high schools and from all different socio-economic backgrounds who have achieved success despite the obstacles in their way.

Every student who attended Leadership Weekend is invited to attend a Rotary meeting and bring a guest and we will hear a 3 minute presentation from them about their journey and what their plans are post high school. You won’t want to miss hearing from these students and the impact Rotary is having in their lives.

Dave was born and raised in Fallon, NV where he was active in 4-H. He received his degree in Finance from the University of Nevada and was commissioned into the Army.  He also met and married his best friend Lois while at the university.  He joined the Northwestern Mutual in 1971 serving on the boards and as president of his professional associations retiring after 50 years.  He was also elected twice as a national trustee of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.

He was an active Jaycee and Toastmaster and served on the board of the Conference of Christians and Jews.  In addition, he was the first president of the Truckee Meadows Boys and Girls Club, served on the founding board of PBS Reno and was a founder of Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful and the College of Business Alumni Association.  He is a past president of the Planned Giving Council for University of Nevada, Reno.  He is also past president of the Education Alliance of Washoe County.  He has served three times as board president for his church.

Dave joined the Rotary Club of Reno in 1982 serving as president in 1988-89 the year the first female joined the club.  After serving the district as the Youth Exchange Chair he was selected to be District Governor in 2005-06.  He has also chaired the Rotary Leadership Institute and served as the District Foundation Chair and Polio Plus Chair.  He was recently asked to once again chair the Polio Plus campaign for the remainder of this Rotary year.   He is also part of the district Visioning Team.

Dave is plus one major donor, a member of the Paul Harris Society, Polio Plus Society and he and Lois are Bequest Society members.   

In 2022 he was named as the Outstanding Alumnus of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Dave and Lois have three children, two of whom were RYE students and four grandsons, one of whom was a RYE student and another who attended RYLA.

Suzanne is the City of Reno Environmental Services Manager. She has worked in the energy and sustainability program and policy sector for over 14 years. Prior, she was in commercial real estate development for 12 years. Suzanne oversees the micromobility, gas, electric, and waste franchise agreements, sustainability efforts, environmental stakeholder engagement, operational efficiency, and utility coordination, including regulatory matters.

Brian Beffort is Washoe County’s first Sustainability Manager and led the drafting of the County’s Climate Action Plan to reduce emissions in County operations and community wide. Before joining the County, Brian spent the bulk of his career in Washoe County, first as a journalist (with the Reno Gazette-Journal), then with environmental nonprofits, including Friends of Nevada Wilderness, Great Basin Institute, Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, and the Sierra Club.

Jeremy M. Smith is the Director of the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency.  He started with the agency in 2011.  Jeremy holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado and achieved his master’s and bachelor’s degrees at the University of Nevada, Reno. Jeremy has worked extensively with geographic information systems in both the public and private sector.  Along with fulfilling the regulatory capacity of TMRPA, the Agency’s current work objectively tracks and reports on growth and land use decision-making as it relates to master planning, housing, natural resources, and public infrastructure. 

Alli Villines is a dynamic entrepreneur, author, and community leader dedicated to empowering women in business through purpose-driven leadership and authentic connection. She serves as the Founder & Executive Director of She Means Business (SMB), a Northern Nevada–based nonprofit committed to advancing financial literacy, mentorship, and access to resources for aspiring and emerging young female entrepreneurs. Under her leadership, SMB produces impactful programming and events, including Speaker Series, Campus Outreach Programing & our Female Founders Scholarship / 8-month- Business Development Program where local founders share real-world journeys from idea to execution.