Events

Join us for an engaging program with Erick Garcia Luna of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Erick will share insights on current economic conditions and what lies ahead for the economy in the U.S. and Minnesota.  Also, meet special guest 2027-2028 Rotary International President Larry Lunsford.  Doors open at 7 a.m.

This is a Ticketed Event with advance registration required by Feb. 4 at https://colrc.org/events/ri-president-nominee-larry-lunsford-with-minneapolis-city-of-lakes-rotary-meeting-nominee/

Erick Garcia Luna is a regional outreach director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. His responsibilities include tracking, analyzing, and reporting on several aspects of the economy of the Fed's Ninth District. Erick is a co-author of the Beige Book and has published articles on inflation, business conditions, and labor. His work has been featured in local and national media, including Marketplace and Bloomberg TV.

Prior to joining the Minneapolis Fed, Erick held a variety of roles in the U.S. Senate, the City of Minneapolis, and the University of Minnesota. His academic credentials include coursework in economics and political science from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City, and a degree in economics from the University of Minnesota.

Shelley Buck joined Owámniyomni Okhódayapi as president in 2023. Buck is an enrolled member of the Prairie Island Indian Community and served 12 years on the Prairie Island Tribal Council, including six years as president. Prior to being elected to Tribal Council, Buck held other positions serving the Tribe, including enrollment clerk and government relations specialist. Buck has a Bachelor of Science in business accounting from Indiana University and a Masters of Art in sports management from Concordia University. She holds a second Masters of Jurisprudence in tribal Indian law from the University of Tulsa. Buck currently serves as vice chair of the Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi board of directors and is a member of the Augsburg University Board of Regents. She has also held the position of Alternate Regional VP for the National Congress of American Indians.

Steve Fine, founder and president of the Melanoma Education Foundation, attended colleges in the Boston area, receiving a doctorate in chemistry from Northeastern University. He then moved to Pennsylvania, completing a year of postdoctoral research at Lehigh University. After 5 years as assistant professor of organic chemistry at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, he moved back to New England where he served in technical and management positions in high tech chemical companies.

In 1989 he started a consulting practice in the technology of high purity chemical manufacturing, concurrently serving for 3 years as Vice President of Technology for ACSI, a West Coast manufacturer of semiconductor chemicals.

Shortly after his son, Dan, died of melanoma in 1998 at the age of 26 he founded the non-profit Melanoma Education Foundation and, since 2000, has devoted full time to the Foundation.

The primary activity of the Foundation is educating high school and middle school wellness educators about melanoma and providing them with free online lessons to educate their students about self-detecting melanoma while it is curable. Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic over 1700 schools in all 50 U.S. states and Canada were using the lessons, resulting in saved lives of students, teachers and their loved ones.

Zoom Only Meeting  Get your Zoom link at the top of our home page in the gold header if you do not already have one established  https://colrc.org/

Shannon Watson is the founder and executive director of Majority in the Middle. She has also worked in policy and public affairs roles in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She has 20+ years of experience in electoral politics, advising candidates and working on campaigns on both sides of the aisle in Kansas, Colorado, and Minnesota.

Shannon is a frequent op-ed writer and speaker. She is also a graduate of Leadership St Paul, a member of the twin cities MYALP cohort, and a Humphrey Policy Fellow.

Shannon holds a bachelor's degree in English, Theatre, and Psychology from Wichita State University and a master's degree in Advocacy and Political Leadership from the University of Minnesota-Duluth. She lives in Minneapolis.

Learn more here!

Zoom Only

Lynn is an Emmy award-winning video storyteller and a content strategist who helps brands tell their stories in emotionally impactful ways that connect with an audience. 

515 Productions - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Film Production

On April 29, 2025, Tony Loyd was diagnosed with lung cancer. As a non-smoking endurance athlete, the news was devastating. He knew he had to dig in and find his personal endurance. As a former Fortune 500 executive, he did what he has always done. He turned to the experts. Together with his partner, he scoured peer-reviewed research to discover what it really takes to endure. In September, 25 percent of his lungs were removed. Today, he is on a journey to find out what it takes to get 100 percent from the 75 percent of his lungs that remain.

In this brief talk, Tony shares stories and insights from his journey, connecting endurance to Rotary’s values of service and leadership. Participants will be inspired to see endurance in a new light, understand how it works, and walk away with practical ideas they can apply in their lives, their work, their service, and their Rotary club. This is The Endurance Advantage. Endurance is not an individual trait; it is embedded in the texture of organizations and communities.

https://tonyloyd.com

Peter Beaumont is a leadership consultant with over 30 years of experience in business leadership and coaching. His journey began when leading teams with companies such as Philip Morris and Coca-Cola and then consulting with Intel and Wrigley. He has built teams and Boards for for-profit and non-profit where he navigated his own path, and others, from chaos to clarity. Over the last decade, he has worked exclusively with small businesses and business ownership, coaching, implementing EOS, and as a Fractional COO. This experience fuels his passion for helping leaders re-discover their love for what they do.

Save the Date! Details and exact time coming soon. 

No meeting this Wednesday. Happy 4th of July!

Start the new Rotary Year with an inspiring and practcal message from District 5950 Governor Leif Hagen. 

Leif Hagen grew up in Stevens Point and graduated from St. Olaf College in 1988 with a BA in German and French. His early career included teaching languages in Zug, Switzerland, and high school English in Gero, Japan. In 1992, he entered the financial services field as a financial planner with Lutheran Brotherhood, later joining LPL Financial in 2002. He now owns Achievement Financial in Eagan, Minnesota, offering financial planning and Medicare supplemental insurance services.

Leif has held multiple leadership roles within Rotary, including two terms as President of the Eagan Rotary Club and serving as the two-year charter president of the MN Pride Rotary Club. His Rotary involvement includes leading a GSE team to Bangalore, India hosting GSE visitors from Finland and Brazil, serving as District Conference co-chair, Assistant Governor for Area 2, and currently serving on the District Foundation grant committee. He is a Paul Harris Society member, a Major Donor, and has attended Rotary International conventions in Birmingham, New Orleans, Bangkok, and Hamburg. He will serve as Rotary District 5950 Governor for 2026–2027.

Leif lives in Eagan with his partner, Valdir Oliveira, and has three daughters — Kajsa, Svea, and Britta. He enjoys foreign languages, international travel, collecting art, and attending art shows.