Speaker Date Topic
Leta McCollough Seletzky Feb 18, 2025
THE KNEELING MAN and Why History Is Not Past
THE KNEELING MAN and Why History Is Not Past

Leta is the author of "THE KNEELING MAN: MY FATHER'S LIFE AS A BLACK SPY WHO WITNESSED THE ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR." She will share the intimate and powerful story of a Black undercover police officer who famously knelt by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his dying moments—and the implications of this tragic event for a daughter and a nation.

Stephen Burke and Todd Cusimano Mar 04, 2025
Above and Beyond: What’s Next for Mill Valley?
Above and Beyond: What’s Next for Mill Valley?

Rotarians are invited to engage with Mayor Stephen Burke and City Manager Todd Cusimano as they share their visions and plans for the City in the years ahead. They will highlight the city's next steps, following the passage of the Measure L sales tax, for infrastructure maintenance and enhancements, fiscal sustainability, and emergency preparedness. 

They will also address land use and affordable housing challenges, business and cultural vitality initiatives, the critical importance of public/private partnerships, community engagement, and Mill Valley's ongoing commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, a Q&A session offers participants the opportunity to pose questions and share insights, enabling Mayor Burke and City Manager Cusimano to better grasp and respond to community feedback.

Andrew Standley Mar 18, 2025
EU-US Transatlantic Relations: Stormy Seas or Smooth Sailing?
EU-US Transatlantic Relations: Stormy Seas or Smooth Sailing?
EU-US relations – based on shared values, a common history and a free market economy – have been a bedrock of the post WWII international order. Within the NATO framework, Europe has depended on the US for its security, while successive US administrations have broadly supported the EU as a means of consolidating peace, stability and prosperity in Europe.
  
But the US’ geographic focus has increasingly shifted towards the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, deep internal strains are appearing within the EU as a result of surging populism. Andrew Standley, former EU ambassador to Bolivia, Israel and Mexico, will examine the state of US-EU relations as well as the key challenges facing the EU, and identify areas where the transatlantic relationship may face headwinds.
Ed Marshall Apr 01, 2025
Liar's Club !!!
Liar's Club is a Mill Valley Rotary Club game show featuring a panel of four Mill Valley Rotarians who will use their talents and guile to try to baffle, befuddle, and bewilder the audience with their definitions and explanations of very peculiar, perplexing, and puzzling words. The audience will be broken down into teams of those seated at each table.
 
There will be prizes for the best Liar and for the winning audience team.
Megan Gorman Apr 15, 2025
All The Presidents’ Money: What The Finances of Our Leaders Can Teach Us About Wealth
All The Presidents’ Money: What The Finances of Our Leaders Can Teach Us About Wealth
We all have our opinions on how presidents have handled affairs of state, but how exactly did they handle their own financial affairs? In this delightful and chatty book, Megan offers plenty of anecdotes: how a president born wealthy died broke (Thosmas Jefferson, whose last correspondence was about buying wine on credit), a president born poor died rich (Lyndon Johnson, who used his government connections to build a tiny Texas radio station bought by his wife for $17,500 in 1942 that netted the family $105 million 30 years later after LBJ died, and a president addicted to get-rich-quick schemes (that would not be the one you might be thinking of but Ulysses S. Grant, who lost money "selling ice, developing farmland, and invested in a social club in San Francisco"). J.F.K. was wealthy but frugal, Lincolnd died without a will, and the Clintons...well, let's just say they are comfortable thanks to post-presidential speeches and books.
 
Gorman teases out lessons for all of us on what to do (and not to do) to build wealth, the best lesson being the nation's most famous peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter. That occupation helped polish his Everyman image, but thanks to the financial acument of Rosalynn, the peanut operation grew into a 3,100-acre behemoth with a side business in fertilizer. No comment on other presidents whose careers profited from slinging manure.