West Jax Rotary

Donald C. Jones
CEO, American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

Donald (Don) C. Jones, a native of Jacksonville, has dedicated his entire 42-year career to medical association management; currently serving as the CEO of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) since 1997, and as former Executive Vice President for the Florida Medical Association (FMA).

Working for both a state medical association and a national medical specialty society have afforded him a unique perspective on organized medicine and enhanced his ability to provide extraordinary leadership throughout his career.

He is a 1967 graduate of Jacksonville University and began his career with the FMA in 1967 and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer from 1984 – 1996. With FMA, an organization with over 17,000 members, he was responsible for the development, organization, coordination, and implementation of all activities of the association. This included management of finances, publications, personnel, and both the executive and field offices.

In 1997, he became CEO of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE). As CEO of AACE, he has been responsible for the overall management and supervision of policies, programs and activities of AACE and its affiliated organization, the American College of Endocrinology, and for AACE’s for-profit subsidiary, AACECORP. Under his guidance and vision, AACE has truly prospered. The Association has grown from 2,805 members in 1997, to over 6,000 in the United States and 84 countries.

As an advocate for AACE members and the Board of Directors, he has spearheaded countless initiatives that brought the Association’s message on endocrine diseases and the important role of the clinical endocrinologist to Capitol Hill, the general public, and the medical community.

His strong business principles, tireless work ethic, and exceptional diplomacy were recognized in 2001 when he was awarded the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Executive Achievement Award for his service.

He was a member of the Rotary Club of South Jacksonville for 25 years and served two terms as Editor of the newsletter, as well as a member of the Board of Directors.

He and his wife of 43 years, Sharon, have two children; daughter Amy Bruns, who lives in Winston Salem, NC; and son Donald Jones II, of Raleigh, NC. They have five grandsons, all of whom Don says are perfect. Don & Sharon live in San Marco.

Notes
President John called the meeting to order.

Pop-ups:

• David Cooksey is recruiting Rotarians for the Dictionary Project
• Paul Mohrman has started a new web-site classification….Buffoon….check it out to make sure that you haven’t been re-classified.
• Terry Vereen is leading two road cleaning projects…One is Oct. 10th on Ortega Blvd. from 8:30-10:30 and the 2nd is on Blanding Blvd. on the 17th from 8:30-10:30.
• Franklin Beard and Lee Wimberly are leading a career day excursion to Bishop Snyder on Oct. 28th
• Josh Harrison is coordinating a Sulzbacher Center sign-up next week
• Bill Howey is still trying to sell $ 60.00 Jaguar tickets and agreed to lower the price to $ 20.00 for Frank Surface.

Marty Sack reported the Family of Rotary news:
The Dyers have a new grandson. Crumpler, Pratt-Dannals and McCorvey have all received various North Florida accolades. Marty also joked that we should not forget one of the 10 commandments….the one about Adultery.

Kendall Anderson was again awarded by our club. He retired from JSO after 25 years and now works for Matt Shirk in the Public Defenders office…..he has done a great job protecting and serving our community and President Runion gave him a Paul Harris fellow.

Ike Sherlock also won the football pool.

Jay Fant was introduce by Frank Scheu.

Jay is a downtown Rotarian who would have been a Westside guy had it not been for Bob Robertson and Tommy Platt.

Jay spoke about three topics:
1. Economic Recovery
2. Working through to problems of his clients
3. The role of Policy-making in banking

Jay spoke about the difficulties with today’s communication via e-mail vs. the traditional conversations of yesterday. Jay quoted the Florida unemployment at 10.6 % (it is higher) with a 30% reduction in property values. He feels things are getting better, but that we have 2 more years of low growth, according to his economists.

First Guaranty has sufficient reserves to meet the Federal Regulation standards and the current policy is for the lenders to work through the problems of the bank clients.

First Guaranty bankers estimate that they have saved 18 businesses by not following the paper only alternatives (foreclosure, etc.)

Jay went on to discuss his negative feelings associated with some new government policy and the Cap and Trade issues. He also disagrees with the new “Consumer Protection Agency” which will oversee bank lending practices. He believes that 94% of all loan problems were due to non-bank lending.

He left us with the historical story of John Paul Jones and the gallant efforts of the crew aboard the 1779 ship U.S.S. Bon Homme Richard.

Visiting Rotarians:
Charles Hyatt — South Jacksonville
PDG Henry Beckwith — Downtown
Jim Clark — Ponte Vedra

Rotary Guests:
Kendall Anderson — Officer of the Year, Guest of Club
Karen Anderson– Guest of Club
Matt Shirk — Public Defender
Jerry Coxen — Guest of Club
Al Kelly — Guest of Club
Todd Cowen — Guest of Harry Roddenberry
Arturo Del Villar — Guest of Harry Roddenberry
Tim Petty — Guest of Ike Sherlock

Birthdays
Bill Howey — October 7
Bob Kidd — October 7
Rob Overly — October 9
Tom Kustura — October 11

Next Meeting - October 14, 2009
Speaker: Justin D’Arenzo, GITMO Psychologist
Greeters: Mark Hulsey and Bill Gladney
Invocation: Bill Scheu
Pledge: Tom Watson, Jr.
Four-Way Test: Bill Howey

Quick Links:
You can now report make-ups online.

Submit “Family of Rotary” information online.

Please review the 2009 - 2010 Duty Roster and mark your calendar with your responsibilities for the upcoming year.

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