West Word for 07/27/2011

By AHariton • July 25, 2011

This Week’s Speaker: Joe Miller
Senior Director, Facilities Development, Jacksonville Port Authority

Joe Miller joined JAXPORT as Senior Director of Facilities Development in January of 2010. He has more than 30 years of leadership and management experience with complex organizations including the U.S. Army, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Jacksonville and private industry.

Joe spent 26 years in the Army retiring as a Colonel in 2000. While on active duty he served two years as Commander of the 20th Engineer Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division in Fort Hood, Texas. He then became Executive Assistant to the Director of Army Facilities and Housing at the Pentagon and later the Chief of the Army’s Infrastructure Review and Analysis team identifying efficiencies leading to $2 billion in savings for the Department of Defense.

Assigned to the Headquarters, U.S Army Corps of Engineers in 1996, Joe was soon assigned to serve in Jacksonville as the District Engineer and Commander from 1997 through 2000. In this capacity, Joe led all federal civil works engineering and construction activities for Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, supervising nearly one thousand employees and overseeing maintenance dredging operations for seven major port facilities and 700 miles of intracoastal waterways. Highlights of his tenure included leading the preparation of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan for Congressional Approval and leading USACE support to Hurricane Georges Emergency Recovery Operations in Puerto Rico. Joe also has served as an adviser on the Governor’s Commission for a Sustainable South Florida and Biscayne Bay Restoration Initiative.

From 2000 through 2002, Joe was the Director of Public Works for the City of Jacksonville where he lead the implementation of the Better Jacksonville Plan. In 2002, Joe headed north to join Pennsylvania-based Weston Solutions, Inc., serving most recently as the Army Business Program Manager.

Joe and his wife, Margie, have three grown sons, Luke, Senior Vice President and Corporate Counsel for a biomedical firm in Northern Virginia; Matthew, a Captain, US Army Corps of Engineers and Company Commander at Fort Belvoir, VA, and Patrick, a LT, USN and a Naval Aviator flying the Seahawk helicopter. He is currently deployed overseas and serving aboard the USS Monterey. The Millers have two grandchildren.

Notes
President Marshall began the meeting by introducing our own District Governor Clint Dawkins and sharing two “Clintisms”:

Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan
A Promise Made is a Debt Unpaid

District Governor Dawkins was then recognized as a Paul Harris Major Donor. Clint encouraged all members to check their giving status, and mentioned several of our members were close to achieving Major Donor status.

There are several upcoming events:

RLI on August 6 at St Johns River Community College.
District Foundation Seminar on Saturday, August 20, at the Thrasher-Horne Center in Orange Park.
Harvey Baxter, our club’s Area Governor and member of Baker County club - Golf tournaments
- Starke Sept 23
- Keystone Oct 8

Brandon Hilliard exchanged his red badge for a blue badge.

West Jacksonville Polo Shirts are available until August 3. Click here for more information and to place your order.

Jim French had a pop-up for volunteering at the Sulzbacher Center (pictures from project are now online).

Phil Voss had a pop-up for Jaguar Ticket Sales. Tickets are also available for all games, and a portion of the proceeds will come back to our club. Learn more by clicking here.

Dave Collier shared the Family of Rotary and a joke.

Jim Howard has resigned from the club in order to do more traveling and spend time with his family.

President Elect John McCorvey introduced our speakers: Claudia Werner and Angela Acosta from the North Florida Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Claudia talked about the disease and several drugs in various approval stages that have the potential to treat the cause of Cystic Fibrosis at the cellular level. Angela discussed several upcoming events, including the Annual Kickoff To A Cure on October 16, which combines two of Jacksonville’s favorite pastimes: food and football.

Visiting Rotarians:
Buck Autrey - Downtown
Ed Witt - Downtown
Terry Akins - Downtown
Asst. District Governor Harvey Baxtor - Baker County

Rotary Guests:
Andy Hariton - Ben Wuerffel
Tim Alters - Leslie Jackson
Rob Overly - Baron Hilliard
Jim Riggan - Dawn Adkins

Birthdays
Franklin Beard - July 31
Harry Roddenberry, Jr. - July 31
Frank Surface - July 31
Jim French - August 1

Next Meeting - August 3, 2011
Speaker: TBD
Greeters: Jim Schumacher, Josh Harrison
Invocation: Jim Lanier, Jr.
Pledge: Nandlal Paryani
Four-Way Test: Ham Cooke

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

Submit “Family of Rotary” information online.

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