MEET OUR SPEAKERS
The conference committee has been working hard to book engaging
and inspiring speakers for the weekend. Learn more about who you will be
hearing from with their bios below.
Be sure to plan on joining us to hear them live and in person!
Dean Rohrs
Dean, her husband Rhino and their 3 children emigrated to Canada from South Africa 32 years ago. On arriving in Vancouver both Dean and Rhino joined the Rotary Club of West Vancouver and at present are members of the Rotary Club of Langley Central in District 5050. Dean has had a varied career from the early days of being an Operating Room Nurse on Professor Christiaan Barnard’s first heart transplant team to running a Nursery School in Malawi. Together with Rhino they now owner manage a company that is involved in soil stabilization during road construction.
Dean has served on District and Zone committees; which include: Regional Rotary Coordinator and Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator, Pacific Northwest PETS Chair, District Governor in 2007/2008 and Rotary International Director 2016-2018, Rotary International Vice- President 2017-2018.
However, her best experience is leading teams of Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors to Africa and seeing how this volunteer experience changes their lives.
Ramesh Ferris
Canada. He has a Bachelor degree in social work, and is the past
president of the Rotary Club of Whitehorse Rendezvous.
Ramesh is a major donor of the Rotary Foundation, and a Paul Harris Fellow.
He is Rotary District 5370’s District Governor Nominee and 1
of 3 End Polio Now Coordinator for Rotary International’s Zone 28 (Western Canada a part of the USA). In 2008 Ramesh hand-cycled 7140kms from Victoria, BC to Cape Spear, NL in a program he called Cycle to Walk for polio eradication (Rotary Polio Plus), education, and rehabilitation. The campaign resulted
in thousands of dollars being donated to Rotary Polio Plus.
Over the past 15 years Ramesh has volunteered in partnership with Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Citizen, and the World Health Organization to promote our shared global goal of ending polio.
He has shared Rotary’s End Polio message with countless heads of state, many world leaders, and celebrities around the world including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, The Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and The Late Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He has spoken to delegates at the United Nations in New York City and
to many Rotarians at various Rotary International Conventions, Zone Institutes and District Conferences around the world.
Ramesh has provided the polio vaccine to children in Karachi Pakistan, Kabul, Afghanistan, and in his birth country of India.
He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee award and the Yukon Commissioner’s award for volunteer public service.
Chris Etienne
Our RI Rep: Vicki Puliz
Vicki served as president of Sparks Rotary in 2004-2005. Completing her year as club president, she became involved in the District 5180/5190 RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) program, serving as camp co-director for RYLA in 2006, the inaugural year at Grizzly Creek Ranch. In addition to the RYLA program, Vicki also became involved in the District Rotary Youth Exchange program as daughter, Kate, prepared for a year abroad in Chile in 2007.
Vicki served as District Chair for Youth Services/New Generations Service from 2009 through 2012, working with programs in our District for people under the age of 30, including Rotaract, RYLA, Interact and RYE, with a special focus on youth protection and ethics, and also worked to help create and build the successful Rotary Eighth Grade Leadership program.
Vicki and her husband Tim are blessed with a blended family of 7 children and 6 grandchildren. Two of their children, Amy Jordan of Camarillo, California and Ryan Puliz of Reno, Nevada, are Rotarians.
Additional members of the family are three Rotary exchange daughters: Camila Rubino of Araraquara, Brazil; Andrea Aviles Ibarra of Yucatan, Mexico; and Bernardita Reyes of Santiago, Chile.
Vicki and Tim participated in a National Immunization Day for Polio in northern India in 2009, and RYLA for District 9100 in Benin, Africa in 2011.
Vicki is a member of the Paul Harris Society since 2005 and Tim and Vicki are Major Donors to the Rotary Foundation.
Bill Hayes
Drawing on nearly 40 years’ experience as a licensed clinical social worker and therapist, will present an overview of common mental health problems, and share practical tips for maintaining personal resilience. A member of the National Alliance on Mental Illness since 2017, he heads its Delaware and Otsego affiliate. Bill is a member of the Cooperstown Rotary club. He was instrumental in the creation of the district's mental health resource guide.