We welcomed visiting Rotarians Bob Dolsen, Art Hergatt and David Murray. This is the last meeting for Bob and Art, but Dave will be with us through the middle of May. We welcomed Bryant Powell's guest Janine Solley, Economic Development Director of the City of Apache Junction.
1. Bill Burrows (dressed in a natty black suit and tie) brought us the news.
2. Len LaFlesch passed around a sign up sheet for Rotarians to work at the Apache Junction food bank on Saturday, May 10 from 2:30 - 5:30 PM and help unload and store food brought in by the Post office food drive.
3. DG Jay Jones announced the District 5510 training workshop for club officers, committee chairs and interested Rotarians will be held on Saturday, April 26 from 8:30 to 3:30 in Chandler. The cost is $10 for lunch.
4. Jack Beveridge reminded club members of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Arizona Mental Health Association. See the email announcement forwarded to you.
5. Gene Anderson noted the articles in local papers about his nomination for the Governors Arts Award. He did not win this time but the publicity was good.
6. Sharon Stinard invited any interested Rotarians to attend the awarding of scholarships to AJHS students this evening (April 23rd). She and Len will make the presentations.
7. Tom Puklin won the drawing and $10 but drew the jack of clubs.
Mike Dungan graciously filled in on short notice to be our speaker of the day. Mike's topic was high speed computer trading on the stock markets.
Many buy or sell orders key off algorithms that kick in automatically when a certain trigger is reached. Traders are looking for a quick profit edge which might only be pennies on a sale, but with large volumes traded can add up quickly. High-speed trading is used by investment banks, hedge funds and day traders. He reminded us of the day in May, 2010 when the Dow crashed 1,000 points in a short time due to automated selling, though the Dow stabilized itself by the end of the day. Protections are now in place to prevent a recurrence of that event. The floor traders you see in TV programs from the exchange floors are there mostly for show. Almost no trades are done by phone calls any more. The futures markets and bond markets are evolving into the rapid trade arena as well. At the end of his talk, Mike answered a series of questions from club members.
All those volunteer hours selling beer at Lost Dutchman Days or working at the aid station for the 8K Trail Run during the Lost Dutchman Marathon bore fruit on the evening of April 23 as ten AJHS students were presented $500 scholarships funded by the club at the 2014 Awards Ceremony. Sharon Stinard read the names and Len LaFlesch made the presentations.
The process for scheduling a speaker has been made much simpler by our webmaster Dan Govinsky at Bob Homann's suggestion. Go to our club web site at www.superrotary.com. On the tool bar at the top, you will find a button labeled "Schedule a Speaker" Clicking on it will bring up a scheduling grid. Just type in the information requested and your speaker is scheduled. Len LaFlesch came up with the idea of using this Google document in the first place.
April 30 - Joel Stern - Apache Junction City Attorney
May 7 - Jim Bissonet - District 5510 grants
May 14 - Lando Voyles - Pinal County Attorney
May 21 - TBD
May 28 - TBD
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 26 - District Training Workshop for officers, committee chairs, interested Rotarians: Chandler, 8:30 to 3:30. Call Jay Jones or Bryant Powell for specifics.
Nearby Rotary Clubs that might be useful for meeting makeup attendance. You can find the meeting times and locations for Rotary clubs throughout the world by going to the Rotary International website (www.rotary.org) and clicking on "Club Locator" in the upper right corner of the screen.
Mesa East Rotary Club: Mondays at 12:00 p.m.
Superstition Springs Golf Club, 6542 E. Baseline, Mesa (16 miles)
Gilbert Rotary Club: Thursdays at 7:00 a.m.
The Henhouse Cafe, 3244 E. Guadalupe Rd., Gilbert, AZ (20 miles)
Mesa West Rotary Club: Thursdays at 12:10 p.m.
Hilton Phoenix East-Mesa, 1011 W. Holmes Ave.,Mesa (24 miles)
Mesa Sunrise Rotary Club: Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m.
Banner Health Business Center, 525 W. Brown Rd., Mesa
Tempe South Rotary Club: Fridays at 6:45 a.m.
Friendship Village, 2645 E. Southern Ave., Tempe (26 miles)
