Opener

This past Friday morning, the meeting was opened with the invocation given by Ron Healey, and introductions of visiting Rotarians and guests made by Jim Gordon.

Ron Healey shared the following "Explanation of God" written by an 8-year old boy for a homework assignment.

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2010 Goals/Challenges for This Rotary Year

President Chuck briefed us with an overview of what he learned from attending the Rotary International Conference recently. He said that there's a little different push this year with Ray Klingsmith as the President of Rotary International.

The theme is "Building Communities – Bridging Continents." Clubs all over the world are, at their core, about service and fellowship. They are working to develop methodology so that leaders are trained in both their businesses and their avocations. This will, according to Klingsmith, make Rotary Clubs stronger.

Chuck also mentioned that Rotary brings to the world table 1.3 million Rotarians, over 7 continents, and in more than 200 Ccountries. This provides both opportunities and challenges. Thus the theme includes "Bigger, Better, and Best."

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Recognition for Extraordinary Contributions to the Club

Chuck Kimbrough, Tim Moriarty, Mike Ralph, and Robin Callan were acknowledged for their extraordinary work on the Charity Golf event. "They were kind enough to take this on for us this year, and we greatly acknowledge their good work" Chuck said.

Also, Howard Johnson was recognized for building our club into a competitive team and having recently received the Golden Donut Award over all other teams for contributing the highest number of work-hours at Northwest Harvest.

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Adoption Party Scheduled for October 2

Margie Burnett gave us an update about last year's results from the Adoption Party. All of the children who were there have since been adopted or, at least, placed in permanent homes with their birth extended families.

As we prepare for this year's event, Margie reminded us that there is a need for drivers to pick up foster children and return them after the event. To do so, you must complete a form for clearance. Margie mentioned that it takes time to get clearance, so please volunteer and complete your forms as soon as possible.

There will also be a need for volunteers on the day of the event for games and activities. Please put this on your calendars for participating! Your adult children are also welcome to help.

Chuck mentioned that Margie has done a beautiful job on this event, and since it has begun, other clubs have started similar projects, mentioning Moses Lake and Yakima, for example.

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BBRC Poker Night, September 10

Mitch Freedman has scheduled the next BBRC poker night for Friday, September 10, 7:00 pm, at his home in Bellevue, 16838 NE Place.

Food and fun! Everyone is a winner at BBRC Poker Night!

Please RSVP to Mitch (Ph 425-401-9759).

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Club Birthdays for August

Madeline Gauthier recognized the following members for birthdays this month: John Uppendahl, Tom Miller, Tom Helbling, Lee Smith, Jim Gordon, Kaj Pedersen, and Desiree Salgado.

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Proposed Member: John Cherry

John Cherry is a former member of the Mercer Island Rotary Club. He is the board chairman of Silicon Mechanics and lives in Kirkland with his wife. John's hobbies include boating, fishing, farming, beekeeping. He loves all sports, particularly soccer. His classification is "Technology Manufacturing," and he is sponsored by Chuck Barnes and Dick Brown.

Contact Membership Committee Chair Chris Rasmussen with any questions or concerns regarding this application.

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FRIDAY's PROGRAM

"A Truly International Business," Manfred Markevitch, Chief Financial Officer, CNH International SA, Lugano Switzerland (part of the Fiat Group)

Program from the BBRC meeting of August 6, 2010
Editor: Lee Smith
CLICK HERE FOR BBRC MEMBER REVEILLE


Bob Holert introduced our Guest Speaker, Manfred Markevitch, who was previously a member of our club until about a year and a half ago, when he took the position of CFO of CNH International SA (Fiat Group). Manfred is working from Lugano, Switzerland, and his home is in Bellevue. Manfred served 10 years in the Army, received both Bachelors and Masters Degrees, worked for Credit Suisse for 7 years, Deutsche Bank for 5 years, and recently took the position of CFO of CNH International SA, a subsidiary of the global company, Fiat Group. Bob mentioned that we would hear about the company from Manfred, but also hear what it is like to travel the world, doing business in the most far reaching corners.

Manfred mentioned that it was very good to be back home. He appreciated the energy of our club, loved the sense of humor of everyone, but missed hearing the band play.

He then went on to give a lot of credit to Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who recently assumed this position and brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy. "He turned the company around," Manfred said, "We owe the comeback to this amazing man." Manfred mentioned that Marchionne is also the CEO of multiple companies, including Chrysler, Fiat Group and Chairman of CNH. The organization is a global leader in agricultural and construction equipment, as well as financial services. They manufacture a wide range of farming and construction equipment, along with related financing, as well as excavators, loaders, crawler dozers, motor graders, and of course the automobiles sold at Fiat. Manfred indicated that "Marchionne is everywhere, doing everything." Fiat is the largest industrial company in Italy. In fact, they are 5 percent of Italy's GDP, and they are now operating at a profit, since Marchionne's arrival.

Manfred described what it's like to work within an international organization, especially with Fiat, whose inventory includes cars like Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Ferrari (Manfred indicated that his company car is an Alfa Romeo). His region within CNH International is all of Africa, the Middle East, Australia, Russia, Japan, India, and China. Obviously, he travels the world.

On the personal side, Manfred said this is a real challenge, and is not always easy. He often travels around the world in ten days. He commutes between Lugano, Switzerland, and Bellevue, Washington, which he said is "especially hard when your wife is pregnant." When Manfred first took the position of CFO, it was very difficult, and there was a steep learning curve, since he didn't know the business at that time. Some markets were having up to 90% loss of business, especially during the economic crisis.

The most interesting challenge is to work between the differing cultures he visits, and going back to Switzerland was harder than he had expected. He had been in an Anglo Saxon environment, then entered differing culture and business environments in every place he does business. Every country has a different language, a different approach to business, a different banking system and currency. It is also very difficult when equipment gets stuck in one country for one legality or another. Getting different cultures to speak to each other about moving forward is obviously a huge challenge. Manfred said, "It certainly hasn't been boring."

Manfred talked about their Shanghai China plant, which is being relocated. It was a big challenge to come to agreement with where and how it would be built. He said the working conditions there are challenging. He took a tour of China and said, "China is growing and pouring a lot of money into expansion. They are moving out whole villages. People get relocated, not by choice. It is astonishing how they do business.

Doing business in Russia is another story. Recently, the Russian Government introduced a tax on the combines CNH imported to Russia, which made the price $30k more. There is no financing available in their local markets. So, the dilemma was what to do about this. They decided to localize the production to overcome the import duties and access local financing.

When he goes to all these places, every one of them is a very different world. Even hotels and planes are often dangerous and difficult. Manfred said, "It's a real challenge to do business in other parts of the world. We go there with our own way of thinking, but to do business, that has to change."

Manfred talked about differences in Rotary Clubs around the world. Women did not even get to vote in Switzerland until 1971, so the Rotary Clubs there are still "men-only" clubs. "Here," he said, "having both men and women in our clubs is often taken for granted."

The BBRC wishes to thank Manfred for taking the time to share these thoughts with us, and we welcome him back anytime to his home-based BBRC.

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