Incoming 2012 – 2013 Founder's District Officers

By Wes Hoover, DTM, 2011-2012 Founder's District Governor

Congratulations to the new team of 2012-2013 Founder's District Officers.

• District Governor – Victoria Dotson
• Lt Governor Education & Training – Harry Yan
• Lt Governor Marketing – Linda Ulrich
• Division A Governor – Jason Brady
• Division B Governor – Lorrie Briscoe
• Division C Governor – Jack Schmidt
• Division D Governor – Michael Morales
• Division E Governor – Jennifer Elam
• Division F Governor – Robert Acosta
• Division G Governor – Kevin Graham
• Division H Governor – Chandrasekhar Molleti

To paraphrase Father Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town,  “No person stands as tall as when they stoop to help a child! “ which best describe Wes Hoover and his passion to aid and assist children in need.  A passion developed from his travails as a child and which found expression in his life and in his work with Casa Youth Shelter (a program for high risk youth).  Oh yes, by the way, he is also a computer geek - a talent which he put to good use at the shelter.

Writing is also his passion – found in his expression of poetry and in his current book writing entitled “Another Day in Paradise” on overcoming difficulties.  He is also a lover sports - he is a hockey fanatic.

Richard Elliott, Lt Governor of Marketing, is a passionate Toastmaster.  He’s been around and back – He initially joined District 1 in the 80s; then joined Founder’s for a brief time in the 90s.  Moved to Denver and then came back to Founder’s.  He is now member of two clubs – Dynamic Forcemasters Toastmasters in Downey (a five year President’s Distinguished club) and RRCC Club in Norwalk (where he is the club mentor).

Yes, his 30 year Toastmaster experience is Founder’s good fortune.  You name it he has led it.  He’s been a club sponsor and mentor three times.  He also has been Area and Division Governor two times and now he is currently our District Lt. Governor Marketing.

He is a visionary and promises that every Toastmaster’s experience is bound for success.  He so believes in the Toastmaster promise that his motto is:

“Market your club & they will come...
Put on a good show & they will join...
Meet their needs & they will stay...”

Upbeat Public Relations Officer Cynthia Trinidad is wildly passionate about family, professional work and the pursuit of lifelong learning.

With a family focus Cyndy's future plans are to spend more time with her husband and kids (Ian and Nicole) enjoying action adventure martial arts films, dining at her favorite local Japanese, Vietnamese and Filipino restaurants as well as traveling nationally and abroad.

A dream that Cyndy and her daughter share is to one day visit Madrid, Spain.  From Madrid, they would travel five hours north to Pamplona to experience the annual Running of the Bulls event as spectators.

Professionally,  Cyndy's goals as a SAS programmer for the medical industry are to stay up-to-date on industry developments; additionally, she plans to continue to fine tune her public speaking and leadership skills through her numerous club affiliations and current officer position.

Fellow Toastmasters, please meet your new Division A Governor Harry Yan.  He is the man with the digital camera everywhere he goes, snapping photos away.  As a digital camera and Youtube fanatic, he does not want to miss a single photo and filming opportunity.  So, be prepared to look your best around him.

Harry is a busy, busy man.  He is a member of two Toastmasters Clubs, his home club, the FCBCFV (First Chinese Baptist Church Fountain Valley), and his adopted club, the Irvine Lunch Time Toastmasters, where he also serves as the club advisor.  Harry is also a devoted Christian.  He coached high school students in public speaking for over 20 years.  His students go on to compete at the Southern Baptist public speaking competitions in Fresno.  He has an incredible winning record.  For the students he coached, 50% of them win in the state level competition.  He also teaches part-time at Dr. Choi’s Academy for public speaking and debate and teaches adult Sunday school.

"Club members are the life-blood of Division B and we recognize their unique gifts and talents. As members and leaders together we have the power to grow ourselves" says Linda Ulrich, DTM Division B 2010-2011 Governor.

Linda is an active member of three toastmasters clubs and had been in various leadership roles with the division and district. She absolutely enjoys her Toastmasters’ journey from exploring new restaurants with her La Gourmet club to starting new clubs such as sky-rocking club WildChatters who has been twice President Distinguished while reaching its second birthday. She brings years of Toastmasters and professional experience. As Division B Governor Linda has a vision to focus on club members, recognizing members as the “life-blood” of Division B, who can grow and make ourselves better leaders and communicators. Her Toastmasters’ goals are:

Fellow Toastmasters meet your new Division D Governor, Ben Bolisay, ACS, CL.  Ben has been in Toastmasters for only 6 years and has quickly gone up the leadership ranks from club Sergeant-at-Arms to President, Area Governor, Assistant Division Governor and now Division D Governor.  He even had time along the way to achieve the distinction of Division D Toastmaster of the Year.  For more information about Division D, please visit the Division D web site at http://www.foundersdivisiond.org

He is a Project Manager for the County of Orange. He oversees the building and maintenance of facilities in Orange County and ensures they are up to state and federal codes.

Ben’s goals include delivering projects on time and on budget for Orange County, serving the Toastmaster community, and retiring from public service in 5-6 years.

Mr. Kao has been a member of Toastmasters International since November 2005. He is an active member of Table Talkers Club #1246 (Buena Park, CA) and has held various leadership roles within the club; he’s also a past Founder’s District Area E-2 Governor.

Mr. Kao attributes his growth as an effective communicator and leader, both professionally and personally, to his focused adherence to the Toastmaster Program.   As Division Governor, he strongly encourages all Division E Clubs to utilize the Distingished Club Program as a leadership and growth opportunity for individual Toastmasters and clubs, and for each Area within his  Division. To that end, he has planned Divison E events in the upcoming year specifically targeted to producing effective leaders and communicators; he invites every Division E Toastmaster to take advantage of these opportunities for personal development and growth.

Fellow Toastmasters, please meet your new Division F Governor, Mani Chinnaiah, DTM.

Mani joined Toastmasters in May, 2008.  Since then he has been very active.  He probably holds the record for the Founder District member with the most clubs joined.  He is a member of eight Toastmasters clubs!  No wonder he successfully achieved his Distinguished Toastmasters designation within just 2 years of joining; he received his award letter just last month!

Mani’s goal is to help spread the benefits of Toastmasters to our next generation.  To fulfill his goal Mani joined as a coordinator of a Toastmasters Youth Leadership Program (YLP) in Irvine.  He is a firm believer that instilling speaking and leadership skills to our children will prove beneficial in their future just as his Toastmaster membership did for him.

The YLP is similar to conducting an adult Toastmasters meeting. The kids learn to organize and present their ideas logically, to overcome nervousness when speaking, and to listen to others when they are presenting.

Division G Governor, Steve Chandler is a man with an eye for detail, a big vision, and an enormous heart.   Presently Steve is exercising his Social Entrepreneurial skills as he creates a global real estate investment company based on a profit-sharing commercial properties business model.  The primary social focus and mission for Steve's business is to help eliminate the class known as, "The Working Poor."

As Steve moves towards manifesting his professional goals, he recognizes that beyond improving his public speaking skills, Toastmasters  has provided a solid foundation to continue to fine-tune and strengthen his leadership skills.  Steve says, "Toastmasters  has shown me the value of collaboration and through collaboration daunting tasks are diminished; success can be achieved often much faster than anticipated."

Efrain Gonzalez, Division H Governor is a man of few words but a man of action.  His goal is to find his voice and help others find theirs. He is doing this through the Toastmasters Magic –

“Finding voice is much more than being able to deliver a speech.  It is a metaphor for finding purpose and meaning in life.  It is the process of overcoming fear of public speaking and becoming better leaders and communicators.

People change, they find their voice.  They don’t consciously set out to change; it just happens. Finding your voice then, is not a direct result of, but rather an unintended consequence of overcoming your fear of public speaking and improving your communications and leadership skills – this is the Toastmasters Magic”.