Pat Rodgers
Rodgers Builders Co.
By: Bob Barber
    
                          
President John opened the meeting of the Rotary Club of Charlotte and after the invocation and introduction of guests and visiting Rotarians, David Zimmerman regaled us with a number of fascinating snippets of club history. Biff Virkler then sang a solo rendition of "Oh Lord Its Hard To Be Humble."
 
Tod Thorne introduced Pat Rodgers, CEO of Rodgers Builders, the Charlotte-based construction company that has grown to become one of the top general contractors in the US. Pat has been in the construction industry in Charlotte for 30 years and has attended Central Piedmont Community College and Queens College (now Queens University of Charlotte). Among her many community activities, she is completing a term as chair of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, has served as chair of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and on the Board of Trustees of Davidson College. She has also been the recipient of a number of prestigious awards in Charlotte, including the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the 2009 Charlotte Woman of the Year.
 
Pat gave some additional statistics on how Rodgers Builders, established in 1963, stacks up in the state, the region and nationally. The company is ranked #3 (in revenue) in North Carolina, #8 in South Carolina, #14 in the Southeast Region, and #61 nationally for construction management firms. The company is also the 10th largest contractor of health care facilities in the U.S.
 
Pat mentioned a number of joint venture projects and other collaborative efforts that have helped the company grow. On one particular collaboration with a much larger firm, she was warned that the larger firm would consume her small company. Instead, they both learned that “little can learn from big and big can learn from little.” She added parenthetically that Rodgers is now bigger than that former collaboration partner.
 
Although acknowledging that technology is slow coming to the construction industry, Pat did talk about the benefits to be realized with Building Information Modeling systems. With these software systems, a building can be built in a virtual environment to see how sizes work and how components line up. She quoted from Michelangelo that such planning can pay for itself 100 times over in identifying design flaws.
 
Pat showed slides of many major, well-known buildings in Charlotte that Rodgers has built and highlighted the new UNC Charlotte Uptown Campus that is just starting to come out of the ground at the north end of the center city. She also showed slides of many buildings around NC that Rodgers had built.
 
She characterized many of the projects in Charlotte as transformational—having brought people together and helped transform Charlotte from a small Southern town to a major Southeastern city and a national financial center. She credits a lot of that to what she described as a more open and collaborative spirit in Charlotte compared to other cities.
 
Regarding the viability of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Pat says that they have made a lot of progress. The will still end the year with a deficit, but it will be the smallest deficit in many years. With the new music director and the many fine musicians, she says the Symphony has a bright future.
  
Head Table: Al Allison, Janice Booth, John Snyder, Tod Thorne, Ron Campbell, Steve Meachum; Invocation: Dumont Clarke; Visitors & Guests: Bill Bradley; Health & Happiness: David Zimmerman; Song: Biff Virkler; Piano: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

•  Ellen Stahlsmith introduced the newest Rotarian, Sheila Neisler. Sheila owns Catalyst Consulting, a marketing and public relations firm with a focus on cause marketing – partnering businesses and non-profit organizations. Contact Sheila at catalystsheila@gmail.com.
     
• President John took a few minutes to thank and recognize three important club committees: Invocation, chaired by Mary Lynne Calhoun; Head Table, chaired by Russell Ranson; and Sergeant-at-Arms, chaired by Jeff Searcy. Thanks to the many Rotarians that make these jobs run so smoothly; the 2010 edition of Chambers USA America’s Leading Lawyers for Business named Phil Van Hoy and Bryan Adams as leading lawyers in the field of employment law; Hope Haven (Alice Harrison) received Leadership Charlotte’s 2010 Community Service Award; the Sugar Creek Greenway section between Morehead and Midtown will open August 6th. Is it possible that Charlotte Rotary’s CLOCK TOWER, which is under construction across the street from the Farmer’s Market at Kings and Morehead, will be completed?? President-Elect Pender McElroy will represent Charlotte Rotary at the Rotary International Convention in Montreal this week.
  
• Interested in running in the New York City Marathon on November 7th? The Rotary Club of New York sent an invitation to the large clubs that they are happy to share entries with Rotarians on a first come, first serve basis. Additional information is available at www.teamnyrotary.org.

• HOST FAMILIES NEEDED! Plans are underway to host exchange students from Thailand (boy) and Germany (girl) this fall. The students will attend Charlotte Country Day and Myers Park and host families are needed. Please contact Matt Joyner for the details.

HELP
Accounting and secretarial functions for the club are managed through software called Clubmates. After almost nine years, we are cutting over to QuickBooks for the accounting needs and will utilize the District’s Database for the secretarial function. QuickBooks is totally new to me and thankfully, Catherine Browning has offered her assistance with some training. Question for the membership – do you know anyone that would be willing to help out in the Rotary office on a volunteer basis? Specifically, help is needed with accounting functions like making deposits, recording payments, QuickBook lessons, tax reports, etc. Funds are not available for a salaried position, but we’re working on that. Even one day a week would be helpful. If you have a suggestion, please give me a call to talk about it. Sandy

Should you question the eligibility of any nominee, contact the Rotary office by 6/21/2010.