Speaker Date Topic
Former MN State Rep. Betty Folliard Mar 19, 2024 12:15 PM
The ERA: Forward to Fruition

Betty Folliard is a nationally known thought leader and political strategist. She is Founder of ERA Minnesota - an organization dedicated to passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) into our state & federal constitutions.

A former three-term Minnesota Legislator, Ms. Folliard served six years in the Minnesota House. She has worked in government at the local, state, & national levels: as Hopkins School Board Vice Chair; as State Representative in the Minnesota House, and as Community Representative in the Office of Congressman Keith Ellison.

Betty’s first career was in the Arts. She earned a BA in Drama from Stanford University & MFA from Wayne State University, then directed & performed nationally & internationally. With a background in sales, marketing, and market research, she co-owned a business and political consulting firm called Strategy Partners.

In 2007, Ms. Folliard volunteered with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance to muck out houses after the Hurricane Katrina. To better understand global challenges women face, Betty volunteered on missions in Peru & Rarotonga, Mozambique & Haiti; and travelled with women leaders to study the economic status of women in Israel, Palestine, India & Bangladesh. In 2022, she travelled to the Texas/Mexico border to help newly arrived immigrants in San Juan, the poorest county in the U.S.

In 2014, Betty founded ERA Minnesota (www.eramn.org) to revitalize the Equal Rights Amendment movement in Minnesota, which earned her the Minnesota Women’s Press Changemaker Award. She executive produced and hosted a feminist, progressive talk show. Among various recognitions and awards, in 2017, Ms. Folliard received the Minnesota Women’s Summit Committee ‘Woman of Distinction Award’.

Betty is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, and in 2018 served as a National Presbyterian Delegate to the United Nations 62nd Commission on the Status of Women. Ms. Folliard served on many boards & commissions and was the first Board Chair of nonprofit law firm Gender Justice, as well as Board Chair of PRISM, a social services agency.

In 2022, Ms. Folliard sat on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Women’s Task Force on Expanding Economic Security that presented a report to the Minnesota Legislature listing 115 needed law changes to improve women’s economic status. In 2023, she led the successful effort to pass a resolution telling Congress to enact the ERA.

Mother of three, grandmother of three, Betty loves to sing, cook, dance, hike in the woods, and her true passion is the full emancipation of women worldwide.

Bret Erickson, co-owner of Passkey Technology Mar 26, 2024 12:15 PM
Cyber Scams and How to Avoid Them
Cyber Scams and How to Avoid Them

After co-founding, drumming, touring and recording in Minnesota band Mango Jam, Bret's second career started by going back to school. He spent a year at Brown Institute for PC/LAN and another year for Computer Programming. During school in 1998, he started interning for Passkey and ended up staying, falling in love with the relationships and challenges with small and medium business technology. Bret sits on several boards and technology committees. He is a formation committee member for the NSITSP (National Society of IT Service Providers), a local campus IT task force, a non-profit foundation, an IT grant giving committee, and an Insurance industry Automation Committee. Bret also sat on the board for the Association for Corporate Growth, Minnesota Chapter where he headed the Social Media and Innovation committee.  He enjoys speaking on IT, innovation, and most of all CyberSecurity.

Passkey Technology is an IT Service Provider and CyberSecurity firm in Golden Valley, MN. We specialize in providing consulting and 24/7 support services for small and medium businesses. We can help with security, business continuity, backup strategy, disaster recovery, planning, monitoring, maintaining, purchasing, installing, and general IT support; remote and on-site.

Members of Golden Valley Rotary Apr 02, 2024 12:15 PM
Joke Day
Joke Day

An annual tradition! Bring your (Rotary appropriate) jokes for some good laughs in celebration of April Fool's Day. Can't find a joke? Never fear; Peggy Leppik has pre-approved jokes for sale.

 

John Marshall May 21, 2024 12:15 PM
Beyond The Yellow Ribbon Quad Communities

Beyond The Yellow Ribbon Quad Communities is a grassroots citizen group that engages the communities of Golden Valley, Crystal, New Hope, and Robbinsdale in support of military members, veterans, and their families. It joins nearly 200 Minnesota cities, counties, and businesses already proclaimed Beyond the Yellow Ribbon.

Beyond the Yellow Ribbon is a comprehensive program that creates awareness for the purpose of connecting military service members and their families with community support, training, services, and resources.