Rhonda Renz Named 2012 Rotarian of the Year

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By GasserOnline Correspondent, Melissa Clark
Photos By Club Photographer, Ron Butler

R-Renz-2012-ROTY-v2The Rotary Club of Tulsa has named Rhonda Renz as its Rotarian of the Year for 2012.

Each year, the club president selects someone who has provided exceptional service – someone who has been especially helpful to the president.  In this regard, the individual’s service may or may not be highly visible to others.

For Rhonda Renz, however, her work was extremely visible and helped raise awareness about Rotary and helped to promote the Rotary Club of Tulsa.  Rhonda led the effort to host Rotary’s Large Club Conference, which was held in Tulsa in early January.

Tulsa volunteered to host the event only a few months prior to the conference because another club could not fulfill the responsibility.

“By the time she accepted the chairmanship position, we had less than six months to put the conference together,” said then-president Phil Lakin, Jr.

Lakin said that usually, for a conference of this magnitude, the Club would have about five years to plan.  He noted that Rhonda did it in about five months.

Lakin said that Rhonda took the reins with confidence, and set a tone from day one for a first-class conference.  She confirmed arrangements with the various venues, speakers and entertainment as well as recruited volunteers to staff the numerous hosting roles.  “She was a refreshing, energetic face of the conference during the sessions while putting out fires behind the scenes,” he said.

“Her willingness to get in there and develop a plan, recruit the right teams and set the stage for a fantastic conference was amazing,” he says.   “We could not have hosted it without her.”

Previously, Rhonda had served as a Service Director and Sergeant-at-Arms. She currently serves as the Secretary/Treasurer.  She’s also a Club Foundation Fellow and a Paul Harris Fellow.

Previous recipients include:

  • 2003-2004 Linda Bradshaw
  • 2004-2005 Del Dreyer
  • 2005-2006 Bob McKenzie
  • 2006-2007 Jim Weems
  • 2007-2008 David Peterson
  • 2007-2008 Ben Windham
  • 2008-2009 Mac Finlayson
  • 2009-2010 Ron Butler
  • 2010-2011 Greg Kach