Tag Archives: Rotary Club Service Award

Wes Sparkman Receives Rotary Club of Madison’s Club Service Award

Posted on March 26, 2025 by | Leave a comment

–presented by Joyce Bromley on March 26, 2025

Today, Wes Sparkman is being recognized with a Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award for his service to our Club.

Professionally, Wes Sparkman is the Director of the Dane County Tamara D. Grigsby Office for Equity and Inclusion.

Wes joined our Rotary Club in 2005. In these past 20 years he has held leadership roles and has been involved in a variety of club committees.

He has served as trustee on our Club Board of Directors and as our Club President during our Centennial Year in 2012-13 and also served as President of our Madison Rotary Foundation.

Among the committees he has served are Ethics Symposium, Scholarship, Program, Orientations and DEI. He has also served as a Rotary scholar mentor.

For his continuing dedicated service, we are naming Wes with a 2025 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award. The Club has made a gift of 200 Paul Harris Fellows points in Wes’s name to The Rotary International Foundation as part of this recognition.

Congratulations to Wes on receiving this recognition! At the meeting, President-elect Anthony presented Wes with a certificate and a special pin to recognize him with this award.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

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Valerie Renk Receives Rotary Club of Madison’s Club Service Award

Posted on March 13, 2025 by | Leave a comment

Presented by Joyce Bromley on March 12, 2025

Our Avenues of Service Awards recognize members of our club for their contributions to our Club, to our community, to youth programs, to international programs, and for sharing their vocation.

Valerie Renk has been selected for this year’s Club Avenue of Service Award.

Professionally, Valerie Renk retired as CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Dane County in 2023 and presently owns her own development consulting business.

Since joining Rotary in 2012 she has extensively served our club in a variety of ways. In addition, to serving on our Club’s Board of Directors for two years, she has served on several committees that include Budget and Finance, Member Engagement, Fund Drive, International Projects, Personnel, Photography, and as chair of our Rotary News Committee. She has been a Rotary Scholar Mentor, including hosting our Rotary Scholar mentor picnic with her husband at their farm. She and her husband have also hosted a number of our Dinner and Discussion Fellowship Group events. She has served on our Madison Rotary Foundation, including as President in 2023-24. Currently she chairs our Foundation’s Major Gifts Committee.

It is an honor on behalf of our club, to thank Valerie for her extensive contributions with the 2025 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award!

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Posted in 8. Honors, Club Service Award, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

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Rotary Club of Madison’s Club Service Award Recipient Mark Clear

Posted on October 9, 2024 by | 1 comment

–presented by Charles McLimans on October 9, 2024

I am pleased to introduce a member with our 2024 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award. This recognition is part of our Avenues of Service Awards Program which recognizes members for their efforts on behalf of our Rotary club in one of the five avenues of service which are: club, community, international, vocational and youth.

Mark Clear has been a member of our Rotary Club since 2012.  He is currently the development director for Isthmus Community Media. He is also a founder of three start-up tech companies.

With his background in software products for website management, Mark is a natural fit for serving on our Rotary Club’s Information Technology and Office Support Committee.  He has served on this committee for ten years and is a past chair. What many members may not know is that Mark has provided countless hours of pro-bono IT work for our Rotary office.  When the office transitioned to Microsoft 365, Mark handled the transition and installation.  When there are small issues that arise with our office computers, Mark is there to help troubleshoot.  He helps keep our office systems running smoothly and is very appreciated by Pat and Jayne.

Mark has also served on our Program and Visitor Hospitality Committees, on our club board, and he is a former Meeting Experience Team Leader. During Mark’s time as Meeting Experience Team Leader, he created our Four Way Test for our Speaker Q&A portion of our meetings.  

For Mark’s continuing volunteer efforts on behalf of our club, we are presenting him with a 2024 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award.  Congratulations, Mark!

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

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Teresa Holmes Receives Club’s First DEI Service Award

Posted on August 17, 2023 by | Leave a comment

–presented by Joyce Bromley on August 16, 2023

Teresa Holmes pictured here with Club President Charles McLimans

In 2015, our Club was the first large Rotary club to establish a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. In doing so, we were ahead of Rotary International by five years.  

Our Club’s strategic plan commits us to achieving diversity, equity and inclusion through recruitment, education, member engagement and community service.   

The importance of this commitment brought our Club’s Board of Directors to create a new annual service award to recognize a member who has contributed to our Club’s DEI endeavors.  I am pleased today to announce that Teresa Holmes is our club’s first DEI Service Award recipient.  

Teresa has chaired our DEI Committee, served on our Board of Directors, was our Club president for the Rotary Year that began on July 1, 2020, and spearheaded a strategic planning/governance task force that has resulted in streamlining and creating continuity within our club’s committees and leadership.  In each of these roles, she shared her insights about how our Club could achieve our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals. Teresa is recognized as a leader who diligently worked to align our values with our practices. We are confident that she will continue her DEI commitments as a Board member of Rotary District 6250 while she serves a 2-year term on its Board which began on July 1. 

Congratulations, Teresa and thank you for your Rotary service! 

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Posted in Club Service Award, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

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