Rotary Club of Wall Street New York

Colin Heffron, Co-Chairman of the Bob Woodruff Foundation, will join our panel on May 16 to discuss the activities of the Foundation.

Mr. Heffron (President and Director, GFI) has been GFI’s President since February 2004. Mr. Heffron is responsible for all of GFI’s brokerage, data and analytics businesses. He joined the company in 1988 as a broker of foreign currency options in New York, before moving to London to assist in the establishment of GFI’s London office.

From 1991 until 1994, Mr. Heffron headed GFI’s currency options business. From 1994 until 1997, Mr. Heffron ran the day-to-day operations of all GFI’s European businesses. From 1998 until February 2004, Mr.Heffron was head of all operations in Europe and joint-head of Asian operations. Mr. Heffron has been a member of GFI’s Board of Directors since 2001. (read more…)

Susan Rockefeller is a mother, documentary filmmaker, author and conservationist. Deeply committed to nurturing our planet, Susan is a board member and chairs the Ocean Council for Oceana, is a member of the Global Leadership Council for Natural Resources Defense Council and serves on the program committee for the Stone Barns for Sustainable Agriculture.

On March 18, 2012, Susan premiered Mission of Mermaids at the prestigious DC Environmental Film Festival. A 15-minute call to action, Mission of Mermaids is her most personal film to date, and reflects her profound love and respect of the ocean. The documentary explores ocean acidification, overfishing and pollution, and challenges viewers with a message of hope to rethink how they relate to their global waters.

Susan is also launching a jewelry collection to accompany Mission of Mermaids on June 8th, World Oceans Day. Natural and environmental elements inspire every piece in the collection – from a whimsical mermaid ring to a classic gold chain necklace with removable charms and a signature hook clasp, each sterling silver or 24k vermeil piece is handcrafted in New York with love and care. To continue giving back and making waves for ocean protection, a portion of the net proceeds from the jewelry sales will go to Oceana.

“I created the jewelry collection to share with others my admiration for the beauty and bounty of our oceans. I hope to give people beautiful tools to continue the conversation about ocean protection and conservation,” describes Susan. “We are at a critical moment to invite a bigger, broader audience into the ocean conversation.”

Always a creative and positive force, Susan’s other efforts include producing and directing the HBO documentary “Making the Crooked Straight,” which received a 2011 Christopher Award, and co-producing the internationally acclaimed “A Sea Change.” Her award-winning documentary “Striking a Chord” brings attention to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), educates the public about challenges that many soldiers face, and shows the power of music to connect people from all walks of life.

Through each of these unique vehicles Susan aims to inspire as many people as possible to become activated to make a difference. From choosing sustainable fish or refusing single use plastic, to educating the public at-large to raise awareness about PTSD and help heal the invisible wounds of war, there are limitless ways for the human race to be involved. Susan is married to David Rockefeller Jr. and lives with her husband and children in New York City.

To learn more about Susan Rockefeller and her films, jewelry and other creative projects, please visit www.susanrockefeller.com. (read more…)

Gerry Byrne
Vice Chairman, PMC (Penske Media Corporation)

Mr. Byrne served as a Marine Officer in Vietnam in 1968/69 and was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal with Combat V.

Penske Media owns leading digital media brands that include Deadline Hollywood, Hollywood Life, MovieLine, TVLine and India.com (partnered with Zee TV). Additionally, Byrne’s media and entertainment consultancy, Fidelis Global, launched in January, 2010, has partnerships, clients and board seats that include: Black Ocean Investments, a privately held media and technology company that invests in, incubates and operates next generation digital platforms; film financing newco Magic Storm Entertainment (with China based Ricco Capital and Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment); 212 Media; David Clark Cause; Recognition Media (parent of the Webby Awards); and, Washington Life Magazine where he serves as Executive Chairman. Byrne’s decades of accomplishments as a media executive, entrepreneur and community leader are highlighted by a long time run as publisher of Variety where he dramatically transformed that business into a powerful, diversified, global media brand. The start-up publisher of both Electronic Media and Crin’s New York Business, Byrne also successfully created The Quill Awards for NBC before he led a division of Nielsen that included The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.

A staunch believer in “participation”, Mr. Byrne is on the boards of numerous not-for-profits including The Fisher House Foundation, The Intrepid Museum Foundation, VeteransAdvantage, The Veteran’s Healing Initiative, RE-Mind (The Bob Woodruff Foundation), The Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, The Creative Coalition, The Hamptons International Film Festival, The Reisenbach Foundation (Chairman), The Armory Foundation and The New York City Police Museum. Mr. Byrne was awarded the “Salah M. Hassanein Humanitarian Award” at ShowEast ’96, New York’s Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center’s 2002 Distinguished Service Award and the NYPD Marine Corps Association 2002 “Semper Fi” Award for his work in the community. And in June 2009, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented Mr. Byrne the “Made in New York” Award for his support of the Gotham’s entertainment and media industries. Mr. Byrne is a member of The British Academy of Film & Television Arts, The New York Athletic Club, and The Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick.

Click here to find out more about our May 16 film event. (read more…)

Celebrating the release of his acclaimed debut CD “Metaphors”, Percussionist and Composer John Arrucci comes to the Towne Crier with his Quartet. His rich harmonic language provides fertile ground for lyrical improvisation. “His stylistic palette is tinged with new music, jazz and world music elements blended into what feels like an inevitable and organic entity”. The quartet will perform works from “Metaphors” as well as additional Arrucci compositions. Trumpeter/Flugelhornist, Tony Kadleck; Keyboardist, Rob Aries and Bassist, Brian Glassman round out the quartet. Arrucci’s work is featured on more than 70 recordings, scores for feature films and music for television. He has recorded and/or performed with David Byrne, Mariah Carey, Michael Brecker, John Patittucci, Gil Goldstein, Livingston Taylor and many others. His compositions have been performed around the world.

For tickets and information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/e/243911 (read more…)

Lieutenant Colonel Scott Rainey has served our Nation for 24 years beginning with his graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point NY and continuing today at the US Army War College, where he currently serves as the Director, Human Resources. During this time he served throughout the United States and in Germany, Korea and Iraq in a variety of challenging and rewarding positions.

Among the most challenging and rewarding of these positions was his service during Operation Iraqi Freedom as the Chief of Programs for Multinational Corps-Iraq. This positio carried with it the responsibility for all morale support programs intended to sustain all those who were serving our Nation in harm’s way in Iraq. These duties included the planning and execution of musical entertainment tours throughout the country. It was during this tour of duty that LTC Rainey came to know Nell Bryden and her band. It was also during this tour that he came to fully appreciate the immeasurable positive impact that Nell and others who give of their time and talents have on deployed Soldier’s well-being.

He and his wife Elaine, also a West Point graduate, are the proud parents of seven children and live Mechanicsburg, PA.

Visit www.wallstreetrotary.org/film to purchase tickets for our May 16 event. (read more…)

To our friends and supporters, exciting news, download Jim Gaffigan’s “Mr. Universe” and $1 from each sale will be donated to BWF.

NEW YORK, N.Y. – Comedian Jim Gaffigan isn’t hoping a few laughs will help returning war veterans, he’s banking on it.

His new 75-minute stand-up special, “Mr. Universe,” is available through a $5 download on his website, and Gaffigan is donating $1 from each sale to the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which has supported more than 1 million veterans, service members and their families since 2008.

Woodruff was nearly killed by a roadside bomb in 2006 while covering the war in Iraq for ABC News. His foundation supports war veterans who are returning to civilian life.
(read more…)

Did you know that your support is helping us save thousands of lives? Thanks to the support of our club, a ShelterBox is being deployed.

Your unique ShelterBox ID number is 20891.To track your box, please go to www.shelterboxusa.org and click on “Track Your Box.” In the search box, search by Box Number and be sure to select country code USA. Enter your number as it appears above. If your box has deployed, details about its destination will appear. If your box is still in queue awaiting distribution, the message will read “To be deployed.” Please be aware that the rate at which we deploy boxes is directly related to the number of disasters occurring and the scale of the response they require. Depending on the need for disaster response, it may be several months before your box(es) are reported as deployed. Be sure to check back frequently to learn about how your gift has helped a family in need. To learn more about how we deliver aid, please visit www.shelterboxusa.org/yourbox.
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