Contents

April Luncheon

From the President

March Luncheon Photos

Proposed Board 2007-8

Women Empowering Women

Grapevine: News and Notes about WEC Members

Book Club

Cannon Circle

Progressive Dinner

Save the Date - Retreat

PACE

Cultural Corner

WEC Board of Directors

Luncheons and Board Meetings

April Luncheon

Date: Time:	April Luncheon Thursday, April 26 , 2007 11:30 Networking 12:00 Luncheon
Place:	Tower Club, 28th floor One Financial Plaza in theRegions Bank Building Click here for directions
Program:	Lori Parrish, Broward Property Appraiser
Guest Cost:	Guest cost $25. Members are responsible for Guests.
Menu:	Beef Stroganoff served over egg Noodles or Chicken Parmesan served over pasta or Vegetarian Wellington Chocolate cake
RSVP to:	Please RSVP (including your menu choice) by Monday, April 23 to rsvp@wecftl.com We appreciate your RSVPs! To assist Susie administratively, please put “WEC Lunch” in the subject line.

From the President

In March we held our annual membership luncheon which was very well attended by both members and their guests. Several of our members spoke about their participation in  WEC. Bobbie Stanley and Christy Lambertus who are long standing members, spoke about their involvement over many years and Jan Bullard who joined the club last year told us about why she had joined and her special passion for the WEC Book Club.

Michelle Case-Tunis hosted a very enjoyable Cannon Circle in March at her Smith Barney office in downtown Ft Lauderdale. We loved seeing the great views from the offices high up over Las Olas while enjoying our wine and appetizers. Thank you Michelle for your hospitality.

We have a host of different activities for you to attend in April. First on Thursday April 12th, the Book Club will meet at the home of Emily Rushin when they will talk about Bitter End by Christine Kling. On Wednesday April 18th Nancy Fischer will welcome members to her home for a Cannon Circle. We will have our monthly luncheon at the Tower Club on Thursday April 26th. Then on Friday April 27th we will enjoy a French themed progressive dinner. More details about all of these events can be found below.

On Thursday April 26th we will welcome Lori Parrish, the Broward County Property Appraiser as our speaker. Lori took office in January 2005 and has since instituted a large number of changes and improvements in the Property Appraisers office. The issue of property values and property taxes has been constantly in the news, so I expect many members will want to hear this speaker and perhaps take the chance to ask her some questions.

Also at our April lunch we will vote on the proposed candidates for our WEC Board for the 2007-2008 year. The list of candidates can be seen in this newsletter. Please contact myself or Melissa Rapkin if you have any questions about the upcoming Board elections.

Pamela Dearden our VP Events has arranged a fabulous French themed evening event for WEC members and guests on Friday April 27th. Pam and her committee have arranged for everyone to meet at the Coco’s restaurant in the Harbor Shops plaza. After cocktails and appetizers we will travel by trolley to the home of Marilynn Obrig for our delicious entrées and then to my home for our desserts (including a delectable chocolate fountain courtesy of Melissa Rapkin). The trolley will then bring guests back to their cars at Coco’s. Please make your reservations early!

Looking ahead to May we will welcome Mary Harris on Tuesday May 15th as our luncheon speaker. Mary will speak about various aspects of business etiquette including cell phone and email etiquette.

March Luncheon Photos

Proposed Board 2007-8

Here is the proposed board we will be voting on at the April meeting:

President	Melissa Rapkin, Documents2Disc
President Elect/ VP Corporate Records	Vanessa Koutalidis, Island City Chiropractic
VP Finance	Kim Serra-Rivera, Regent Bank
VP Community Involvement	Ronnie Karlin, Global Resource Partners
VP Internal Involvement	Jenny Kelly, Ritter’s Printing
VP Membership	Jan Bullard, JP Financial Services
VP Events	Pam Dearden, Gold Coast Jazz Society

Webmaster's note: for information about the duties of each of these Board positions, see the bylaws. Login to the Members Only website, click on Club Documents, and click on Bylaws.

WOMEN EMPOWERING WOMEN

Patricia A. McCarthy
Women Empowering Women Program

            I am so happy to be part of the WEW program. Currently, I am studying for my Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts and Art History at Florida Atlantic University. It is important to have specific goals as well as a stable plan to achieve these goals. While attending school, I have started to acquire freelance work as a graphic designer; designing logos, stationery, and CD inserts. In addition, I have sold 3 paintings and shown my artwork at the 2006 HORTT Exhibit at ArtServe, Broward Art Guild and continue to enter juried exhibitions. I hope to continue working toward the success of my personal art business as well as continue on for my Master’s degree at Florida Atlantic University or the University of Miami. Since I have come this far and learned so much, I hope to continue to further my education.
            I owe my success in part to the WEC and their unique program. Without the program, I do not think that I would have been able to achieve so much so fast!

The Executive Grapevine: news and notes about WEC members.

If you were at the March luncheon (I didn't see you), you know that most of the WEC Book Club went to visit Peace River, where Chris Guld has stayed for the winter.  Jan Mayer Rodriguez, Jan Bullard, Nancy Fischer and I had a great time canoeing, kayaking, visiting a vineyard, watching a movie outside, sitting around the campfire, drinking wine, and eating with an alligator.  You never know what reading a book can lead to!
                                                  Emily
Chris' note: lots more pictures on Chris' Blog

Jenny Kelly writes: I ran the A1A Half marathon (that’s 13.1 miles) in a personal best time of 1 hour 54 minutes. My husband Bill and I celebrated our tenth anniversary in Hawaii. We spent a few days in Honolulu, then took a cruise to the big island, Maui and Kauai.

Community Foundation of Broward announced that Christine L. Lambertus was named chairman of the board of directors for 2007. She is a partner in the law firm Lambertus & Lambertus P.A.

Book Club

Seychelle Sullivan inherited her father's tug boat business on Fort Lauderdale's New River, and she and her tug "Gorda" keep running into interesting problems.  In "Bitter End" a rich guy is shot and his big yacht runs up on the riprap in front of the Performing Arts Center.  Seychelle pulls his boat free with police yelling at her to stop and rushes down the river to a boat yard to save the yacht from sinking - and earn herself a salvage fee. 

It's an exciting story, a mystery, with fascinating characters, many with motives for murder.  We'll be talking about the book at Emily Rushin's home on Thursday, April 12 at 6:00.  We welcome more WEC members into Book Club!  Read the book, e-mail Emily that you'll be coming, and bring some food to share.  You'll love it!

Cannon Circle

Please join us for the April Cannon Circle at Nancy Fischer’s house:

Wed. April 18th
6 pm
2000 NE 27th St.
Wilton Manors, FL 33306

Please RSVP:
nfischer@pstcomputers.com
954-566-2523

Directions: From anywhere: I-95 get off at Oakland park Blvd. and go east to US 1 (Federal Hwy.) and make a right (south). Go to next major light (NE 26th St.)—turn right (west). Go over a little bridge and at light at Coral Gardens Drive, make a right. Go down two blocks to NE 27th Street and make a left. Second house on left: yellow house with tons of parking in front and across road.

MARCH CANNON CIRCLE

Michelle Case-Tunis writes: My Cannon Circle went well. We had lots of appetizers and wine.  This was my first Canon Circle and I was a little nervous. It went extremely well and it gave me an awesome opportunity to learn about our WEC members intimately.  Ronnie, Vivien and Melissa were so much fun as well as the others.

We have such a great organizations and the members are so nice.  I am so proud to be part of WEC.

Progressive Dinner

Become a Francophile for an evening as the WEC presents

Parisian Nights Progressive Dinner
An evening of fabulous French food, French wine and fun!
Friday, April 27, 2007

$75 per person for WEC members and friends 

7:00pm  Cocktails and cash bar at Coco’s Bistro
(Harbor Shopping Center)
1841 Cordova Road
Ft. Lauderdale

8:00pm  Dinner at Obrig’s Bistro Café
(Home of Marilynn Obrig)
416 Bontona Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale

Dessert & Coffee at Vivien’s Pâtissière
(Home of Vivien Godfrey)
805 Cordova Road
Ft. Lauderdale

Transportation for the evening will be provided by Sun Trolley.  Please park in the
Harbor Shopping Center near Coco’s Bistro.

RSVP  Deadline – April 20
 Please make checks payable to WEC and mail to:
Pam Dearden
2101 NE 59th Court
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308
954-202-7808
Email:  prdearden@bellsouth.net

Save the Date - Retreat

Saturday, June 9th, 9:30am-3:30pm for our annual retreat. This is a great opportunity for both new and seasoned members to get to know each other better. I promise everyone will have fun and everyone will learn new things.
            --Melissa Rapkin

Cultural Corner

Thanks to Pam Dearden for keeping us abreast of cultural events.
Click on www.broward.org/arts for a complete listing.

PACE

WEC Board of Directors
2006-2007

President, Vivien Godfrey

Past President, Ronnie Karlin
Nominating Committee
Canon Circles
Business Showcases

VP Finance, Dorothy Eisenberg
Budget
Dues collection

VP Corporate Records, Cynthia Hardy
Corporate Records
Historian
By-Laws Committee

VP Internal Involvement, Joanne Dee
Programs Committee
Greetings Committee
Newsletter
Book Club

VP Membership, Marilynn Obrig
Membership Committee
Membership Luncheon
Directory
Webmaster

All contact information is available for WEC members on our Members Only website. If you are a member and you don't have a name and password, you can contact Chris Guld for more information.

2006-07 Luncheon and Board Meeting Dates

Next Board Meeting:
Tuesday May 1st
Tuesday June 5th

Luncheons:
April 26 Thursday
May 15 Tuesday
June 19 Tuesday

Membership Attendance: