Speakers

Mayor Jim Hovland is an attorney with the law firm of Hovland & Rasmus. He joined the Edina City Council in 1997. He served in that role until he was elected Mayor in 2005. Today, he is Edina’s longest-serving Mayor. Through his legal work, Mayor Hovland was familiar with various transportation laws, so he has been a natural fit for numerous committees and councils related to transportation. Mayor Hovland has served on the Edina Community Foundation’s Board of Directors for more than two decades and is an active member of the Rotary Club of Edina Morningside.

Eileen has 30 years of investigative experience, 24 years as a special agent with the FBI in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Eileen’s federal law enforcement experience included work on major white-collar investigations. During her federal law enforcement career Eileen assisted in obtaining criminal convictions on some of the larger Ponzi scheme cases in region. Eileen’s work on the Tom Petters case led to her being awarded as a co-recipient of both the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award and the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.

Eileen has a BA from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner. For the last five years, she has worked for WayPoint, Inc. as a consultant and is a board member with the Innocence Project of Minnesota.

Angel Foundation’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Dave Becker as the organization’s new President and CEO. Dave has spent more than 18 years working in the nonprofit sector, most recently having served as vice president of the central territory for the American Diabetes Association where he was promoted from vice president of the Midwest region and Executive Director for MN, ND and WI. Dave joined Angel Foundation’s staff on August 20, 2018 and is excited to begin his new role, “I am elated about the opportunity to lead Angel Foundation. The Foundation provides amazing resources and services to those when they need them most. I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve in this manner and to bring the essential work of the Foundation to the communities we serve.” “We are excited to have Dave’s proven leadership experience to help grow and guide the organization into the future,” said Margie Sborov, Angel Foundation Founder and Board Member. “He brings extensive experience in strategic planning, operations, development and community relations as well as a passion for our mission to help families facing cancer to live in the now and celebrate everyday moments of joy.”

About Angel Foundation: Angel Foundation was founded in 2001 by Margie Sborov, a patient navigator who saw firsthand the issues that cancer patients face. Margie felt compelled to start a non-profit organization that would meet the needs of adults with cancer and their families. When cancer strikes, Angel Foundation offers two programs – Emergency Financial Assistance and Facing Cancer Together. The Emergency Financial Assistance program helps adults in active treatment for cancer, living or treated in the seven-county metro area with non-medical, basic living expenses such as food, housing, utilities and fuel. The Facing Cancer Together program provides free education and support programs to adults with cancer and their families. Through these services, Angel Foundation is able to help cancer patients reduce their stress and live in the now so they’re able to celebrate the everyday moments of joy in their life. Since its founding, Angel Foundation has provided more than $8 million in emergency financial assistance and 25,000 services to individuals in the community. 

Lisa Ovsak is blessed to be the mom of Sydney and Michael.  Sydney was born in February of 1999 and diagnosed with cancer when she was just 10 months old.  Lisa is currently the Vice President of Breanna’s Gift Board, an organization dedicated to bringing art programs to kids with cancer and other serious illnesses. 

 Previously, Lisa spent 16 years volunteering in many capacities within the Children’s Cancer Research Fund, the last six of which were spent serving on the Board.  Lisa lives in Bloomington, MN; she is the office manager for an IT consulting and cyber security company in downtown Minneapolis and considers it an honor to have been able to share her story with others for so many years. 

Officer Mike Seeger began his police career with the City of Edina in October 2000. Over the last 18 years, he has held a variety of roles with the department – most notably he was a K9 Officer with his partner K9 Diesel from 2006-2014.  Officer Seeger and K9 Diesel received multiple awards for their work together and K9 Diesel nationally certified numerous times in both Narcotics Detection and the Police Dog 1 Trials.  In the years since K9 Diesel retired, Officer Seeger has been a Commercial Crimes Investigator and is currently a Drug Task Force Detective.  Officer Seeger received the 2015 “Mike Siitari” Officer of the Year award.  In addition, he was the Junior Police Coordinator from 2000-2017 and was awarded with the 2017 Connecting with Kids Leadership Award for his dedication to the program.

In his spare time, he is an Edina Paid on Call Firefighter, volunteers with Secondhand Hounds animal rescue and is an active leader in his children’s local Boy Scout troop. 

C. Phifer Nicholson, MD, Vascular Surgeon

Specialties

Surgery

Vascular Surgery

Board Certifications

Surgery

Vascular Surgery

Education

Medical School

University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL

Mayo Clinic, Rochester,   MN

General Surgery

Site of Fellowship

Mayo Clinic, Rochester,   MN

General and Vascular Surgery

Philosophy of Care

“I realized I wanted to be a surgeon at five years of age while watching my father suture wounds in the emergency room. Now I know my job not only involves physical healing but emotional and spiritual healing as well. Surgery is my life's calling."  

Recognition

Charles E. Bradshaw Scholarship Award 1982

Pancreatic Transplant Research Fellow, Mayo Clinic 1989

Lizzie was born and raised in St. Paul MN. She holds her ungraduate degree in Biology from the U of M, Morris and her MBA from Augsburg University. Her professional career started with AmeriCorps and then in Healthcare. She now has been with the American Red Cross in Volunteer Services for about 1 ½ years.

Hazel Reinhardt, President and CEO Foundation for Cancer Care in Tanzania

Driven to bridge the gap between have and have not, Hazel Reinhardt leads the Foundation for Cancer Care in Tanzania [FCCT] with passion and resolve. As President and CEO, Reinhardt is advancing the efforts of FCCT and its mission to bring quality cancer care to the citizens of Tanzania. Working successfully with donors and partners to build a comprehensive, sustainable cancer care system, FCCT serves cancer patients and families across the northern health care zone of Tanzania. Reinhardt’s determination and visionary leadership includes supporting the launch of a nursing school associated with the Arusha Lutheran Medical Center in Arusha, Tanzania and building systems for aligning donors and sponsorship programs to educate young girls in the region. Understanding the bare essential available to the citizens of this country, Reinhardt leads FCCT with compassion and determination to fulfill critical needs. Earlier in her career Hazel was on the faculty at the University of WisconsinMadison and served as the first Minnesota State Demographer. Her expertise in demographic research evolved into a worldwide consulting practice where she spent many years educating and advising print media managers in appropriately sizing markets for advertising and readership circulation. Reinhardt resides in Edina and today has an active consulting practice focusing primarily on school enrollment projections. 

Wooj Byun is a Minnesota-based attorney, community leader, and a Rotarian. He studied law at the University of Minnesota Law School. He has practiced law in Minnesota since 1994.

            Wooj was born in Korea, and he has lived and worked in Seoul, Hong Kong, and Minneapolis. He served as advisor to the president of South Korea on reunification and the president of the University of Minnesota on Asian issues. Since 2012, he has been an advisory board member of the Weisman Art Museum in Minnesota.

            Wooj received a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship in 1990, which was instrumental in his ability to realize his dream of becoming an international lawyer and a global citizen. He joined Edina Rotary Club, mainly to pay back the scholarship he received from Rotary International. He served as president of Edina Rotary Club from 2011 to 2012. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow.   He served District 5950’s legal counsel from 2014 through 2016.  Wooj lives in Minnesota with his wife, Jennifer Park, who also became a Paul Harris fellow, and their two daughters. He has been a dynamic speaker on the subject of “Service above Self.” Mainly because of the book he wrote in 2014 titled “My Rotary Journey,” he was invited to Rotary conventions including Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and finally, 2106 Rotary International Convention in Seoul in 2016.    

This is a service project that will take the place of a regular meeting - at the 7:30-8:30am time - meet at St Peter's - Edina Cafeteria, 5421 France Ave S, Edina. 

Allan will stop to give us an update and pick up the sandwiches.  He generally arrives after being out delivering meals all night.  Allan is a former Edina school teacher.  363 is the number of days that Allan delivers meals - every day except Christmas and Thanksgiving, when the community provides warm meals for the homeless.

Family members are invited to help assemble sandwiches.