The Rotary Club of Farragut has elected its leadership team for the next three years along with its board of directors. All these positions are effective on July 1, 2020, as the Rotary fiscal year changes. Farragut Rotary is 103 members strong.
Edward Jones, a Farragut Rotarian since January 2006, will become the club’s president. He is the president and owner of Jones, Kirkpatrick Financial Services and been in business for 19 years. He also has served the club as vice president and secretary. Jones will follow our current president, Staci Wilkerson, who is vice president/relationship manager at FirstBank in Farragut.
The Rev. David Bluford, president-elect, is the chaplain of Parkwest Medical Center and a retired longtime high school football official in East Tennessee. Bluford joined the club in February 2000 and has served on the board in a variety of roles.
Andy Luttrell, elected to the vice president’s job, has been a member since February 2012. This job places Luttrell on the presidential ladder and he will become president for the Rotary year 2022-23. Luttrell is vice president in commercial real estate lending at Home Federal Bank downtown. Prior to that, he was vice president and branch manager in Farragut for 14 years.
Staci Wilkerson
More big shoes to fill are those of Jim Dodd, who for the past 25+ years has been the club’sergeant-at-arms. He is stepping down from being that welcoming face at the sign-in desk week after week after week. His big shoes are going to be filled by one of the club’s newest members, Vicki Esponge. She is the director of sales at the Cedar Bluff Hampton Inn.
Here is the complete list of officers and committee chairs and co-chairs that make up the board of directors:
- President — Edward Jones
- President-elect — The Rev. David Bluford
- Vice President — Andy Luttrell
- Secretary — Joshua Hornberger
- Treasurer — Howard Fass
- Sergeant-at-Arms — Vicki Esponge
- Public Relations — Tom King
- Service Projects — Brian Elton & Sonya Ford
- Family of Rotary — Mark Bialik
- Fundraising — Megan Belcher & Scott Brockamp
- Club Membership — Doug Powell & Arlene Weinstein
- International Service — Amanda DeBord & Becky Duncan
- Youth Services — Cindy Kraus & Kristin Abouelata
- Rotary Foundation — Scott Weinstein
- Immediate Past President — Staci Wilkerson
This year’s annual World Rotary Work Day, bringing together teams of Rotarians from Knoxville’s five clubs, will be on Saturday, Feb. 29, at South Knoxville Elementary School. The Rotarians will begin working at 8 a.m. at the school at 801 Sevier Ave. They will be mulching, trimming and planting trees, and working in the flower beds. Inside we’ll be doing some painting. This is a family-friendly event and every year Rotarians have spouses, kids and friends with them to help along with staff from the school.
If you’re interested in exploring membership in Farragut Rotary, drop me an email at tking535@gmail.com We meet at 12:15 p.m. each Wednesday at Fox Den Country Club. You also can call 865-659-3562.
Tom King has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor at two newspapers. He started writing for KnoxTNToday in 2017.