Vicki H. Wilson-McElreath
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

     She is the Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Carolinas.  She has responsibility for approximately 500 professionals across all lines of service, located in four offices.  She serves as Client Service Vice Chairman directing client-facing programs and participating in U.S. Management Committee Meetings.  Ms. Wilson-McElreath specializes in Banking and Capital Markets, serving the Firm’s major banking clients.  She has also served large member-owned financial institutions and has led a number of projects in the developing world.

     Ms. Wilson-McElreath’s role has included audit, accounting, and business advisory services; finance organization change projects; special reviews of derivative and other capital market activities; systems conversions; and litigation assistance.  She provides acquisition and other special assistance to public, private and regulatory clients in the form of special audits, projections and forecasts, preparation of pro forma financial information, loan reviews and registration statements.

    Vicki began her presentation by stating that she was not going to speak about corporate malfeasance or the accounting business.  As a member of the forum for corporate conscience, the recent group gathering at Ballantyne, which included such notables as Warren Buffet, David Gergen, and Author Tom Wolfe, her subject was “Corporate Sustainability”.  Sustainability has the fundamental objective of identifying and managing the matters that affect corporate profitability over the long-term and reporting these issues to corporate stakeholders.  It extends the focus of corporate governance beyond the narrow confines of quarterly stock prices to encompass a longer term and a broader group of constituents or stakeholders.  It considers what the corporation takes from society as well as what it returns.  The measures of triple bottom line performance are economic, social, and environmental:

            Economic performance involves evaluation of balance sheet, income statement and cash flows along with traditional financial measures and ratios.

            Social performance involves evaluating a company’s employment policy, union relationships, layoff records, child labor practices, lending practices, perception in its local communities and similar issues.  These items tend to affect a company’s reputation, which ultimately can affect the company’s value.

            Environmental performance involves evaluating a company’s environmental compliance record and, perhaps more importantly, how proactively it responds to environmental issues and whether is seeks way to shrink the footprints in leaves behind.

     This Forum included people with the power to make change. They all embraced the concepts of “collected intentions.”  These leaders agreed to look beyond the bottom line to create change with, Economics, Leadership, Justice, Environment, Community and Family representing the critical elements for evaluation of performance.

     Head Table: David Anderson Jan Thompson, Steve Byrum, Suzanne Bledsoe, Susan Hutchins, Don Carmichael.

     Visitors & Guests: Martin Waters; Invocation: Katie Tyler.

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     Thoughts and prayers are extended to Duke Ison as he faces the challenges ahead, and to Jamie McLawhorn’s 3 year-old son, Jack, following his surgery.

     Sympathy is extended to the families of Rob and Tom Wright following the death of their uncle, Lenoir Chambers Wright; and to the Russell Ranson family in the death of Russell’s mother, Harriet Cobb Ranson.

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Oral History Archives of World War II

The Centennial Project of The Rotary Club of Charlotte with WTVI 42

Richard D. Bailey, Project Chair

     The Rotary Club of Charlotte Oral History Archives of World War II project has been 18 months in planning. It is an enterprise to digitally video record, catalogue and preserve, personal recollections and experiences of the men and women who served on the home front and overseas during the war years.  Partners in the project are WTVI, CPCC, and UNCC. This is our Club’s official Centennial Project, a gift to our community that will live for decades to come. John M. Belk, a member of our Club, and WWII and Korean War veteran, has been asked to be the Honorary Chairman of the project.

     During the WWII years our Club and members were active in bond drives, raising funds for civil defense, scrap drives, victory gardens, home front administration, and distinguished military service in all branches of the armed forces. More than 40 of our current members served our country during the war or were involved in home front activities.  WWII veterans are dying on the average of more than 1,000 per day. It is important to preserve the memories of the men and women who served in World War II while the opportunity exists.

     Phase one of the project is in-depth interviews of 100 or more individuals who lived through WWII, beginning with an initial target group of members of the Rotary Club of Charlotte. A second target group is members of the eleven other Rotary Clubs in the Charlotte metro area. The third target group is others who live in Charlotte metro area. All persons interviewed will receive a DVD of their full interview. Phase two is a 60 minute public television documentary based on the oral history interviews.  The program will be broadcast repeatedly in the WTVI viewing area and offered nationally to public television stations and the History Channel.   All interviews will be stored on DVDs, transcribed and bound, and digitally indexed for research.

     Interviews are conducted at WTVI, Charlotte by Dan Morrill, professor of history at UNCC and local historian. Interviews are scheduled by Tom Burgess, the project’s veteran coordinator.  You may nominate persons to be interviewed by calling Tom at 704.366.5911 (e-mail tnburgess.@aol.com ). Veterans and home front persons are needed.

     A 6 minute video tape, which introduces the project and is based on three test interviews, is available to present the project to funders. The project budget is $194,000.  Phase one is fully funded by a generous gift from John M. Belk.  Your help is needed to introduce the Centennial Project to major corporations that have linkage to our Club.  Please contact Richard D. Bailey at 704.554.7470 (e-mail rbailey6@carolina.rr.com ).

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è Polio Eradication Update

Pledge:                         $54,000
Received To Date:    $50,375
Representing:             205 members

     Please notify Sandy at chltrot@bellsouth.net if you would like to be added to the Reporter email distribution list.

     Committee Preference Forms were mailed this week.  Return your form to Sandy ASAP.

     The reconstituted "Breakfast Bunch” (mostly newer members of the Club) will meet at 11:45 on Tuesday, April 1^st, in the dining room of the Hotel.  This is a change from the previously scheduled date of Monday, March 31^st. Please contact Warren Kean at 704-331-7413, or wkean@kennedycovington.com if you are interested in attending.

     Habitat Dedication is scheduled for 11:00 on March 29^th.  The house is located at  2512 Deherradora Ave.

     Welcome new members Barbara Price, Chris Thomas, Jerry Walters and Ron Ezell.

     Jim Woodward was honored at the National Conference for Community and Justice annual humanitarian awards dinner on April 10^th.

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