Craig Leiser, Rotary Club of Stillwater Sunrise

I am a Past President of Stillwater Sunrise Rotary Club in Stillwater, MN. I have served as Club International Chair, District 5960 Fast for Hope (member and chair), District World Community Service & District Simplified Grant Committee as mentor for Africa, Fast for Hope Nicaragua committee member, inbound Group Study Exchange Brazil chair for 2008, Inbound Group Study Exchange Chair Sweden 2009, District Water Resources Committee Chair, 2007-9 Group Study Exchange Team outbound selection, District 5950/5960 Youth Foundation, District 5960 Board of Directors and 2006 Ambassadorial Fellow selection committee. I have met many Rotarians and visited your clubs over the past three years in the presentation of the Fast for Hope/Haiti Safe Water project. I have attended Rotary meetings in Australia, Norway, Denmark and Hawaii besides many clubs in our district.

I have been married to my wife, Nina Leiser, for 44 years. We have 3 adult, married children and 5 grandchildren from 6 months to 5 ½ years in age. We have also hosted 9 international exchange students from both Rotary and AFS programs and claim an additional 5 grandchildren by designation as we remain good friends and return hosts to our international students and their families. As a family we enjoy fishing, golf, gardening, travel, card playing and reading. We have visited Australia, Norway, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, Chile, Mexico, and Canada with friends and family as well as making new friends in each destination.

I was born in Cochrane, WI, population 495, went to grammar school in Chicago, IL, high school in Seattle, WA, the University of Washington in Seattle for a BSc. Degree in Ceramic Engineering and the New York State College of Ceramics and Ceramic Engineering at Alfred, NY for an MSc. Degree. I have worked for General Electric, Owens Illinois Glass, 3M, National Guardian Security Services Corp., Ameritech and for the past 12 years have owned my own one person consulting business, Kismet Group, Ltd. In addition to Rotary I am a member and president of the Brown’s Creek Watershed District in Minnesota, Board of Directors of Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts, Board of Directors Stillwater Youth Advantage and have been a member of numerous Washington County and State of Minnesota water management or resource committees and study groups.

I look forward with eager anticipation to learn more about Rotary, its programs and activities. I welcome the opportunity to serve you as Rotarians and the clubs to which you belong in the spirit of leaders past, present and future. I plan on making many more friends and getting very involved in developing challenging and rewarding individual, club, district and international projects and programs. Along the way I hope to meet each Rotarian in our district and share thoughts, ideas and plans about what we can do to make our world better.