Events

Chad was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1989, to Mel and Kellie Rixse, where he grew up until graduating from South Anchorage High School in 2007. After high school, Chad spent 11 years in Seattle, Washington, where he graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish before entering the financial services industry as a Financial Advisor in the fall of 2014. Chad later returned to Alaska in September 2018 for a 5-year stint before moving to Austin in August 2023. Chad is a former Rotary Youth Exchange Student to Argentina from 2005-2006, and a former member of the Rotary Club of Anchorage South. In 2019, he met his beautiful wife, Genesis, while still living in Alaska, and they married in June of 2020. Since moving to Texas, Chad has continued to build his wealth management firm, Forefront Wealth Partners, has made a bunch of new, wonderful friends, joined the Rotary Club of Austin Southwest, and adopted his fun-loving Basenji, Luna. In his free time, Chad loves to golf, play basketball, cook, run, and lift weights.  

Krista Kelly is the Volunteer Coordinator at Shoal Creek Conservancy, where she has worked for over two years. She manages the volunteer program, leading public and custom
trash cleanups, as well as public riparian restoration workdays and rain garden workdays. Krista is the main point of contact for all volunteer inquiries and communications, and alongside other
staff members she works to ensure that all volunteer experiences serve as meaningful contributions to the health of the Shoal Creek watershed. Over the last year, Krista has also
helped kickstart SCC’s environmental education program, visiting schools or appearing at community events to give presentations and lessons on riparian health, pollution in watersheds,
and the functions of rain gardens.

A 50-year member of the State Bar of Texas, Terry received his undergraduate degree (BA-History) from Southern Methodist University and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.  A Vietnam veteran, he obtained a commission as a Second Lieutenant upon graduation from the Infantry Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia and served three years in the US Army.

After his military duty, Terry began a long career in criminal prosecution at the city, county and federal level.  For almost thirty years, he served in the US Department of Justice Criminal Division as a frontline organized crime prosecutor in Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas; as a section supervisor of national criminal initiatives involving customs and immigration fraud, large scale industrial health and safety violations and major corruption violations by individuals in the private sector.  For six years, he was the Chief of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section directing the investigation and prosecution of online child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children on a nationwide basis.  His duties included being a member of the Interpol Crimes Against Children committee; he promoted new and innovative legislation on child exploitation in countries throughout the world and assisted in training investigators and prosecutors about law enforcement and legal developments in the area of child exploitation.

It was an honor for Terry to be selected as the Resident Legal Advisor in Romania where he worked with the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor General to establish new programs to combat organized crime, corruption and transnational human trafficking.

Today’s presentation concerns two of the most important mafia cases in Los Angeles that had a tremendous impact on organized crime in the US.  Terry prosecuted the first RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), case in California, and certainly one of the first RICO trials in the US.  Secondly, he will discuss the prosecution of Joe Hauseer, the mafia’s insurance expert, who bribed union officials in LA to represent the unions in contracting for huge health-welfare and pension plans.  The mob then stole millions from these funds.   Hauser became an FBI informant and aided sting operations against corrupt union officials, political figures and the mafia.  This series of cases was the most extensive and expansive organized crime investigations ever conducted.  Terry has completed his second book, “The Los Angeles Experience”, which discusses these cases in detail.

Terry’s experience and knowledge brings passion and innovation to the mission of promoting the Rule of Law and criminal justice reform. His career in public service is a tremendous benefit to our efforts to give the best law enforcement system to our communities.

Michelle's midwifery journey started as a doula more than 12 years ago. She went on to serve hundreds of families as a birth assistant, as a student midwife and then a staff midwife at the Austin Area Birth Center. Midwifery is a calling, one that found Michelle when she had her sweet babies. She believes in the profound impact of this work on families and the community and on herself. Michelle joined Central Texas Midwifery in early 2024, and she truly loves it. In addition to her midwifery work, she is also an advocate in the volunteer capacity for the midwifery profession here in Texas; serving as Legislative Chair (elect) for the Association of Texas Midwives and on the Midwives Advisory Board for Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Most importantly, Michelle is a mom to two beautiful teenagers and a wife of a public school teacher.

Raeeda Gheewala, MD is the Founder and CEO of Sports Nephrology. She is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Nephrology and has extensive experience caring for thousands of patients for almost two decades.

Dr. Gheewala completed her Medical School at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA in 2006, followed by her Internal Medicine Residency at Tufts Medical Center in 2009. She then pursued a Nephrology Fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, CA, completing it in 2011. Her education includes a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology with a minor in Religion from Boston, MA in 2000.

She has lived through the expansive health and tech growth in Austin, TX since 2012. Outside of medicine, she stays active with her husband and three young children.

Ethan Perrine is a cave biologist, wildlife photographer, and recreational caver active in Texas, Mexico, and surrounding regions. Ethan is the current Underground Texas Grotto cave excavation coordinator, newsletter editor, and former president. He currently serves as the Preserves Chair and a director of the Texas Cave Management Association, as secretary and director of the Texas Speleological Survey, and as a specialist and coach of vertical caving techniques and rescue with the Vertical Training Commission, National Cave Rescue Commission, and the Gauntlet SRT. Ethan explores caves and the wildlife within them for work and in his free time, has no work/life balance, and a very patient wife.

Virginia has always had a passion for our youth.

Virginia was the first woman member and a Past President of the Van Horn Rotary Club. She was the RYLA Administrator for Rotary District 5520 which is all of New Mexico and Far West Texas for four years.

In 2001 she moved to Breckenridge Texas and joined Breckenridge Rotary Club She was secretary and newsletter editor for the Rotary Club of Breckenridge, TX. She became part of the RYLA Committee for District 5790 which is from Abilene to Denton including Fort Worth. The committee built a RYLA program from 45 campers to over 90 campers the first year. 

Currently Virginia is a member of the Northwest Austin Rotary Club and holds the office of VP of Community Services.  She is District 5870’s Rotary Youth Exchange Chair and still working with RYLA.

Also, as a Rotarian over 23 years Virginia has had the privilege of hosting four exchange students including mother and daughter from Brazil, a lovely young lady Argentina and another from Spain. She brings a wealth of information regarding Rotary Youth Exchange at the Club level and as a host family.

Members - please attend this important meeting.

My name is Cameron Gage, and I am a third generation Austinite.  I have spent my professional career in three chapters.  Chapter one was in our family business, Gage Furniture.  Chapter two, I spent 25 years in the tech world building sales teams for Dell, Apple, Microsoft and many smaller start-ups.  I am now in my third and final chapter where I have pivoted to purpose with Mobile Loaves & Fishes.  At MLF I am the Corporate Relations Officer on our Relationships and Giving Team.

On the personal side, I have been married to Roxy for the last 33 years and we have two incredible kids who are successfully launched out of the nest.  One in Portland and the other in Nashville.  We have lived all over Austin from North to Westlake and now in south, south Austin.

Amy Bawcom is Executive Director of the Austin Community College Foundation. She directs and administers the overall planning and activities of the ACC Foundation, including donor development, direct fundraising, capacity building, Board development, oversight of the ACC Foundation Board, and a $13 million endowment.

Ms. Bawcom has an M.A. in English Language and Literature from Baylor University; B.S. in Business Administration and a second B.S. in English with secondary teaching certification from University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. In addition, she has completed post-graduate study in English from Baylor University and in higher education administration from both Baylor and UMHB.

Before coming to ACC, Amy was the Vice President for Development at San Marcos Academy, leading the Foundation, Alumni Relations, and all aspects of development from capital campaigns and events to major gifts. Prior to that role, she worked at Central Texas College as Executive Director of the Foundation and Director of College Development where she managed an $8M endowment and developed strategies for planned giving. She has also served as the Director of Foundation Relations and as a Major Gift Officer at the Scott and White Healthcare Foundation. At both Central Texas College and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, she served the colleges in several administrative roles, including registrar, institutional research, and institutional effectiveness. She began her career teaching college English and ESL at both Baylor and University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and a summer at a community college in Japan.

Amy is a long-time Rotarian, having served in numerous officer and district positions. She was on the Greater Killeen Chamber of Commerce Board, serving as Chair of Young Professionals, Chair of the Education Committee, and Vice-Chair of the Nonprofit Council. She was the board president of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Central Texas and a founding member of the Belton Young Professionals. She has served as a board member for Texas Association of Community College Foundations, the Robert S. Love Foundation, and Central Texas Advocates for Parkinson’s. Amy takes the Rotary motto of Service Above Self to heart by serving her community as a volunteer to many charities centered around education.