Michael Wells, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Redlands-Riverside. Michael joined the organization in December of 2021. In his two year tenure the Club has grown to become one of the largest and most successful in the country.
Last Monday the Club began serving youth before and after school at Urbita Elementary School in San Bernardino. This marked its 80th Inland Empire location serving over 7,000 youth each day.
The Club’s Mission is “to enable all young people especially those who need us most to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Redlands-Riverside was founded in 1967 and remains deeply committed to the Inland Empire. Their goals include continuing to expand its reach and impact across the IE.
Before joining the Boys & Girls Club, Michael worked for an international corporate dining firm with responsibilities managing operations at 23 Google Corporate Offices across the U.S. and leading food merger and acquisitions in Canada, North America and Central America. Prior to this Michael worked for Starbucks for seventeen years. His responsibilities included managing large multi-state regions on both the West Coast and the East Coast and managing the partnership between Magic Johnson and Starbucks to open 125 locations in diverse, underserved communities across the U.S.
Michael holds an MBA and a Bachelors of Science in Global Business Management with an added concentration in Finance. Michael and his wife Armida will be celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary this summer. They have three daughters, a Performance Talent Manager at Sea World, a Journalist with the Business Insider, and a College Sophomore at UC Santa Barbara.
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At our last meeting, we were thoroughly entertained by Brad White, who announced the (in)adequacy of our 2023 predictions. While I was thoroughly humiliated (all in good fun!) by the inexactitude of my own 2023 predictions, others did a remarkable job getting some of their predictions right! Most notably, Larry Asmus correctly predicted that the stock market would fluctuate in 2023 and Terri Relf knocked it out of the park with her Oscar Awards predictions for the year. There were several honorable mentions with most Rotarians getting one or two things right for 2023. Unfortunately, none of us demonstrated sufficient aptitude to predict future winning lottery numbers. Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and as always, Brad kept us smiling with his crafty witticisms.
Our annual new year’s predictions meeting would not be possible without each of us taking the time to make our predictions for the following year. Please be sure to complete and submit your 2024 prediction forms to Brad White before the end of January. You may deliver them to Brad in person at an upcoming meeting or e-mail your predictions to Brad at brwhite@gwwlaw.com. If you need a copy of the predictions form, please let me know and I will be happy to provide one for you.
I encourage everyone to consider attending the 34th Annual Garbis Der-Yeghian Peace Conference on January 27th at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda. The Peace conference is a joint effort of Districts 5300 and 5330 to bring Rotarians together to discuss peace in our world and hear from a variety of great speakers. This year’s theme is “Creating peace, hope and healthy minds” and the keynote speaker is Brian Rusch, CEO of Out for Equality and founding member of Rotary International’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force. There will also be a special speaker panel on mental health, featuring: Jenn Freeman – autistic choreographer, dance performer, and educator; Lora Illig – former Executive Director of NAMI Pomona Valley; Chris Florendo – Team Support Leader of CalHOPE & NAMI of Greater Los Angeles County; and Sally Sagario – Operations Manager of NAMI Long Beach/Whittier. Registration and a continental breakfast begins at 8:00 a.m. and the program begins at 9:00 a.m. Once the program concludes around 12:00 p.m., all attendees are invited to tour the Nixon Presidential Library, which features fascinating exhibits including Richard Nixon’s actual boyhood home. Registration and additional information may be found at 
