David R. Johnson, Menlo Park’s business development manager, is the new president of the Menlo Park Rotary Club. He is serving a one-year term.
Mr. Johnson joined the local club shortly after he was hired as the city’s business development manager in 2003. However, he has been a Rotary member since 1991, when he joined the Rotary Club of Los Angeles.
He hopes his experience in such a large club will benefit Menlo Park’s club of 70 members.
“Service Above Self” is the Rotary motto, says Mr. Johnson. Members are expected to become involved in one of the organization’s four focus groups: youth, vocational, international and community.
With a focus on youth, Menlo Park Rotary gives $60,000 a year in scholarships to local high school seniors.
The club also has taken a serious interest in Garfield Elementary School in Redwood City, where most of the students speak English as a second language. Twenty-nine volunteers work with third-graders in an English reading program.
The club also sponsors a science camp for fifth-graders and, last year, took seventh-graders on a field trip to Menlo School. It was their only field trip of the year.
The Menlo club is working jointly with the Rotary Clubs of Woodside and Portola Valley on a water purification project in Guatemala after undertaking a similar project in Baja, California last year.
“We are a very involved club,” says Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson came to Menlo Park from the city of Sunnyvale where he worked with the director of the public safety department. Previously, he worked in business development for Home Savings of America and Glendale Federal banks.
He has a degree in political science and economic theory from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Mr. Johnson lives in Sunnyvale with his wife, Vickey, who is director of library services for the County of San Mateo.
