2007 National Metro Director: Patrick Knight
Patrick Knight is an attorney in Miami, Florida working as a senior litigation specialist for the UAIC Office of the General Counsel. Originally from Chicago, Patrick has lived in Miami for the past 13 years and recently got married to his wife, Lisa. Patrick graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelors of Science in accounting and then attended the University of Miami School of Law, graduating in 1997. He is also a Certified International speaker/trainer who has conducted seminars in 17 different states and 18 foreign countries on a variety of leadership, business, legal and ethics topics.
In JCI, Patrick has been actively involved since joining in 1999. As a local chapter president of the Coconut Grove Jaycees in Miami, he revived the chapter, nearly tripling the membership on route to winning the Marks Award as the Most Outstanding Chapter in the United States. Patrick repeated his stint as Chapter President in 2002 because with 160 of his 204 members being brand new members, there was too much inexperience on the Board. However, these new young leaders continued to grow and train new leaders, repeating the feat of being named the Most Outstanding Chapter in the United States for the second year in a row in 2002.
During this two year run, Patrick was also named Outstanding President in the United States twice and his chapter was recognized as the Most Outstanding Chapter in the Americas (Area C) for 2002. Patrick served as the United States Jaycee National Legal Counsel for 2003 and served as the Membership Vice President in Florida for 2004. He was also selected to be a part of the JCI Strategic Planning Committee in New York in 2004. Currently, Patrick serves on the USJC National Exec Board as the National Metro Director.
Patrick has authored numerous manuals, articles and position papers for JCI and the U.S. Jaycees including: “Jumpstart Your Chapter”, which is a guide for local chapter presidents; “Show Them the Way”, which was a position paper submitted to the JCI Forum for Membership Strategy; “The Leadership Series”, which is a year long series of mini-seminars for local officers; and “Legal Issues for Jaycee Leaders”, which is a manual about legal issues affecting our chapters. He also participated in the course design of the JCI LEAD program.
As a PRIME and EXCEL graduate, Patrick has taught more than 100 seminars all over the world. In addition to being a JCI Certified International Trainer, he was one of 20 young leaders in the world chosen by the 2002 World President Salvi Batlle to be certified as a head trainer for the JCI LEAD Course, which is designed to be the flagship program for leadership development in JCI. He is also a certified JCI ACHIEVE head trainer, PRIME head trainer, and JCI Designer assistant trainer.
Metro Legal Counsel: Gina Pellettieri
Gina is an attorney presently working as the Director of Technical Assistance with the Long Island Housing Partnership, Inc (LIHP). After practicing real estate and mortgage banking law for several years in private practice, Gina now uses her legal experience and background helping families achieve their goal of homeownership through affordable housing programs on Long Island. At the LIHP, Gina helps to implement affordable housing programs by pre-screening applicants and working directly with municipalities, builders, and potential homeowners. The LIHP is a not-for-profit organization with a mission of providing housing opportunities to individuals and families who would not otherwise be able to secure decent and safe homes in the general real estate market.
Gina received her Juris Doctor from Hofstra University School of law and her B.A. from Manhattan College. In her spare time, she plays tennis, travels, and enjoys spending time with her friends and family.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Legal issues involving Jaycee chapters
(2) Debate competition and how to succeed in it
(3) Starting a new chapter and running it effectively
Metro Secretary: Kathy Harvey
Kathy Harvey was the 2006 local president of the St. Paul Jaycees, in St. Paul, Minnesota. With a chapter membership of over 150 members and many large scale projects on her books, Kathy learned a lot about leadership and management in a large organization. Kathy has attended many JCI conferences including National Conventions, Met Net conferences and the World Congress in Seoul, Korea. Her experience in management and the ideas she has picked up at these conferences are a welcome addition to the team.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Community projects that are impactful and noteworthy
(2) Leadership structure with large membership base
(3) Managing chapter calendar while running a lot of projects
Metro Treasurer: Mike Dietz
Mike started with the Dallas Junior Chamber in 1999, and since then he has served on the board in 2002 as the Sports Director, in 2005 as VP of Education, in 2006 as President, and in 2007 as Chairman of the board. He has also served on a United States Junior Chamber team as the 2007 Metro Treasurer.
Mike has a well-rounded professional background and the academics to augment his experience, including 9 years at Raytheon where he is currently a systems engineer, responsible for the mission success of his team. He has a master’s in Information Engineering Management and will have a master’s in Systems Engineering (May 2007) both from SMU. He also has two ASQ quality certifications, Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence & Quality Engineer.
In addition to volunteering with the Junior Chamber, Mike serves with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), where he led their involvement with the Future City Award, a nationwide program for middle school kids. Mike created the INCOSE award criteria along with an animated educational booklet on the systems engineering process so young kids could be inspired to be tomorrow’s technical leaders.
As VP of Education in the DJCC, Mike received the 2005 Board Member of the Year Award. That year Mike helped bring in speakers including Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, 2 CEOs, the Dallas Zoo Director, the City Manager, and an entertaining and hilarious Dallas historian—an eclectic array related to our broad member interest.
Mike continued his passion for operational excellence as DJCC’s 2006 president while his team accomplished key milestones during what was termed the “year of operations”. That year’s focus has been credited with assuring that our organization continues to operate with a high level of quality, so it can focus on its members’ needs and on growing the organization to the next level of program quality, infrastructure, and credibility within the community.
Mike also recognizes the importance of the DJCC programs, including areas of growth and innovation, and has thus contributed to the newly formed Mentor Program, including running it and then overseeing it and helping the DJCC make several powerful contacts through the program. Mike also started the Five Outstanding Young Dallasites (FOYD), which is scheduled to roll out in 2007.
Mike’s core beliefs for the DJCC are in its continuous improvement where our members and our leaders will receive the maximum benefit and move on to be much more successful than they would have otherwise. He believes this can be accomplished by keeping our best traditions such as being a ‘fun organization’, whose prime mission is to develop our leadership skills by serving the community. He likes to say that inspiration is the highest form of charity. Above all, Mike believes in the line of the Junior Chamber Creed that states, “SERVICE to humanity is the best work of life”. In his free time, Mike spends time with his new bride, and his hobbies are driven by his very strong passion for continued personal growth and learning.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Giving value to your professional members
(2) Using good speakers for large attendance at meetings
(3) Team synergy and creating healthy environment on your Board
(4) Effective websites
Immediate Past Metro Director: Lori Tomlin
Lori Tomlin works in the Financial Management Department for Ball State University. She is the Immediate Past Metro Director having organized the 2006 Met Net Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. Lori has held a wide array of leadership positions in JCI from the local level to the international level.
She served as local president for her chapter in Muncie, Indiana. She later served as State President for the Indiana Jaycees and in 2003, Lori was a National Vice President serving on the United States Jaycees Executive Board. On an international level, Lori has served as JCI International Vice President in 2004 serving many different countries in the Caribbean and the Americas. She served as JCI Treasurer in 2006 and she currently serves as JCI Legal Counsel under JCI World President, Scott Greenlee.
Lori is also an accomplished JCI trainer, having graduated from both PRIME and EXCEL. She has taught seminars in many different states and countries on a variety of leadership and individual development topics. Lori is a head trainer for LEAD and ACHIEVE, as well as an assistant trainer for PRIME.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) JCI resources, events and programs
(2) Requirements to be a JCI trainer
(3) Organizing a large conference
Metro Western Rep: Jenny Ketchepaw
Jenny Ketchepaw works for Telesis Community Credit Union where she is a regional branch manager managing their two Santa Clarita Branches. She graduated from UCLA in Los Angeles, California.
Jenny was the 2006 President of the Santa Clarita Valley Jaycees in California. Jenny along with her incredible team took her chapter to #1 in the state for the second year in a row. Subsequently, at the National Convention in St. Louis on March 16, 2007, her chapter won the Marks Award as the Most Outstanding Chapter in the United States. Jenny was also named Outstanding Local President for 2006.
Her chapter was successful in chartering 2 new chapters, growing by +27 in their own chapter, having a high retention rate of 74%, and running 291 projects, meetings, and visitations including running their own lobbying trip to Washington DC. In addition to serving as the 2007 Western Metro Region Rep, Jenny is also the Vice President of Individual Development & Training for the CA Jaycees. Jenny became very involved with Individual Development and in 2006 she won both the Mid-Year and Year-End Masters Speak Up competition. Jenny enjoys traveling with her husband and is looking forward to the JCI World Congress in Turkey.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Individual Development resources
(2) Speaking skills and the Speak-up Competition
(3) How to organize JCI PRIME in your chapter
(4) Chartering a chapter (including collegiate chapters)
Metro Middle Rep: Mandi Wise
Mandi Wise is a member of the Greater Cincinnati chapter of the Jaycees now known as JCI Cincinnati. During her time with the Cincinnati Jaycees she has served as numerous project chairs including the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids Sake project, the Childentity project, and the first ever Cincinnati, Hamilton County Junior Miss Scholarship Program project to name a few. She served as the Membership Vice President, President and is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board. Mandi received awards at the local and state level for her work as Membership Vice President and each project that she ran.
She is a graduate of Ball State University in Muncie, IN with a Bachelors Degree in Education, and holds a Master’s Degree in Executive Human Resource Development from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. Mandi is employed as the Chapter Services Director at Delta Zeta Sorority National Headquarters in Oxford, OH where she oversees the Educational Leadership Consultant Staff, serves on the National Training Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee, and works directly with the Leadership Development Task Force. In her spare time she loves to shop, travel (especially to the beach), and spend time with her friends in family. Mandi resides in Cincinnati with her blonde roommate, a 75 pound yellow lab named Goldi.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) How to deal with difficult people
(2) Chapter Operations (internal docs, bylaws, Constitution)
(3) Working with your chapter's foundation
Metro Southern Rep: Mike DiLonardo
Mike DiLonardo is a financial advisor for business owners in Atlanta, Georgia. He works for GV Financial Advisors. Mike is a graduate of Emory University where he still serves as a coach for the Emory University Golf Team.
Mike was the 2006 President of the Atlanta Jaycees, a chapter with more than 150 members that routinely runs large projects. In fact, Mike organized a project for St. Baldrick’s Day that has raised over $250,000 over the last several years that this annual event has been run by the chapter. In addition to attending the last two Met Net Conferences, Mike attended the JCI World Congress in Seoul, Korea where he learned best practices from some of the top chapters in Japan and Korea.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Organizing a project that raises $100,000 +
(2) Developing a professional feel in your membership
(3) Taking your chapter to the next level from good to great
Metro Eastern Rep: Rob Witthauer
Rob Witthauer is an attorney in Rochester, New York working as Senior Commercial Counsel for Motorola Inc. Rob has served twice as the Legal Counsel for the JCI Metro Board of Directors and has authored the 2004 and 2005 manuals entitled: “Legal Issues for Jaycee Leaders.” Rob is committed to serving all metro chapters in the northeast United States and can offer valuable assistance on both legal issues and leadership issues affecting your chapters.
Areas of Expertise:
(1) Legal Issues and bylaws
(2) Creating foundations and 501c(3) organizations
(3) The art of listening and allowing others to vent