President Brad Burdick welcomed the members. He shared that the club’s Board of Directors will be discussing and working on membership. The RCOB is shrinking; membership in 1999 was 230, in 2013 we had 283 members - and today there are 141 members. Our average age is 66. Members were again encouraged to bring visitors to the meetings, and remember - the first lunch is on the club.
Announcements:
All were invited to the Board of Directors meeting this Thursday, February 12, held in the Dorothy Haggen Building, 3rd floor at 4:30 pm.
There is no Rotary club meeting next Monday, February 16, in honor of President’s Day.
Guests of Rotarians:
Teri Treat introduced Alan Artman with Faithlife
Rud Browne brought his wife, Sheila
Del VandeKerk introduced Jerry Whitten with Boeing
Paul Grey brought Drew Zogdy
Program:
Our own Rotary member Rud Browne spoke on the topic, My Most Valuable Thing I Did during the Global Financial Crisis.
Rud started Ryzek in 1989, focusing on mobile computer devices. He founded the company with a small amount of personal capital and built it to a company with 360 employees and $75 million in sales in four countries. Rud compared the impact of a downturn in sales of equipment that people purchase when they don’t have to update it was like “a canary in a mine”. Almost overnight sales dropped 25%.
Advice from a friend was to “focus on cash flow”. Rud shared that he focused on accurate and timely accounting, reducing time to receive cash payments, increasing time to pay cash out and converting non-cash items to money. With many very intentional strategies Ryzek retained an excellent credit rating throughout its history. Workshops and classes were taught to all employees to help them understand why the strategies were critical. These strategies were also ones that the employees could use with their own personal finances. With no debt and a positive cash flow, the company had a sound value and was sold in 2011. The company has now grown to a larger company called Peak Ryzek.
When asked if he were able to implement these strategies in his new role as a Whatcom County Council member he said this was an area of interest for him. In his investigations he found the County did a good job with their cash flow.
Rud now operates an investment company called Ryanna Capital.
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