​Little-known Facts about Our 2025-2026 Board of Directors!

by Robin Loving, Club Services Vice President

Our new Board of Directors recently met to plan the year, but they got to know one another a little better first. A salient fact is that several of the new members have started to live our Rotary commitment to volunteerism by stepping up to leadership positions already, which makes this especially important for knowing our newbies! Here is a snapshot of the new board members:

President Andrea is a Virginia native who managed dozens of large shopping malls and mixed-use properties in the U.S. and Canada. When she takes time away from Rotary, St. Paul’s and her homeowner association, she enjoys being involved in adventure sports such as scuba diving, sky diving, and – most recently – taking a submersible to the bottom of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica!

President-Elect Jose de Anda is a San Miguel native who worked for the Municipality’s treasury department before beginning a career in public relations and tourism.

​Past-President Lee Carter is a Virginia native former import/export business entrepreneur who founded Mitigare Hospice, plays tennis five times a week, and has been our president three times! 

Secretary Phillip Jares is a rural Minnesota native who earned a degree in Human Resources before going to nursing school and then working for 30 years in the U.S. Postal Service!

​Treasurer Melody Smith is a Seattle native who is a former stock broker who once lived on a 1.5 square-mile island with only 40 people! Her best friend is her dog, Charlie, and her favorite hobby is gardening.

Club Services Vice President Robin Loving is a Texas native who has worked with presentations since she was in high school and has worked in public relations since she was in college. She has worked with nonprofits for the past 35 years.

Co-Membership Vice President Joyce Grenis resonates with Rotary’s “Is It Fair to All Concerned?” part of the Four-Way Test so much that she flies the Swiss flag to indicate her neutrality!

Co-Membership Vice President Kathy Zapata learned Spanish as a high school foreign exchange student in Peru and spent several years in Peru, Spain and Mexico. As a U.S. lawyer, she focused on immigration. She practices yoga and reads voraciously – presently about climate change.

Co-Projects Vice President Carla Cadena is a San Miguel native who works as the operations director at Mitigare Hospice. Her dad is a locally famous tailor!

Co-Projects Vice President Jill Noack worked as the internal security project manager for Home Depot in the U.S. and Canada. She currently is producing a coffee table book about corn based on interviews with the women leaders at Corralejo de Abajo who are fighting to maintain the original corn species here. She and her husband are even growing corn eight-feet high on their roof!

Co-Sergeant-at-Arms Carla Espinoza is a Chihuahua native who works in Mexico, the U.S. and France as a psychologist. She is the proud mom of Jerome, and her grandfather was the maestro who built the Quebrada bridge!

Co-Sergeant-at-Arms Elizabeth Adlung is an Indiana native from a farm family. She came to SMA to study art, and now makes jeweled sculpture. 

The Board is hopeful that all of us in the club will get to know one another better in this Rotary year!