Our Governors

Howard Eddy, District Governor 2024-2025

It’s not surprising that one of Howard’s Rotary mantras is “All In.” Howard is a District 6880 Leadership Academy graduate; District RLI graduate; Past District RLI Chair; Past Disaster Relief Chair 2014-15; past District Conference Co-Chair & past Mid-year Chair; Multiple PHF; charter End Polio Society member; past District AG; past District AG Coordinator; MS-PETS Facilitator; District DG Selection Committee member 2017-18; past District 6880 “Rotarian of the Year” 2017-18; and a District Visioning Team member.

He said, “I began my Rotary experience when I was invited to join Rotary in District D5240 (CA) as a member of Bakersfield East Rotary Club in District 5240. Almost immediately after joining, he served on the club’s major fundraiser committee as well as our outreach committee to local elementary schools’ reading program.  I was later sponsored by the club to attend PRLS (a multi-month long ‘Potential Rotary Leadership Seminar’ – similar to our RLI) and I ultimately graduated as a ‘Master PRLS.’ An interesting footnote is that D5240 PDG Wade Nomura (who has since served as the RI President’s representative) was one of the lead faculty. An amazing aspect of Rotary is the local and worldwide friendships you gain and the opportunity to ‘Do Good in the World’ through Rotary.”

When he retired (the first time) and moved to Alabama in 2007, he was invited to join the Rotary Club of Fairhope by his banker. He quickly became involved on the club’s major fundraiser committee  which he chaired in 2012-13 and was later elected Club President for 2013-14.  His sons, were both involved in Rotary as Interact and RYLA leaders. His younger son was the charter President of the Rotaract Club of Ole Miss, in Oxford, MS, and is a PHF.

Professionally, Howard began his career in college. A couple of early professors pointed him toward a public safety career beginning in Juvenile Probation.  After college, he became crime scene investigator, a Deputy Sheriff, and later moved up the ranks to a Sergeant-level Investigator. His past assignments have included: Joint agency (federal/state/local) task force commander; Homicide & violent crimes, white-collar crime, gangs & major narcotics cases as case supervisor where his collateral assignments included serving as an aircraft FLIR operator conducting air surveillance and court ordered electronic wiretap investigations. Another assignment was to I.A./Professional Standards where he served as an officer involved critical incident response team leader directing confidential investigations into agencies across the more than 8,000 sq. miles of his office’s jurisdiction.

Howard holds a bachelor’s degree in Management from the University of Redlands, and has completed additional coursework including at California State University – Bakersfield, the Wharton School of Business, and Stanford University School of Law. Howard was elected to and served as a managing trustee for KCERA, a large (over $5B) public differed compensation retirement fund.

He has been certified by the U.S. EPA, F.E.M.A. and the State of California in Emergency Response Management and Mitigation and Haz-Mat and was a CA Registered Environmental Assessor, holding a CA POST Advanced Officer Certificate. He has been granted life member status in both the CA Haz-Mat Investigators Association and the CA Narcotic Officers Association.  He served as a Range master, armorer, firearms and chemical agents’ instructor.

After his first retirement and moving, Howard was hired to serve in the State of Alabama to start the Baldwin County’s Community Corrections program, as its first Executive Director, and later with the State of Alabama’s 28th Judicial District as the District Attorney’s Administrative Chief, responsible for helping coordinate office operations along with the prosecutor’s support staff.  Howard still couldn’t quite seem to fully retire, and contracted to manage properties and HOAs.  More recently he had worked as an HR Specialist for the City of Fairhope Personnel Department and at the federal level in courthouse and prisoner operations for the D.O.J. U.S. Marshal’s Service – Southern District of Alabama as well as a stint as a contract “Special Investigator” conducting background investigations for the U.S. State Department assigned out of the Southeastern Region, Miami Field Office Investigations section.

Beyond work and Rotary, Howard has also enjoyed serving on various other professional, civic, church and charitable boards. He has previously served as a national board member for the Fellowship of Peace Officers and led two mitigation task force teams to assist Gulfport PD after Katrina.  He enjoys boating, waterfowl hunting and local football serving as a past Board officer of the Fairhope Pirate Athletics Booster Club.

Robert (Bob) Cochran, District Governor Elect 2024-2025

I have been a Rotarian since May, 1997.  I first joined the Auburn Rotary Club where I served on several committees and participated in club projects.  During 2010-2011 Rotary Year I served as Club Secretary to be followed the next year by President Elect followed by President.  However, in June of 2011 due to a schedule change of our club meeting times which conflicted with my job schedule I had to resign from the Auburn Rotary Club.  Not wanting to leave Rotary, I immediately joined the Lee County Sunrise Rotary Club which had a meeting time which never conflicts with my job.

While serving as President Elect of the Lee County Sunrise Rotary Club for 2013-2014 I unexpectedly became the President in January of 2014 when our previous President was transferred away as part of his job.  I finished out his term, attended PETS in Nashville in 2014 and served a full term as President for the 2014-2015 Rotary Year.

Upon assuming the President’s position, I became aware that not only did we not have a Strategic Plan, we had no plan at all, except getting through the year without getting in trouble.  I at least developed a plan for my year, beginning with the Goals I entered on the Rotary website.  I worked with the incoming President to see if we could improve those goals and the plan.  It’s been an uphill battle, but we at least have the beginnings of a Strategic Plan now.

After serving my term as President I became the Treasurer of the Lee County Rotary Club for the next year, 2015-2016 and served in the position continuously until the end of the 2020-2021 Rotary Year.  When I took over as Treasurer our club was barely solvent.  I reworked our procedures to the point where we are in a very healthy financial position today.  One of my biggest accomplishments was eliminating the backlog of members who were six months or more behind in their dues and obligations.  We currently have no members who are more than three months behind in their club balance.

When I became involved in my club leadership I became aware that our finances were suffering not only because of delinquent accounts, but also because we had a completely haphazard way of handling charitable contributions.  We had no plan, no framework, no goals, and no procedures to follow in our charitable efforts.  Although we were always a generous club our charitable efforts often resulted from “that was a good presentation; let’s give them some money.”  Often whoever was at the meeting would vote yes, then pass a pad around for members to sign up to contribute, or worse, the Treasurer would say we had X number of dollars available and we would vote to give it away.  The result was that no worthy charitable organization could count on our support, and in fact, our club did not have any real good idea of the organizations which most needed our support.  I led the effort to systematize our charitable efforts.  We have tripled the amount of money contributed, and we have identified four main charitable organizations to support.  We have a budget which allows for this improved support but also provides a cushion to allow us to quickly step in and provide support during natural disasters.  We were able to support a couple of hurricane relief efforts plus the Lee County tornado disaster efforts, where previously we would not have had the resources for such support.

Perhaps my biggest contribution to our club and its charity efforts was that I established the Lee County Rotary Sunrise Foundation, Inc. non profit foundation in May of 2016 to allow for all contributions to our charitable efforts to be contributed on a tax deductible basis.  Our foundation is one of the biggest reasons we have substantially increased our charitable giving.  It also allows us to separate our operational and charitable finances, simplifying focusing management of these assets.  I have served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Foundation since its inception.

At the same time I ensured we continued to support the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus with our financial contributions.  While President I insisted that we have both a presentation and a fundraising drive for each.  I have ensured that each President after me has done the same.  Also, we have applied and received District Grant funds each year since I was President to multiply our charitable efforts.

I believe in the Rotary Foundation!  I became a Paul Harris Fellow in 2002-2003, and am now a Paul Harris Fellow + 5.  This past June I signed up as a Paul Harris Society member and contribute monthly.  A couple of years ago I convinced my wife Karen to become a Rotarian and she makes monthly contributions to our club which are forward to the Rotary Foundation twice a year.  She is also a Paul Harris Fellow and is well on her way to Paul Harris Fellow + 1.  I think a lot of Rotarians don’t contribute simply because $1,000 for Paul Harris recognition appears out of reach for them.  I try to show them that a small monthly contribution which is well within their reach will allow them to become a Paul Harris Fellow without the pain a one-time $1,000 contribution might cause.

Last year I volunteered to serve as Assistant Governor for my area.  I am looking forward to Assistant Governor training at PETS this year.  I believe in supporting my area Presidents and representing our District to my area clubs.  I enjoyed my work with our District while I was President of my club, but my work obligations prevented me from continuing that once my term as President was complete.  However, my work situation has changed to the extent that I can devote more time to our District now and I am delighted to be more involved.  I plan to retire in two and a half years where I can devote even more time to Rotary.

This year I have also agreed to be the District Youth Protection Officer.  We have had a pause in youth activities due to the pandemic, so we are having to get back up to speed and qualified to conduct youth activities.  I am in the process of completing my qualifications.

I believe my whole working life has helped prepare me to be successful as District Governor.  Upon graduation from Auburn University I became a Navy pilot and served in the Navy for 20 years.  I retired as a Commander, U.S. Navy in 1994.  I received a Masters degree in Management in 1980, I graduated from the Air Command and Staff College at the Air War College in 1985, and I served two years on the faculty of the Army War College from 1992 to 1994.  I also served as the Executive Officer/Commanding Officer of U.S. Naval Facility Brawdy, Wales from 1988 to 1990, leading 350 officers and sailors and being responsible for the welfare of over 400 Navy dependents.

After my Navy career I attended law school at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham.  I was admitted to the Bar of Alabama in September of 1997, and began my law career in Auburn, Alabama where I practiced law from 1998 until 2008.  I began teaching Business Law and Aviation Law at Auburn in 2005, and became a fulltime Instructor teaching those subjects in 2008.  I am now a Senior Lecturer in the Harbert College of Business at Auburn University.

I served as President of the local chapter of the Military Officers Association of America for four years and have been a member since 1997.  In the City of Auburn I have volunteered as a member of the Board of Zoning Adjustment for seven years, and have served as a member of the City of Auburn Parks and Recreation Board since 2017.  My family and I have been members of First Presbyterian Church of Auburn since 1997 where I have served as an Elder, Trustee, Finance Committee member, Insurance Committee chair and Sunday School Teacher.

Steven K. Weaver: Rotary District 6880 District Governor Nominee 2024 – 2025

Rotary Enthusiast | Community Builder | Impact Maker | Chief Punny OƯicer

About Me:

Hey there! I’m Steve, your friendly neighborhood Rotarian and District Governor Nominee
from 6880. When I’m not promoting membership growth or chasing fundraising unicorns,
you’ll find me cranking out social media posts of our People of Action.

What I Do:
• Membership Advocate: Living by the motto “Everyone is a potential member” means
looking for the Rotarian within all we meet.
• Fundraising Dynamo: Turning “Can we aƯord this?” into “Hold my coƯee, watch this!”
Let’s make dollars rain for causes we love.
• People Connector: I’ve got more connections than Wi-Fi at a tech conference. Let’s
network, collaborate, and create ripples of change. If we haven’t met yet, we are both
missing out.
• Professional Career: Currently in my “pretirement” job, selling street legal golf carts to the
lovely people of Fairhope and helping two up and coming businessmen grow a successful
company. Before moving to Fairhope, I ran the family party rental business, bringing good
times to the Kansas City Metro. I settled into my professional career as a Business
Broker/Mergers and Acquisitions. The University of Alabama prepared me well for life
outside of Tuscaloosa.
Why Rotary?

Because life’s too short for boring meetings. Rotary isn’t just a club; it’s a rollercoaster of
kindness, laughter, and service. Buckle up and Let’s Make Magic.