Events

Herb lives and breathes Rotary’s motto, Service Above Self. He has been a pillar in our District for over three decades—serving as Past Club President, Membership Chair, Conference Co-Chair, Assistant Governor, and now the District Governor for 2025–26.

After retiring from a remarkable 32-year run in corporate Sales and Marketing leadership at Schneider Electric while launching his own ventures—One Commercial Properties and Ritter Vacation Properties.

He has also been a visible leader in Pleasanton, serving as Past Chair of the Planning Commission, Parks and Rec Commission, and the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce. Herb is also a Board Member and Past President of Sunflower Hill, a nonprofit supporting adults with developmental disabilities.

A third-generation Eagle Scout, devoted husband and father of 2, and holder of both a degree in electrical engineering from Washington State University and an MBA from St. Mary’s College.

Herb proves that leadership is about leading with Vison and serving with your Heart and leaving your Mark.

Alison (Al) Carpenter Davis is a writer, editor, and disability advocate drawn to hidden stories, the power of words to connect, and the commonality in being human. Her book Letters Home from Stanford, recently released in paperback, looks at the heritage, history, and shared experience of college students everywhere through 125 years of Stanford students' handwritten and electronic correspondence.

For her work on this project, she was awarded the 2024 Susan W. Schofield Award. Al is at work on a memoir about her 50-plus-year journey with Crohn’s disease, and serves on the board of the West Valley-Mission Foundation. 

Sara Dean will share the ups and downs of the state of the arts in Silicon Valley and the incredible impact of the Rotary Grant for equipment on The Pear Theatre. Pear performers Alison Starr & Delany Bantillo will perform Stargazers, a short 10 minutes play by Bridgette Dutta Portman.

Tamara Kodner is the Regional Director and National Training Director for BollyX, a Bollywood-inspired dance-fitness program. She has spent over a decade building and growing the BollyX community across Northern California, creating inclusive formats for kids, older adults, and special populations. Through her work, Tamara brings people together with the joy of dance, music, and movement.

Paul Streit is a Tech industry professional with over 40 years of experience in product marketing and product management. His career includes roles at leading technology companies such as Hewlett Packard, Seagate, and Maxtor. Paul earned his MBA from UCLA's Anderson School of Management and holds a BS in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University. Paul is passionate about serving his community. As a board member of the Silicon Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association since 2023, he dedicates his time to supporting young scientists and future technologists by serving as a fundraising and volunteer leader.

Craige Edgerton has lived in San Jose for over 50 years and has been involved in the community in various ways.  He has been an active member of the West San Jose Kiwanis Club for 43 of those years and has also been very active in the environmental movement in Santa Clara County since 1994, primarily with the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority.  He is an amateur naturalist and leads birding and wildflower hikes for multiple organizations.  He and his wife, Jan, have two daughters, one who graduated from Lincoln High School and the other from Los Gatos High School, and three grandchildren. 

Craige is here to talk about his book, "Permission to Walk in Peace," an anthology he co-authored with seven other Veterans.  It is 106 stories, essays, and poems about their recovery from Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) from their time in the military and how they have chosen to grow from their experience instead of being victims of it.

Linda G. Lambert and Mary E. Gardner joined force in the early 1990.  Gardner fresh from her work at Harvard’s Principal Center was asked to take Lambert’s position at California State University at Hayward just as Lambert was leaving as a special envoy to Egypt. After Linda’s return the two co-taught graduate programs in educational administration certification and master’s degrees. They quickly  discovered they had similar interests in redefining leadership and challenging  its historical limitations for women.  The result of this partnership was five provocative books on leadership.  The latest book (2024) is Women’s Ways of Leading: Revisited.  

In the early 1990 Mary returned to Saratoga as Superintendent of Saratoga Union School District.  She retired from the superintendency in 2003. Since then she has worked as a consultant, coach, mentor, speaker, author and expert witness in education.  She was a member of Saratoga Rotary.

Heath Rocha serves as Superintendent of the Los Gatos–Saratoga Union High School District (LGSUHSD), one of California’s top-ranked school districts and the only K–12 or high school district in the state to earn a perfect score on the California Dashboard in 2025. A career educator with a deep commitment to student and staff well-being, Heath leads with empathy, service, and connection, believing that strong relationships are the foundation of successful school communities.

Prior to becoming Superintendent, Heath spent nine years as Assistant Superintendent of Student Services at LGSUHSD, where he led initiatives to support at-risk students and students with disabilities. In response to rising post-pandemic mental health needs, he spearheaded the creation of Wellness Centers at each high school, contributing to a more than 40% decrease in students reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. He also led districtwide efforts to strengthen Title IX policies and training, resulting in a more than 50% reduction in reports of sexual harassment.

Heath began his career as a school psychologist and has held leadership roles including Coordinator, Director of Special Education, and Chief Student Services Officer. Known for his approachable leadership and problem-solving mindset, he focuses on removing barriers to learning and creating a culture where staff feel valued and supported, because when educators feel safe and appreciated, students thrive and districts grow stronger.

Michael Paul Hirsch (he/him) is the Executive Director of South Bay Musical Theatre in Saratoga, CA. A familiar face on Bay Area stages, he also served on SBMT’s Board of Directors from 2019 to 2025, including five years as Board Chair. Michael has led product, program, and team initiatives at Silicon Valley companies such as Shutterfly, Yahoo!, eHealth, and Suzy for over 20 years. He studied Theatre at the graduate level at Michigan State University and remains deeply involved in the performing arts community. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing board games, and supporting local arts organizations. He is a husband, father, and a shodan-ranked black belt in kendo. michaelpaulhirsch.com

Hector Estrada is a Assistant Chief of Fire Prevention at the Santa Clara County Fire Department.

Chief Estrada began his fire service career in 1997 with the San Jose Fire Department, rising through the ranks from Firefighter to Deputy Chief/Fire Marshal. Now serving as the Assistant Chief overseeing  Fire Prevention for Santa Clara County Fire Department, he manages all aspects of the Department’s prevention program which includes community risk reduction and education, enforcement of the fire code, fire investigation, hazardous materials inspections, and the plan review / fire protection engineering functions. Prior to his fire service career, Chief Estrada worked in the tech sector and was a business owner where he sharpened his project and process management skills. He credits this experience for his ability to bring structure and scope to his current role. Chief Estrada’s accomplishments include development of technology-based solutions for the fire service, including deployment of mobile technology to the field and implementation of a records management system. 

I have been with the YMCA for 17 years, beginning my career as a personal trainer and now serving as Executive Director of the Southwest Y. I hold a master’s degree in Exercise Science and Wellness, and throughout my career I’ve been passionate about helping individuals and families live healthier lives. I’m especially motivated by supporting people as they work toward fitness goals they never thought possible and by strengthening the overall health of our community.

Sridhar Pursai graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT in India in 1989. After working on converting train stations from manual semaphore based signaling and manual track switching to automated color light signaling and switching, he worked at the Indian Institute of Technology in the Chemistry department on high voltage plasma electronics and co-wrote a book called "Introduction to Microprocessors for Engineers and Scientists", published by Prentice Hall. He then attended graduate school at Purdue University (where he met his future wife DeAnna), and graduated with a master's degree in Computer Architecture.
 
Since then, he has been in California, working at various companies as a silicon hardware designer and architect. He recently retired from NVIDIA after a 20 year stint leading Silicon-On-Chip design and Architecture teams that delivered products aimed at various PCs, MACs, handheld gaming stations, AI servers, and automated self driving vehicles.
 
Along the way, Sri acquired an interest in travel and Photography and has been on tours focused on wildlife and landscape photography. Of late he has started dabbling in night time photography, mostly focusing on framing the Milky Way against interesting landscapes in the Andes in Peru and the Atacama desert in Chile and Bolivia, as well as the northern lights in Iceland. He is also learning to play acoustic, electric, and bass guitar, and drums.