2025 District 7690 Leadership Retreat
11/12/2025
We had a fun and productive visit to Evanston, Illinois, for our District 7690 Leadership Retreat. The retreat was coordinated and led by Karen Pollard, Rotary Club of Crescent (Greensboro) to help prepare for the 2026-2027 leadership year.
Karen, the incoming District Governor, convened a variety of sessions designed to help the incoming leadership team hit the ground running. These included sessions on leadership style, overall vision and primary impact objective, goal setting for the near and longer-term, and communication of vision to reach impact objective.
We also had lots of time for touring the Rotary International World Headquarters. Highlights included a visit to Room 711, a reproduction of the office where the first Rotary club meeting was held in downtown Chicago; an exhibit that showcases how The Rotary Foundation helps members turn ideas into action; an interactive space that features Rotary milestones and leaders, as well as our vision; the Rotary boardroom; and the office of the president.
In addition to learning lots of Rotary history, trivia, and lore from the headquarters staff, we also had time to eat lunch as a group, as well as spend time bonding during our ride share trips to and from the Paul Harris home in Chicago. Named Comely Bank, the house was lived in by Paul Harris and his wife, Jean, from 1912 to 1947.
Our whirlwind trip concluded with more district fellowship over a group dinner. We returned to District 7690 energized and ready to build on the work of past district leaders.