Dan Little, DVM
District Governor 2020-21
Rotary Club of Brookings
Dr. Dan Little grew up on dairy and swine family farm near Faribault in south central Minnesota. He received his B.A. in Biology from Gustavus Adolphus College, his M. S. in Physiology of Reproduction from Texas A&M University, and his D.V.M. from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine before establishing a veterinary practice in southeastern Minnesota in 1984. His practice has focused on a systems management approach to food animal medicine. In addition to providing on-farm services to diagnose and prevent health challenges, he has also provided technical support to companies that desire to develop, market, and implement biotech solutions in livestock systems. He has presented at national and international professional conferences and is a published author in scientific journals and industry magazines.
Dr. Little’s education and management consulting experience in the areas of protocol development, facility design, production efficiency, and financial management have provided a framework for his skills in forensic investigation and economic loss evaluations for livestock related matters. As a consulting veterinarian, he provides expert opinions in complex scenarios regarding dairy, swine, beef, poultry, equine, small ruminants, practice management, and personal injury. Many of his current forensic investigations relate to alleged feed mixing and contamination concerns.
Dan joined the Downtown Rotary Club of Rochester, MN in 1994. He joined the Brookings Rotary Club in 2002 after his wife, Pat, and he moved from Rochester, MN to Brookings, SD to support the growth of the dairy industry along the I-29 corridor. Dan has served as Program Chair, President, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Brookings club. After serving as a District 5610 Assistant Governor for two years, he was nominated for District Governor in 2018 and is serving as District Governor for the 2020-2021 Rotary year. He is proud to be a Rotary Paul Harris Society member.
Dan is also a private pilot and a member of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians. Pat is a retired Real Estate broker and provides business management services for their family businesses. They have six children and nine grandchildren within three hours of their home near Lake Campbell south of Brookings, SD. They enjoy traveling, golfing, hiking, and spending time with family.
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Doug Lind
District Governor Elect 2021-22
Rotary Club of Rapid City Rushmore
Dear District 5610 Rotarians:
I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself. I was born in Vermillion, SD and raised on a farm in central Clay County with my parents and one brother and one sister. I attended a country school, Vermillion High School, St. Olaf College, and graduated from the University of SD with a pre-law / English degree. While in college, my brother Greg and I, with the help of our dad, started a small backhoe service company to help pay college expenses. After graduation, it was my original intent to go to law school. After a lot of serious consideration, I decided to postpone law school, and continue with the small excavating service business that my brother and I had started 3 years earlier in 1971. Obviously, law school is still “on hold” and we have had a gratifying and exciting career in building our company to what it is today. Sadly, my brother lost his battle with lung disease in 2017 and I’m now the sole owner of our company. We moved our business from Vermillion to Rapid City in 1981 and have remained there since. My son was born to my first wife and I in 1990, and in 2011, Penny and I met and fell in love, and married. Together we share our son, three daughters and 3 granddaughters. Together we share a love for helping others through Rotary, a passion for golf, and 2 homes, in Rapid City and Florida.
Second only to my faith in Jesus Christ as my risen Lord and Savior, Rotary has been a driving force and has given and continues to give my life meaning and purpose. I joined Rapid City Rushmore Rotary Club in January of 1995. When I first became a member, the club was mainly comprised of young downtown businessmen and professionals, with a small number of professional women. The original “big project” was the Black Hills Children’s Home Golf Event, and not much else. Since then our club, through many of it’s long time members has grown into a multi-faceted organization. Rushmore Rotary has expanded its scope and mission to include far-reaching support of schools in Tanzania, water projects across the world, world-wide Friendship Exchanges and countless community projects for local organizations. One of the greatest personal rewards in Rotary is growing, training, and educating new members and our community about the vast and amazing blessings that Rotary International brings to the world every day in ways that are almost beyond human comprehension. For all that R.I. has given me, I will always be grateful and so humbled to be a part of it. After many years of consideration, I have decided that I can repay in a small way all that I’ve been given by serving in this honored role, if I am chosen to do so.
During my Rotary career, I have served locally as President and B.O.D. member for six years over two different terms. At the club level, I have chaired the BHCH Golf Event, the Membership Committee, the Social Committee, the Program Committee, and served on the Strategic Planning Steering Committee. At the District level, I was part of the original leadership group that implemented RLI in 5610. I served as an Assistant District Governor for a period of four years and have served on the planning committee for the District Meeting in Pat Sutliff’s term. I have attended almost all District Annual Meetings for the past twenty years and have attended two Rotary International Conventions in Los Angeles and New Orleans. I attended the Zone Leadership Institute in Albuquerque, NM during Roger Kozak’s term. I have been a member of two Friendship Exchanges, the first in Nikko City, Japan and last year to Sweden. My wife and I have served as a Friendship Exchange hosts for many District Friendship Exchanges and chaired the local planning committee for last year’s District Friendship Exchange.
The first part of my vision for our district is to develop a system of “Intentional Retention”. As I was reminded this morning at a Rotary meeting that I attended in Spring Hill, FL, there is power in numbers, and even more value in quality and integrity of members. I believe that one often-overlooked part of a successful membership plan is consistent, planned, and intentional retention. It’s a proven fact that it takes about three new members to replace one quality existing member. I have been involved in membership committees for many years, and although it’s often talked about, there is rarely a plan for “intentional retention”, i.e., on-going consistent care, support and connection to each other as members. Often-times members have left the club for a variety of reasons, some of which can be resolved or fixed and those responsible don’t become aware until membership dues lapse.
The second part of my vision is to create a sustainable marketing and branding plan. There is a long-standing problem with branding and product recognition in our organization, and although the problem is recognized, more work and attention that needs to be given to this. There is still a wide-spread ignorance in our communities and across the country about what Rotary is, what we do, and who we are. I believe that until people are made more aware of our organization, through a structured branding and marketing plan, sustained growth will continue to be challenging.
The third and final part of my vision for our district is helping our individual clubs become more knowledgeable and then more willing to be involved in International Projects. I know that when I first became a member, my knowledge and the knowledge of our club did not extend beyond local community service, and now I know that there is so much more, and so many more ways that we can serve the world and in doing so do our part to make the world a better, safer and happier place.
In summary, my vision is to make our district stronger and more vital by developing an “intentional retention” system to grow our membership by retaining current members, while increasing awareness of our organization through a focused and structured marketing and branding plan to help our members and our community gain a crystal clear picture of Rotary and all that it is across the world.
During the next two years, I plan on committing my time and energy in support and assisting the sitting DG in whatever ways that I can to help and support District 5610 and serving with enthusiasm and commitment as the 2021-2022 District 5610 District Governor. I look forward to this honor with a sense of excitement, a certain amount of “what have I gotten myself into”, and mostly joy and enthusiasm! I know that if I’m chosen to serve, I’ll be supported by my God, my wife, my family and employees, and many good Rotarian friends, all much more accomplished and knowledgeable than me, and an unshakeable belief in the power of love through Rotary and its members.
John Schneider
District Governor Nominee 2022-23
Rotary Club of Le Mars
John has been a Rotarian for 35 years and values the opportunity to live life through Service Above Self. John has served as president of the Le Mars Rotary club twice and has for ten years managed the club’s drug store ice cream shop at the Plymouth County Fair. The Le Mars Rotary club recently celebrated 100 years of service to the community. He is also Assistant Governor for Area 9 that includes clubs in Northwest Iowa and was District Conference Chairman in 2017. His community involvement extends beyond Rotary including activities with the local chamber of commerce, economic development board, 50 year member of the Le Mars Municipal Band, church, historical museum and agriculture organizations.
John Schneider is a fourth generation farmer on his family farm in Northwest Iowa, near Le Mars. His great grandfather emigrated from Denmark to homestead their century farm. John has been raising pigs since age ten as 4-H member with the exception of the years he was a student at Iowa State University where he earned a BS degree in Farm Operations and a became member of Alpha Gamma Rho social/professional fraternity. Growing up, John was active in FFA in high school and was elected as a State FFA Vice-President his senior year in high school.
In addition to his life long career in pork production, John served a term as Plymouth County Supervisor. He has also spent most of the last 20 years in the banking industry as an agricultural loan officer and currently as a real estate evaluator.
John and his wife, Carol, have a daughter and son and five grandchildren all living in Iowa. They enjoy traveling and visiting places of historical interest including railroad and model railroad sites.
