Lake Placid, New York was the setting for the 2005 District Conference

Sept 23rd to 25th, 2005, the Conference Committee planned interesting Rotary events and 7 hours free time in Lake Placid. Attendees watched future Olympian skaters and skiers prepare for competitions, took the Bobsled ride down Mt Van Hoevenberg, gondola ride up White Face Mountain, drove to the 4,867 foot summit for spectacular views, enjoyed the 3 mile walk around Mirror Lake, golfed on the resort's 45 holes, shopped on Main Street. DG Jerry Gortner reports "Thank you for making our District Conference a success. Our attendance reached 300, the largest since our Saratoga Springs Conference in 2001. We had 9% of our Rotarians in attendance, the largest percentage since 2001".

President's rep for District Conference, Barry Rassin from Nassau, Bahamas

Barry Rassin is the President and CEO of Doctors Hospital Health System in Nassau, Bahamas. He has an M.B.A. from the University of Florida and is a Board Certified Healthcare Executive (F.A.C.H.E.). He currently serves as a Director for Bahamas Supermarkets Limited. Barry has always been active in his community and has been a Rotarian since 1980 and was the President of The Rotary Club of East Nassau in 1987-88. Since being District Governor in 1991-92, he has held a number of positions in Rotary, from President’s Representative to Polio Eradication Chairman for multiple districts. However, his primary concentration has been in the training and development arena. He has been a guest lecturer at St. Benedictine University in Nassau, speaking on “Leadership and Quality” and taught “Bahamian Health Services Economics” at the College of the Bahamas. He has served for a number of years as Chairman of Project Read (Bahamas), an adult literacy program.

Within the Rotary world he was District Trainer for many years and still assists in organizing and facilitating the District training programs. Barry served two years as a Rotary International Training Leader (2002 and 2003) and has chaired or co-chaired the GETS program for Zones 33 and 34 for 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2005 and 2006 he is the Rotary International Training Leaders Seminar Trainer and for the 2005-06 year will serve as the Chairman of the Leadership Education, Development and Training Committee for Rotary International. He also currently serves on the Action Planning Team for the Rotary International Strategic Goal #5:Improve Training and Education at all levels. Barry has represented District 7020 at three Councils on Legislation (1998,2001,2004). He currently serves on Director Ken Morgan’s Advisory Committee. Barry is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and was honored with the Service Above Self Award from Rotary International in 1996. In 2002 he was awarded the “National Health Hero” award in Nassau, Bahamas by the Bahamas Ministry of Health and Pan American Health Organization. He plays golf when there are no training sessions in progress.