February 18, 2016

Minutes of the February 18, 2016 Meeting
The Rotary Club of Mobile
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by club president, Robby McClure at 12:15 PM. Wayne Miller offered the invocation and then Larry Sindel led the group in song. Tom Martenstein welcomed guests of members and visiting Rotarians.
Youth Merit Award: Jared Hunter, a senior at Satsuma High School received the Youth Merit Award. He plans to attend Jacksonville State University where he will major in computer science.
New Members
• Monica Motley, PhD, the President of the Alabama School of Math and Science was introduced as a new member by Darby Luxenberg.
• Michael Finan, M.D., was introduced as the second new member by Michael Chambers. Dr. Finan is a gynecological oncologist, and Director of the U.S.A. Mitchell Cancer Institute.
Announcements: Robby McClure made the following announcements:
• The board of directors will meet immediately after today’s regular meeting.
• Members are encouraged to greet the Amtrack train scheduled to stop near the Convention Center at 1:15 PM. today.
• Please contact Aimee Risser should a member know a potential candidate for RYLA.
Program: Andy Newton, President and CEO, Southern Light, LLC
Cart Blackwell introduced Andy Newton who presented a power point program and discussed his growing business which provides fiber optic cable to businesses along the Gulf Coast. Southern Light is one of the ten largest providers servicing four states with over 6,000 miles of fiber optic cable. He explained that just one fiber has more capacity than a six foot diameter copper cable.
One of the newest developments in the business he said was the addition of numerous small cell towers to improve wireless transmission. He explained that there are currently some 500,000 tall towers and it is estimated that by 2020 over 2 million will be needed.
After answering a number of questions from the audience, Robby McClure thanked him for speaking to our club and noted that a donation in his honor has been made to the Mobile Infirmary Foundation. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 P.M.
Tom McGehee