THE RIGHT ANGLE MEN’S CLUB NOVEMBER MEETING AT VANDERBILT COUNTRY CLUB

On a beautiful South Florida day, The Right Angle Men's Club of Vanderbilt Country Club had the pleasure of comradery, a buffet lunch and a terrific guest speaker from the Naples Daily News. Mr. Manny Garcia, the Executive Editor of the paper, provided interesting insights into how the paper is run, the local and national environment as well as his own background.

This first meeting of the 2015/2016 season was held on November 19^th with over 80 attendees in Vanderbilt Country Club’s lovely and recently renovated main dining room. While enjoying a wonderful lunch, the members could take in the view from the main dining room windows which look out over the just completed golf course renovation project. The VCC Right Angle Club strives to provide “The Right Angle” on issues of interest and importance to its members and guests.   

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Mr. Bill Cooper. Mr. Garcia spoke about his Cuban heritage and his growth and development in this country, the operation of the paper and also dealt with many issues and questions that are relevant to the Right Angle membership. Some of the areas he covered were:   

1)      Operation of the Naples Daily News:

a.      The Naples Daily News was recently purchased by Gannett.

b.      The Gannett management team is looking to leverage some of the best practices implemented at the Naples Daily News at other papers that they own.

c.       The Naples Daily News is housed in an amazing building with state of the art facilities.

d.      The printing of the paper is done on a high speed, state-of-the art printing press. 

e.      There are roughly 45K subscribers off season and 100K subscribers in season.

f.        In addition to the local markets, key markets for the paper include Cuba and Venezuela.  

g.      Mr. Garcia discussed the electronic distribution of content and the way the Naples Daily News is adopting to that environment by making changes to their existing mobile device delivery mechanism.

h.      Mr. Garcia ended this part of his discussion by offering a facility tour to any interested members of the VCC Right Angle Club.

2)      Questions and topical discussion areas of interest to the membership included:  

a.      The Naples area being a dynamic place for growth and great for journalism. 

b.      Cuba has become a much more open environment with blogs out to the world now on mobile devices.

c.       The top stories going forward potentially include a state wide analysis of the beach restoration and a state wide look at how funding is used in the criminal justice system.

d.      The permitting process in Naples.

Mr. Garcia concluded with a discussion of the “Investigator’s Verse” from Luke 12:2-3.

² There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

He was one of our most interesting and entertaining speaker to-date and provided a great way to kick off the first meeting of the Right Angle Club for the new season.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance presenting a modest token of the club’s appreciation to Mr. Garcia.   

Christopher Vernon, ESQ

        THE RIGHT ANGLE MEN’S CLUB APRIL MEETING 

The Right Angle Men's Club met on April 9, 2015 to enjoy comradery, a buffet lunch and to listen to the Mr. Christopher Vernon esq. discuss “Investor Protection 2015”.    

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Roccy DeFrancesco. Mr. Vernon spoke about how to choose the right financial advisor, how to avoid financial scams and the issues with fake and high risk investment products. Some of the areas he covered were:   

1)      How to choose an investment advisor

a.      Perform due diligence on a financial advisor by using the FINRA.ORG web site

b.      Make sure they have errors and omissions insurance

c.       Ask about standards of care and investigate suitability of potential investment products

d.      Make sure that the investment advisor is either a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) or a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) as the other titles are much easier to obtain

2)      Make sure the actual investments of a fund mirrors what the fund is designed to provide, for example:

a.      The Charles Schwab Yield Plus Fund was actually invested in risky California Mortgaged Backed Securities (MBS)

b.      The UBS 100% Principle Protected Note was actually an unprotected note from Lehman Brothers which went bankrupt

3)      Investment risk, including:

a.      Liquidity risk

b.      Transparency

c.       Margin buying

Mr. Vernon handled questions from Right Angle Members and provided advice and guidance in areas of selecting investments and choosing a financial advisor.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance wrapping up a very successful VCC Right Angle Men’s Club in the 2014/2015 season.  

DR. ALLEN WEISS, PRESIDENT & CEO OF NCH

        THE RIGHT ANGLE MEN’S CLUB MARCH MEETING 

The Right Angle Men's Club met on March 19, 2015 to enjoy comradery, a plated lunch and to listen to the CEO of NCH Healthcare, Dr. Allen Weiss. The theme of Dr. Weiss’ talk was “The Future of Healthcare Is Now”.   

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Bill Cooper.  Dr. Weiss spoke about the technological evolution in delivering healthcare services and some of the new capabilities being piloted today at NCH and Sloane Kettering which included:   

1)      IBM’s Watson computer providing better patient diagnosis than humans at Sloane Kettering

2)      “Doctors on Demand” using Skype and FaceTime for diagnosis over the web

3)      “Smart Pills” that can signal when medicine has entered the stomach to help insure elderly patients are taking their medicine

4)      “Smart Rooms” at NCH that use Radio Frequency for patient vital signs and medical records

5)      Advances in Telemedicine     

6)      The use of robots in Collier County to deliver clot busting medicine to stroke patients which can significantly reduce delivery time in a very time sensitive process

7)      The use of “Regenerative Medicine” at the Mayo clinic for issues like cancer of the larynx

NCH is very focused on quality of patient care and improving the outcomes for the patients that they serve. Dr. Weiss discussed a program at NCH to monitor patient mortality for Sepsis (blood infection) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) that was instituted using Statistical Quality Control Methods and 6 Sigma. That program has reduced the mortality rate from 34% to 8% for ICU sepsis. This has significantly improved both patient outcomes by preventing many mortalities as well as lowering the cost to deliver the service.  

Florida, as a state, is in the 2^nd quintile for quality of healthcare in the United States.  An individual’s zip code is the best predictor for life expectancy. The use of sewers and “potable water” has been the most significant factor in improving life expectancy worldwide. In the future, you can expect to see further exploitation of technology to improve patient outcomes as well as reduce the cost of medical care in both the United States broadly as well as in Collier County.

Dr. Weiss answered several questions and concerns from our members including a description of the new NCH facility being built at Collier and Immokalee which will have an emergency room and 20K square feet of full service hospital facilities and offices for family physicians.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance announcing the next meeting date and speaker.  

RIGHT ANGLE MEN'S CLUB FEBRUARY MEETING

The Right Angle Men's Club met on February 12, 2015 to enjoy camaraderie, a plated lunch and to listen to Stephen Myers from Angel Eyes UAV. Mr. Myers is the president of the company that focuses on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or DRONES.  

The meeting kicked off with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Bill Cooper.  After opening remarks, Mr. Myers discussion of UAVs covered the following major topics:   

1   1)      UAV definitions and classification

2   2)      Legal aspects and implication of UAVs

3   3)      Application and use of drone (UAV) technology    

Some of the key points from his discussion were:

Unmanned Ariel Systems have been in use since WWII when balloons were used to drop bombs. UAVs are ideal for use with tasks that humans should not be involved with because they are one of the “4Ds”- Dull, Dirty, Dangerous or Difficult.

There is much grey area today with regulation of UAVs. The confusion is due to both the lack of regulation and many commercial and non-commercial uses of UAVs. While the US lags other countries, Florida is very friendly to the aviation industry. There are many issues with UAVs including detection and avoidance, spectrum, secure GPS and certification.

 

The uses for UAVs include:

1   1)      Detecting hot spots on houses or commercial buildings.

2   2)      Multi-spectral detection for crop growth and vegetation, including golf courses.

3   3)      Volumetric studies.

4   4)      Corona discharge for electric wires.

  

In the future, you can expect more safety features for UAVs including parachutes, personal airspace protection, deterrents for flight interruption and capability to block jamming of UAV control transmission.

Mr. Myers answered several questions and concerns from our members including the FAA's proposed laws.

The following link contains a summary of the FAA’s suggestions for proposed laws:

http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/media/021515_sUAS_Summary.pdf

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance announcing the next meeting date and speaker.  

Right Angle Men's Club January Speaker's Meeting

The Right Angle Men's Club met on January 15, 2015 to enjoy comradery, a terrific buffet lunch and to listen to Charlotte Miller from Florida Power and Light. Ms. Miller is FPL’s Manager of External Affairs for Southwest Florida. Ninety one (91) members including several guests attended the meeting in Vanderbilt Country Club’s wonderful, new Vista Room.

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and opening remarks by Paul L’Esperance.  Bill Cooper introduced Ms Miller, our guest speaker who provided an overview of FPL and FPL’s parent company Next Era Energy. She discussed:  

1)      The regulated and un-regulated parts of the business

2)      FPL’s power generation facilities

3)      Smart grid initiatives from a consumer perspective   

Some of the key points from her discussion were:

The regulated side of FPL’s business provides electricity to approximately half of the state of Florida serving 4.7M customers in 35 counties. FPL is the lowest cost electricity provider in the state of Florida of all of the 55 utilities covering the state. Most of the electricity is generated from gas and nuclear energy. FPL has two nuclear power plants in Florida at Turkey Point and Stewart Island.

Using Smart grid initiatives and FPL’s Next Generation Energy Centers, FPL has significantly cut the cost to generate electricity for the customers FPL serves. Solar energy is beginning to grow with pilot projects underway. The challenges continue to be the amount of space needed for solar and battery backup. FPL is driving additional use of solar with a facility in DeSoto County.

 

Approximately 46M homes in the United States have smart meters which is about 40% coverage. Using automated, two way wireless encrypted transmission, FPL can provide additional capabilities to consumers as compared to the older, electro-mechanical meters. These capabilities include outage assistance and restoration, monitoring and metering usage real time and an energy dashboard where customers can watch usage by hour. 

  

Ms. Miller answered many questions and addressed concerns from our members.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance announcing the next meeting date and speaker.