Like Karen Blixen (who wrote Out of Africa under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen), Elisabeth Whitney “had a farm in Africa" — well, actually, her parents had a farm in Kenya, where Elisabeth was born. Her father, who had grown up with guns and hunting, talked her mother into settling in Kenya, her favorite stop on their honeymoon, where he apprenticed as a big game hunter. But, after shooting an elephant, he decided that was not for him and became a pilot flying tourists to safari camps. Then, after “accidentally” bidding on 50 head of cattle, he bought land and became a rancher.
When Elisabeth was 15, her parents, both American, decided to move back to the United States for their three daughters’ educations, settling in Texas. Elisabeth studied geology at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN, then returned to Texas to work as a flight paramedic for the Galveston 911 Emergency Service, serving oil workers on rigs in the Gulf.
In 2000, Elisabeth moved to Australia to earn a master’s in public health and tropical medicine at James Cook University in Queensland, where she enrolled in medical school, then dropped out and moved to California with her son in 2006 after a divorce. After earning a master’s in nonprofit management and administration at USF, Elisabeth worked for a small company in disaster preparedness and started her own jewelry business. Calling herself “a serial entrepreneur,” she shut down the jewelry business during the economic downturn (“No one was buying jewelry.”), and, in 2013, started her own consulting business in disaster preparedness and business continuity for nonprofit organizations.
Last year, Elisabeth became CEO of Rotacare Bay Area, Inc., a nonprofit organization that runs 12 primary care clinics, each started by a Rotary Club, that provide health care for people without health insurance. That was her impetus to join Rotary. She left Rotacare and shut down the consulting business to focus on a doctorate in business administration for health care facilities through the online Northcentral University, which she has almost completed.
“I love Rotary, mostly for the networking, but also for the friends I’ve made,” she says. “I love the notion of Service Above Self.”
Elisabeth looked at several Rotary clubs in the Bay Area, but joined the Rotary Club of San Francisco last year because of its “tremendous history” – second oldest Rotary Club in the world, instrumental in the founding of the United Nations, supportive of women in Rotary. “It’s a great feeling to be a member of this tremendous Club that has been part of so many magnificent things ... That’s phenomenal!”
Elisabeth, who lives in San Francisco with her son, Rowan, is mentoring new member Dr. Lily Muldoon, and is a member of the International and Youth Services Committees. She also serves on the Board as Chair of the Communications Committee, which helps to promote Club events in Grindings, on the website and through social media, including Facebook and LinkedIn.
In addition, the committee is focusing on three projects – rolling out a new banner; putting together a January 16 luncheon honoring members who have been part of the Club for more than 25 years; and surveying members of two to three years about why they stay in the Club, with an eye to messaging that can promote the Club in the Bay Area.
Elisabeth says, “We do a tremendous amount, and I’m very proud of each and every member of the committee.”