Program Highlights – PETS 2027
THURSDAY- APRIL 1ST, 2027
3:00-4:45 PM AREA GOVERNOR TRAINING
(AG's Only) Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms (details to follow)
Districts 5440, 5450 & 5470 (Not Nebraska 5630)
5:00-8:00 PM WELCOME RECEPTION
ALL PARTICIPANTS KICK-OFF EVENT AT THE GLENWOOD SPRINGS ART CENTER
FRIDAY- APRIL 2ND, 2027
8:00-11:30 AM BREAKFAST & DISTRICT SESSIONS
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
11:30-12:15 PM LUNCH
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
12:15-1:15 PM OPENING GENERAL SESSION
ALL PARTICIPANTS KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DIRECTOR-ELECT JOHN CHASE
Hotel Colorado Devereaux Room
1:45-5:00 PM HCPETS FACILITATED SESSIONS
PRESIDENT ELECTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
AG's & PEN's Morgridge Commons Breakout Rooms
EVENING OFF DINNER OFF-SITE
Optional: District dinners, Dine Around Town, & Vaudeville
(Separate Registration & Invitations will follow)
SATURDAY- APRIL 3RD, 2027
8:00-9:00 AM BREAKFAST BUFFET
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
9:00-11:50 AM HCPETS FACILITATED SESSIONS
PRESIDENT ELECTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
AG's & PEN's Morgridge Commons Breakout Rooms
11:50-12:40 PM LUNCH
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
12:40-1:45 PM GENERAL SESSION #2
ALL PARTICIPANTS KEYNOTE SPEAKER: TJ SULLIVAN: MOTIVATING THE MIDDLE
Hotel Colorado Devereaux Room
2:00-3:50 PM TOPICS OF INTEREST BREAKOUTS
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
4:00-5:30 PM DISTRICT SESSIONS
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
5:30-6:00 PM COCKTAIL HOUR
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Foyer
6:00-7:00 PM DINNER
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Breakout Rooms
7:00-8:30 PM CLOSING GENERAL SESSION
ALL PARTICIPANTS KEYNOTE SPEAKER: PRESIDENT ELECT LARRY LUNSFORD
Hotel Colorado Devereaux Room
8:30-11:00 PM DISTRICT HOSPITALITY SUITES
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado DGE Suites (more information to come)
SUNDAY- APRIL 4TH, 2027
8:00-10:00 AM COFFEE CHAT WITH RIPE LARRY LUNSFORD
ALL PARTICIPANTS Hotel Colorado Devereaux Room
Keynote Speakers — PETS 2027
FRIDAY LUNCH SPEAKER
DIRECTOR JOHN CHASE
Rotary International Director-Elect 2027-2029
John Chase is a member of the Rotary Club of Boulder City and resides in Henderson, Nevada, with his wife, Elizabeth. They have two adult daughters, Ashley and Meghan.
A Rotarian since 2001, John has held numerous leadership roles, including Club President, Assistant Governor, Executive Assistant Governor, RYLA Chair, and District Governor (2018–2019) for Rotary District 5300. During his gubernatorial year, he led the chartering of two Rotary clubs and one Rotaract club.
John later chaired the Big West New Club Development Task Force (2021–2022) and served as Zone 26 Rotary Membership Coordinator from 2022 to 2025. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for Rotary Zones 26 and 27 and is the current Rotary International Director Nominee.
Professionally, John and Elizabeth own and operate AmeriSent Insurance – Boulder City. He is also a retired Deputy Chief of the Boulder City Police Department, where he served with distinction until 2014.
John is widely respected as a dedicated Rotarian and exceptional leader, recognized for his commitment to service, organizational excellence, and people-centered leadership.
SATURDAY LUNCH SPEAKER
T.J. SULLIVAN
Motivating the Middle
Rotary Club Member
T.J. Sullivan has three decades’ experience as an influential voice in college student leadership. He has spoken to audiences in all 50 states and has won top national awards from the Association of Fraternity and Sorority Advisors, the American College Personnel Association, and the North-American Interfraternity Conference. He has keynoted hundreds of national and regional college leadership conferences, as well as fraternity and sorority conventions and events.
His book on college leadership, Motivating the Middle: Fighting Apathy in College Student Organizations (Wheatmark, 2012, 2016), is a mainstay in hundreds of university leadership courses.
T.J. graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington with a degree in Journalism and went to work for his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, for several years. He moved to Colorado in 1991. and in 1992, he and his close friend, Joel Goldman, began a campus program called Friendship in the Age of AIDS. There was enormous demand for HIV & AIDS education, and the two quickly became the busiest speakers on the college lecture circuit, touring for 7 years, and impacting the choices of a generation of young adults nationwide. For their efforts, they were recognized with the “Angels Award” from the Ryan White Foundation, an honor shared with better-known names like Elton John and Elizabeth Taylor.
In 2019, after nearly 30 years, 5-million airline miles, and more than 3,000 college appearances, he retired from full-time speaking. Although he accepts a limited number of campus speaking invitations, he now makes a living as the President & CEO of the Parker Chamber of Commerce & Foundation in the Denver, Colorado, area, nurturing small business owners much like he nurtured college speakers for so many years. He frequently is tapped as a consultant for chambers and small non-profit organizations around goal-setting and board development.
He is a faculty member of the Western Association of Chamber Executives’ Academy program and a board member of that organization. In 2020, he was named CEO of the Year by the Colorado’s state chamber association. He has received recognitions from the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Business Journal.
SATURDAY DINNER KEYNOTE SPEAKER
LARRY LUNSFORD
Rotary International President-Elect 2027-2028
Larry A. Lunsford is a member of the Rotary Club of Kansas City-Plaza, Missouri, and has been selected as president of Rotary International for 2027-28.
Lunsford attended what is now Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, on an academic scholarship, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting. He first encountered Rotary when he received a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship to spend the 1981-82 academic year at the University of Newcastle in Australia.
As a certified public accountant, Lunsford spent seven years working for the accounting firm Arthur Young and its successor, Ernst & Young. He joined a family-owned business, Bernstein-Rein Advertising, in 1990. He is the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. He has held positions on the boards of the Kansas City Spirit Festival and the Kansas City chapter of Variety – the Children’s Charity, and he served as director of a local bank and as treasurer of the Epilepsy Foundation for the Heart of America Region . He has also served on Truman State University’s alumni and foundation boards and received the university’s Distinguished Service Award.
WELCOME RECEPTION
Join us from 5-8 pm on Thursday for a Welcome Reception!
KICK-OFF SOCIAL
Glenwood Springs Art Center
5-8 PM
Who knows what surprises we have in store for you…. or what celebrities will appear to welcome you.
You don't want to miss it!
LARRY'S COFFEE CHAT
You don't want to leave before you say good-bye to Larry Lunsford in style! Hear him get interviewed… by none other than Paul Harris at this hilarious and raucaus coffee chat!
Featuring RI President-Elect Larry Lunsford
Coffee and Pastries
SUNDAY MORNING
A final farewell on Sunday before you hit the road