Technology-Wireless Solutions
Michael Kemmer has lived all of his life in California, and half of that in San Diego. As long as he’s been here, he’s viewed Rotary as a part of his tie into the fabric of the community. He grew up under the tutelage of Rotarians first as an Interact student, and later as an SDSU Rotaract. During those years he took advantage of volunteer events both groups participated in, including Home building in Tijuana, Urban Angels & Traveling Stories. Since graduating from college, Michael has started volunteering at the American Red Cross, including delivering blood products during the pandemic to hospitals throughout San Diego County.
In his role as Enterprise Solutions Architect for Verizon, he designs and deploys IT infrastructure and application projects. His areas of expertise include solution/architecture design, cyber security and product management.
So as to not be confused with any other Michaels in the room, he prefers to go by “Kemmer.”
Kemmer thanks his sponsors Jordan Maharaj, Jordan Harrison and Duke Sobek.
Associations – Girl Scouts
Carol Dedrich is the Chief Executive Officer for Girl Scouts San Diego. Carol attributes the lessons she learned as a young Girl Scout with preparing her for leadership roles in school, the military, and throughout her career. Now, she is a champion of girls and women, committed to helping them overcome insecurities and building collaborations to expand their perspectives and skills. She began her career as a Patriot Missile Officer in the U.S. Army with an RA commission and is a veteran of Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
She transitioned to civilian life as a Director at United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, later moving to the John Wayne Cancer Institute as Vice President of Marketing and Development, and Vice President at the Fulfillment Fund. Before joining Girl Scouts San Diego in 2016, she spent seven years as Chief External Relations Officer for Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles.
At her leisure, Carol enjoys working on her private pilot’s license, being a scuba diving enthusiast, and traveling the world with her husband, Alex. Next on their bucket list: Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Chuuk Lagoon, and a flying experience in Africa. They recently adopted her late sister’s tortoiseshell cat, Kenya, who loves making appearances during virtual meetings.
She thanks her sponsors Wendy Urushima-Conn, Emily Rex and David Oates.
Biotechnology—Gene Sequencing Technology
Terry Caskey grew up on a small farm in the Central Valley of California. As the first in his family to attend college, he was proud to complete his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from UCSB, then his master’s and Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Massachusetts. He has spent 20+ years leading research and technology development organizations, starting with mobile device technologies, and later, microelectronics and biotech. In his current position as Director of Engineering for Illumina, he has lead their product development teams as they have been leading in the areas of pan-cancer screening, lifesaving gene therapies, targeted drug treatments and many other important discoveries.
He has always carved out time to include an element of service in his life. He has supported the Team in Training organization in collaboration with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation, the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering and is an active member of the Harbor Island Yacht Club and San Diego Outrigger Canoe Club.
Terry has 26 patents awarded and 14 pending. He and his wife Baily have lived in San Diego for over ten years.
He thanks his sponsors Glenn Younger, Duke Sobek and Gil Johnson.
