SAPPHIRE PAUL HARRIS FELLOW
Citation:
Mary Barry was inducted into Rotary Melbourne on 16th August 2006 with the Classification Organisations CEO. Her sponsor was Philip Myers.
She was our 101st President in 2017-18 having served as Fellowship Director 2008-10 and Vice-President 2011-12. Professionally, Mary was CEO of Our Watch having previously been CEO of the Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES), CEO of the National Heart Foundation of Australia and CEO of the Victorian Association of Health and Extended Care.
Notably, at our Change Over last year, Mary was the recipient of the inaugural Mentoring Award, created by our Board to honour the memory of our esteemed Past President David Wittner AM.
In service to Rotary Melbourne, Mary created our Mentoring Program for all members joining our Club and for existing members who felt they would benefit from the experience. The purpose is to help members fully understand Rotary, to find their way around what can be a complex organisation, and to ensure that they become engaged in ways that best suit them.
A mentor training program was delivered to more than a dozen senior members and a procedure and questionnaire/profiling technique was implemented to match each mentee with the most suitable mentor. In the 2018-2019 year 20 mentees went through the Mentoring Program, and a quarter of them have leadership positions in the 2019-20 year.
Mary is currently Chair of our Community Welfare Committee and oversees a variety of projects that make a difference. Mary has been the co-instigator of our Safe Families project, which was elevated to R100 Status, where the workshop material has transitioned to create the Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse Videos launched this month.
Earlier this year Mary, was appointed to the Host Organising Committee (HOC) responsible for delivering the Melbourne 2023 Rotary International Convention and recently was elected HOC Chair. With her organisational skills and depth of experience, we know that Mary will serve us well in this vital role.
She has also supported District 9800 as a Director for many years and headed the Strategic Planning & Risk portfolio and now as the District Chair of Vocational Service which is making significant improvements in the promotion and revitalisation of the Vocational service area. These achievements led to District Governor Grant Hocking conferring Paul Harris recognition.
Now it is time to recognise the meritorious service that Mary Barry has truly rendered to Rotary Melbourne in fellowship, administration and our humanitarian project work delivery over the past 14 years and I wish to acknowledge today that Mary has her partner Philip Whelan on-line with her to share the occasion.
