Guest speaker for the Nov. 15 was Anne Krause.
A resident of San Antonio for 14 years now, she serves as president and executive director of the Hemisfair Conservancy and has done so since its inception.
Krause received a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Air Force Academy, as well as a Master of Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin.
She began her career as an Air Force officer.
While serving her country, she flew jets, deployed to Cuba and served as the executive officer of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds Demonstration Team.
When she transitioned to the civilian world, she has served in leadership roles in a number of nonprofits and is passionate about arts and education in her community.
On top of everything else she's accomplished, she and her husband are the parents of four children.
“Thank you so much for that warm welcome. I really do enjoy speaking to Rotary groups, because we do have that shared alignment with service. And, I think that’s really kind of the theme of my professional life. People ask me, 'How did you go from flying jets to raising money for various agencies?’ And the truth is, when I left the military in 1999 to have more time with my family, something was missing and I didn’t realize what it was exactly. I did feel that call to service."
"And, when I got involved in nonprofits, I was just looking to be a volunteer to fill my day and meet people. But, when people find out you were a military officer, you end up as president of everything — whether you meant to or not. And I learned so many tools of the trade from people along the way," Krause said.
She went on to recognize all the veterans in the room and said she wished they had a nice Veterans Day, and then thanked them for their service.
Thunderbirds
Krause went to pilot training in Lubbock, Texas.
Krause gave a brief history of her time with the Thunderbirds. Congress did not rescind the combat exclusion rule until 1995, so there was no way she was going to be put in a fighter.
But the "neat thing is I did like to go fast and light my hair on fire," she said, so they let her be an instructor pilot and she got to learn to fly the T38, which was "a lot of fun."
It was a "wild ride" and definitely a young person's game, she said.
She was the only female officer for the team. Her job was to be the acting commander when the team was on the road. She was in charge of the budget, of human relations and hiring and all that type of stuff. But, sometimes they needed a female officer to travel with the team, and so she learned a lot about public relations from that experience. "I had the privilege of representing the women in the Department of Defense in that position," she said.
She wasn't the first female officer on the team, but she was definitely one of the first female officers on the team.
"I really was proud of the day that they did hire the first female pilot, because she was exceptionally qualified and reflected well on the rest of us," she said. "That legacy continues today and I am really proud to be a part of the Thunderbirds alumni."
Hemisfair
Now, she runs the philanthropic arm of the Transformational Hemisfair Redevelopment Project in downtown San Antonio. She polled those who went to the World's Fair in 1968. She asked if anyone had a memory of that fair they'd like to share. "I love hearing people's stories. It's really neat," she said.
While the World's Fair wasn't a huge financial success, what it did do was bring more than 6 million people to San Antonio from April and October of 1968.
"It really put San Antonio on the map as a travel destination," she said. "And I think San Antonio has done an amazing job of catering to tourists ever since then."
Part of the reason this redevelopment is underway is because the locals want it to be more "for us." "We want our neighbors in Kerrville and surrounding areas — this is a place for YOU to come. And, yeah, the savvy tourists are going to hear about it, but all the design and the programming are for South Texans."
"This is really OUR park. It is excited to see it redeveloped," she said. It fell into neglect. Now, "we believe great cities have great downtowns and great downtowns have great urban spaces."
"What we're going for now is a 36-acre development in the heart of San Antonio" -- 19 acres of which will be green space and 17 acres of which will be developable park.
The first of the 3 parks installed opened in October 2015 and "I'm pleased to tell you that we've had 1 million, 100 thousands visitors since we opened," she said. Of those, 85 percent of visitors are locals.
Transforming it from more of a park to a "district."
The second park is going to be the flagship — the Civic Park.
The third park will be called "Tower Park" at the base of the iconic structure, the tower that was built for the World's Fair of 1968.
Krause continued on with details in how they involve the public — families and children — in the redevelopment process. They have more than 600 events on the calendar for 2017 and 95 percent of them are free to the public, made possible through partnerships with nonprofits and other organizations in San Antonio.
