TEAM Westport Chair Harold Bailey to Speak at Bobby Q's, Fri. Feb. 8

Harold Bailey, chairman of TEAM Westport,  the diversity committee for the Town of Westport, will speak on "TEAM Westport:  A  Decade of Difference" at the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club breakfast meeting at Bobby Q's, 42 Main St., Westport, on Friday, February 8th, 7:30 a.m. Guests are welcome. There is a $12 fee for the meeting which includes a breakfast buffet.

In 2003, Westport's then First Selectwoman Diane Farrell assembled a taskforce of volunteers from Westport/Weston to address diversity issues in terms of race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation.  TEAM Westport was established "to achieve, celebrate and extend a more welcoming, multicultural community."  "TEAM" is an acronym for "Together Effectively Achieving Multiculturalism." The Representative Town Meeting voted to make TEAM Westport an official standing Town Committee in 2005.

Harold Bailey, Jr., a Westport resident, has chaired TEAM Westport since its founding.  With a background in management, marketing, and strategic planning, he currently is executive vice president of McLeod Associates Inc., an information technology consulting firm, and president of Aisha & Co., LLC, a gift and toy manufacturer. Both companies are based in Westport.  Previously, he was CEO of Americas for Show Business Software, a UK-based provider of performance management and business intelligence software.

Bailey serves on Westport Country Playhouse's board of trustees and is a founding member of 100 Black Men, Stamford, CT Chapter. He holds a B.S., a B.A., and an Honorary Ph.D. from Brown University.  As a Trustee Emeritus of Brown University, he currently co-chairs its Alumni of Color Development Committee and is a member of its Committees on Admissions and Financial Aid, Budget and Finance, and Minority Affairs.  He is co-founder of Brown's Investment in Diversity Minority Scholarship Fund, the first of its kind in the Ivy League. Bailey was awarded the ADL's 2005 Distinguished Community Leadership Award for Upper Fairfield County and the Tilton School's 2006 George L. Plimpton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Society.

Westport Sunrise Rotary supports a wide range of charitable programs locally and internationally, serving all ages, in four categories: community service, including Gillespie Center and Staples Student of the Month; vocational service, such as the District Four-Way Speech Contest; international service, including worldwide polio eradication; and local organizations, including Cancer Care, CLASP, Earthplace, HomesWithHope, Meals on Wheels, Project Return, Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, STAR and Westport Youth Film Festival. Funds are raised through various Sunrise Rotary-sponsored events annually, including a Duck Race in June and a Wine Tasting in October. A complete list of organizations that Westport Sunrise Rotary serves is available at http://www.westportsunriserotary.com/charities.html

For information about Westport Sunrise Rotary, visit its website at www.westportsunriserotary.com; contact Steve Cowherd, membership, at 203-209-3568 or by email at herd59@gmail.com; or attend a meeting any Friday at 7:30 a.m. at Bobby Q's Restaurant, 42 Main Street, Westport.