Rotary District 6780

District Governor

Ron Appuhn

Ron joined the Rotary Club of Maryville in 2005. He has served as club president and currently serves as the International Service chair for the club. Ron has served in several capacities in District 6780, including Chair of the International Service Committee and member of the Group Study Exchange Committee. He has been a spouse/partner facilitator at the International Assembly in San Diego and at several Zone 30-31 institutes. He received Rotary International’s Service Above Self award in 2015.

Ron is known in our district and our zones as a lead advocate for the Heart 2 Heart program. The Heart 2 Heart program is a collaborative partnership between 32 districts in the US and two districts in central Mexico to provide humanitarian service, primarily through TRF global grants. Ron will be serving as a member of Rotary International’s Finance Committee from 2018-21 and was the Vice Chair in 2018-19. Ron is also a member of the Rotary International Investment Committee in 2020-21.

Ron's career was in the education finance field, primarily as the Chief Financial Officer in colleges in three states and at Webb School of Knoxville. He has a BS in accounting from the University of California Berkeley and a MBA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and he is a Certified Public Accountant. Ron has also served on several local not-for-profit boards.

Ron is married to Past Rotary International Director Karen Wentz. Karen and Ron have a large blended family - Ron has two boys and Karen has four children, five grandchildren, and six great grandchildren. Ron and Karen enjoy family, Rotary, and travel.

They are strong supporters of Rotary’s peace activities and are members of the Paul Harris Society and the Arch Klumph Society.

The Governor's Team

District Governor-elect

Cindy Gammons

Cindy has been a member of the Lafayette Rotary Club since 2000 where she served as president in 2011-12. She has served on many committees and is currently the Youth Committee Chair. Cindy is a graduate of the District Leadership Academy and has worked at the district level for the past 5 years; serving as an Assistant Governor for three years and Assistant Governor Coordinator for two years. Additionally, she has been on the District Conference Planning committee and currently serves on the Governor’s Committee and is a trainer for the Rotary Leadership Institute.

A graduate of Middle Tennessee University, Cindy received her BA in the area of Instrumental Music, K-12. She was the band director and choral director at Macon County High School for 9 years. During that time, she received her MA and EdS from Tennessee Tech University in the area of school administration. She was an elementary school principal for one year and then served as the principal of Macon County High School for seven years. For the past 16 years, Cindy has served as the Federal Programs Director of Macon County where she oversees the entire Title program as well as several other federal grants.

Cindy’s pride and joy is her family. She has three wonderful children and six Gigi babies. Her daughter Meaghan serves as a probation officer. She has a 3-year-old step-son and just recently had a baby boy. Lauren, her middle daughter works for the sheriff’s office and has twin boys that are four, a two-year-old son and a nine-month old boy. Cindy also has a son, who was lucky enough to be in the graduating high school class of 2020, the class that holds the record for the longest skip school days. He was able to have a prom and graduation. This fall he will be attending Vol State in Cookeville, taking advantage of the Tennessee Scholars Program. He will transfer to Tennessee Tech after he finishes at Vol State. In her spare time, Cindy is a huge sports enthusiast. Football is her passion and is a huge UT and Titans fan. She is also an avid runner. She has run for over 20 years, taking some time off when her kids were young. She has run in over twelve half marathons in Nashville, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville and Cincinnati, OH.

District Governor-nominee

Alan Clark

Alan served more than 28 years in the Army, including a combat tour in Desert Storm, and retired in 2000 as a Colonel earning a Legion of Merit and Bronze Star among other awards. In 1999, he was inducted into the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame in Fort Benning, GA.

Alan is a Past President of the Winchester Noon Rotary Club and is currently the Past President and Executive Secretary of the Franklin County A.M. Rotary Club. He was named the Rotarian of the Year in the Winchester Club for 2007-2008, and is the Assistant District Governor for Area 12 (Franklin County, Winchester, Monteagle-Sewanee, and Grundy County.) His other Rotary duties include five years on the District’s Rotary Youth Exchange committee and roles as Youth Exchange Coordinator and Advisor. He is a two-time Paul Harris Fellow and Rotary Benefactor.

Clark is the editorial columnist for the Winchester (TN) Herald-Chronicle and editorial page contributor to the Columbia (TN) Daily Herald. In 2019 he received a Tennessee Press Association Award for Best Editorials. His published works include two novels, Temporary Friends and Setting Fire to This Life, a compilation, From Calypso Joe to the Toad: My Favorite Drummers, and a book of poetry, If You Knew What I Was Thinking. A book based on his leadership theories was published in 2018, called The Leadership Initiative: Meeting the Challenges of Change, and is used in leadership seminars and workshops. A compilation of the first year of his editorials was published by Lakeway Publishers in 2019, entitled You Oughtta Know, Vol One 2017-2018.

A prolific writer and enthusiastic reader, he holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Tennessee and is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College.

Clark lives in Estill Springs, Tennessee, with wife Shirley Maxwell Clark. He still plays and coaches tennis, enjoys travel, music, kayaking, and boating on Tims Ford Lake, and plays drums and bass guitar in his spare time.