Jackson man chosen as club's president

Being president never occurred to Don Sievers. When he answered the phone call that told him he was nominated to be the 2008-2009 president of the Optimist International he thought it was a crank call he said.

"This was not on my radar screen," Sievers said.

He has been active in the Optimist Club since 1977 and has held a plethora of offices and served on various committees within the organization. He was elected to be president at the organization's Montreal convention in July.

For the next year, Sievers will serve as president-elect and help put together committees, teams and help choose a slogan and theme for next year so he can "hit the ground running" as the 90th president of the international civic organization on Oct. 1, 2008.

As president, Sievers will travel almost every weekend to other divisions and Optimist clubs. The organization has 3,200 clubs in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Africa, Europe and other countries around the world.

"He'll be really good for the organization," said friend and fellow Optimist Charles Wiles. "He's a very successful business man."

Wiles was the president of the Optimist International in 1993 to 94. He and Sievers met through the club.

"It's rare even that somebody from the same state gets elected," Wiles said, much less two neighboring towns.

"Our organization needs him really bad. He understands budgeting. He understands the finances, but he also understands how we need to grow," Wiles said.

Sievers started and grew Associated Sheet Metal Inc., a commercial and industrial HVAC company in Jackson. He has since retired, but will soon be active with his new presidency. He will be traveling 48 weekends out of the year.

Sievers said his wife Anita, also an active Optimist, is looking forward to it, "other than missing her grandkids."

"You're gone a lot," Wiles said. But he said that the greatest benefit of the travel and the work is the friends you make on all the trips.

"We get Christmas cards today, 13 years later, from nearly every state in the union," he said.

Sievers said he looks forward to growing the organization and trying to mold it to better fit into the active parent's life.

"Young parents are busier today than they were 30 years ago," he said.

Balancing the finances of the international organization while attracting new, younger members will be the biggest goals of his presidency.

charris@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246