After graduating from Ball State University in 1993, Mike began his career in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Harbour Trust in 2001, Mike spent eight years serving as a Personal Trust Administrator with JP Morgan Chase. There, he was responsible for both personal trust and employee benefit accounts.
Mike has successfully completed the Personal Trust School program through Cannon Financial Institute at the University of Notre Dame. He earned the designation of Certified Trust Financial Advisor in 1997 and has enthusiastically worked to maintain this designation, as well as expand his knowledge of financial planning and investment management. In an effort to further broaden his knowledge of the trust and investment field, in 2012 Mike successfully passed the CISP exam and became a Certified IRA Services Professional through the Institute of Certified Bankers. He is the head of New Business Development at Harbour Trust and serves as head of the IRA Division.
Born and raised in Michigan City, Mike has two daughters and has served 3 terms as president of the Michigan City Rotary Club and as Rotary District 6540 Assistant District Governor. Mike is the President of the Board of Directors for the Lubeznik Center for the Arts.
In the mountains of Poland, 26 children traumatized by violence get a chance to be kids again at Rotary camp. Nestled in the scenic Tatra Mountains in Zakopane, the camp gives children a chance to heal in a peaceful setting. The program includes traditional camp activities and field trips along with support from mental health professionals.
For the 10th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
In a letter to the Foundation, Charity Navigator notes that "only 1 percent of the charities we evaluate have received at least 10 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that The Rotary Foundation outperforms other charities in America. This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator sets The Rotary Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness."
The rating reflects Charity Navigator's assessment of how the Foundation uses donations, sustains its programs and services, and practices good governance and openness.
With 22 confirmed cases in 2017 to date, and just one case in 2018, the world is on the brink of eradicating polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Rotary gives $53.5 million to help eradicate polio and challenges the world to continue the fight to end the disease.
Photo by Khaula Jamil
Rotary is giving $53.5 million in grants to support immunization and surveillance activities led by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
More than half of the funds will support efforts to end polio in two of the three countries where polio remains endemic:
Afghanistan: $12.03 million
Pakistan: $19.31 million
Further funding will support efforts to keep 10 vulnerable countries polio-free:
Cameroon: $1.61 million
Central African Republic: $428,000
Chad: $2.33 million
The Democratic Republic of Congo: $6.48 million
Ethiopia: $1.82 million
Iraq: $2 million
Niger: $1.71 million
Somalia: $3.29 million
South Sudan: $835,300
Syria: $428,000
An additional $731,338 will fund research to be conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), and another $518,000 will go toward technical assistance in West and Central Africa.
While significant strides have been made against the disease, polio remains a threat in hard-to-reach and underserved areas and conflict zones. Despite a historically low case count, as long as a single child has polio, all children are at risk, which underscores the need for continued funding and political commitment to eradication.
Rotary has committed to raising $150 million over the next three years, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, yielding $450 million for polio eradication activities, including immunization and surveillance.
Rotary started its polio eradication program PolioPlus in 1985, and in 1988 became a partner in the GPEI, along with WHO, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation later became a partner. Since the initiative launched, the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 22 confirmed cases in 2017 (as of 25 January). Rotary has contributed a total of more than $1.7 billion — including matching funds from the Gates Foundation — and countless volunteer hours to protect more than 2.5 billion children in 122 countries from polio.
Mobile phones and simple text messaging may be the keys to victory in the world’s largest public health initiative: the eradication of polio.
As the disease retreats from the global stage, thriving in only a few remote areas in three countries, it’s up to health workers to deliver vaccines and share information with speed and accuracy.
Health workers in Pakistan are receiving cellphone and e-monitoring training at the Rotary Resource Center in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rotary and its partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative are strengthening the lines of communication by giving cellphones to health workers in Pakistan and Nigeria, where a single text message could save a life.
In Pakistan, Rotary has been working to replace traditional paper-based reporting of maternal and child health information, including polio immunization data, with mobile phone and e-monitoring technology.
Community health workers across the nation have received more than 800 phones through a partnership with Rotary, the Pakistani government; Telenor, the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider; and Eycon, a data monitoring and evaluation specialist. Organizers plan to distribute a total of 5,000 cellphones by the end of 2018.
Health workers can use the phones to send data via text message to a central server. If they see a potential polio case, they can immediately alert officials at Pakistan’s National Emergency Operations Center. They also can note any children who didn’t receive the vaccine or parental refusals – and record successful immunizations. In Pakistan, the polio eradication effort aims to reach the nation’s 35 million children under age five.
The result is a collection of real-time information that officials can easily monitor and assess, says Michel Thieren, regional emergency director of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergency Program.
“Cellphone technology signals tremendous progress in the polio eradication program,” says Thieren, who has directed polio-related initiatives for WHO in Pakistan. “The data we collect needs to have such a granular level of detail. With real-time information that can be recorded and transcribed immediately, you can increase accuracy and validity.
“This gives governments and polio eradication leaders an advantage in the decisions we need to make operationally and tactically to eliminate polio,” Thieren says.
Beyond polio
Health workers also are using mobile phones to monitor a multitude of maternal and child health factors.
Pakistan’s child mortality rate ranks among the highest in the world, according to UNICEF, with 81 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births.
But mobile technology can help reduce those deaths, says Asher Ali, project manager for Rotary’s Pakistan PolioPlus Committee.
“Our health workers, including community midwives, are tracking pregnant mothers,” Ali says. “When a child is born, they can input and maintain complete health records, not just for polio, but for other vaccines and basic health care and hygiene needs.”
They also can monitor infectious diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and influenza-like illnesses, as well as child malnutrition and maternal health concerns.
“If there is a problem with the baby or the mother, we can send information to the government health departments immediately, so they can solve the issue quickly and adjust their strategies,” Ali says.
Cellphones also facilitate follow-up visits with families, because health workers can send appointment reminders over text message.
Proliferation of phones
Mobile phone use worldwide has spiked recently, with about 7 billion subscribers globally, 89 percent of them in developing countries, says WHO. Even people living on less than $1 a day often have access to phones and text messaging, according to WHO. Cellphones are used more than any other technology in the developing world.
Rotary and other nonprofit organizations are leveraging this fact to boost a variety of health initiatives.
The Grameen Foundation conducts a “mobile midwife” program that sends daily texts and weekly voice mails to expectant mothers, offering advice during pregnancy and the first year of the child’s life. UNICEF provides similar support to mothers, with a focus on nutrition throughout pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life.
Mobile phones also are helping in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. The British nonprofit Absolute Return for Kids uses text messages to remind patients about medications and upcoming appointments.
Pathways to Peace Series: Peace in the Age of Uncertainty
The 21st century has ushered in an era of rapid and at times incomprehensible change. Citizens in communities great and small are living in a near constant state of social, political, economic and cultural upheaval. Simply put, people no longer feel safe and secure in their lives. From crime on the streets of Chicago to human rights violations in Syria and unending war in Afghanistan, people are increasingly convinced that the world is falling apart. The reality is that in many ways, the world is healthier, more prosperous and more peaceful than at any time in history. Thus we face the paradox of a world that is both turbulent and tranquil at the same time. How do we calm the unrest, spread prosperity and show that the world can be, and in fact is, a better place to live?
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Mike Hackett
In the mountains of Poland, 26 children traumatized by violence get a chance to be kids again at Rotary camp. Nestled in the scenic Tatra Mountains in Zakopane, the camp gives children a chance to heal in a peaceful setting. The program includes traditional camp activities and field trips along with support from mental health professionals.
With 22 confirmed cases in 2017 to date, and just one case in 2018, the world is on the brink of eradicating polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that once paralyzed hundreds of thousands of children each year.
Mobile phones and simple text messaging may be the keys to victory in the world’s largest public health initiative: the eradication of polio. 
Pathways to Peace Series: Peace in the Age of Uncertainty
