While Brian Buchanan and I sat comfortably at the Carmel Flanner and Buchanan location last month, I was reminded just how fortunate we are to know such important individuals in our club. Brian exemplifies the Rotarian because he’s involved, caring and committed.

He is a fourth generation Buchanan and was born in Indianapolis, currently residing in Carmel, Indiana. Unless you’ve just moved to Indianapolis, it would be hard to not know the Flanner and Buchanan name. After all, Flanner and Buchanan Mortuaries have been around for 129 years. Brian’s Great Grandfather (Charles) was the original Buchanan. He married Anna Flanner, sister of Frank Flanner. They went into business with Frank and the rest is history!

Brian is married to Kim Sullivan Buchanan, who grew-up in Irvington, Indianapolis. When he was the Indianapolis Deputy Prosecutor (during Steve Goldsmith’s position as Prosecutor) he met Kim while she was working in the Indianapolis Probation Department.

As when began our conversation, Brian talked about our club glowingly. And while he is a member of the Indianapolis club, he also attends the Carmel Club meetings occasionally, having friends in both clubs.
I asked Brian why he became a member. He remembered his Grandfather was a charter member of the Rotary Exchange Club in downtown Indianapolis. He always loved attending the meetings and rarely missed. In fact, when his Grandfather was older and couldn’t drive, Brian recalls that he would call a taxi just to get him to the meetings!

Being an advocate of service clubs, Brian was also a member of the Carmel Clay Kiwanis club in the early 1980’s. He became a member of the downtown Rotary Club when he was invited by a friend to attend a meeting at the Athletic Club – he was then Vice President of Flanner and Buchanan.
While we have moved several times since being at the Athletic Club, Brian loves our new location at the Scottish Rite Cathedral and is also a 33rd Degree Member of the Scottish Rite, the highest Masonic Degree bestowed.

Over the years, he has been involved with the Rotary Foundation, especially when James Schram (God rest his wonderful sole) was in charge, who then handed the torch to Brian. When Brian attended the Rotary Convention in Calgary, he was so impressed with the international presence, he became even more involved by lobbying for the Foundation.

One great story Brian recalls was from 2007. Brian sponsored a student from Slovakia through the Rotary Exchange and Student Program (Michael Kutzer). Michael lived with the Buchanan’s for most of that year. The Buchanan’s then had the unique opportunity to fly back with Michael to visit Slovakia, where his father was also a Rotarian. Brian made Michael a Paul Harris Fellow during his visit, and it was indeed very appreciated, both by Michael and the Rotarians in Slovakia.

Brian was also invited to speak at the Rotary Club in Slovakia. He recalls that the members there were (are) truly entrepreneurs because it wasn’t too long ago that Slovakia was part of the Soviet Union. They had many, many (tough) questions for Brian. The exchange of conversation was both exciting and challenging – because of the cultural differences.

One of the most interesting topics had to do with the American Rotarian’s interest in helping their community and giving back. The Rotarians in Slovakia are not used to this because the Soviet Union of yesterday and some of what still exists today, frown upon citizens doing good things for their fellow Slovakians. It can still be a challenge because of the residue left in government. As American Rotarians we take a lot for granted – if we want to do something good for our community, there’s little to stop us from doing so. This is not the case in many other countries, including Slovakia.

I also asked Brian what he most enjoys about Rotary today. He would like to get to know more of the members in someway. Perhaps more events outside of the Tuesday meetings. He would encourage members to visit the other clubs when possible and participate in more activities like Ringing the Salvation Army Bell, Rotarian volunteer gatherings, etc.

Brian really enjoys our recent successes in attracting new members at Rotary. He thinks were doing a great job and sees a good future for our club. Mostly because we continue to do good things for our community through the Foundation.

We are truly fortunate to have Brian Buchanan as an Indianapolis Rotarian. Please say hello the next time you see him and thank him for all that he does for our club!

Rotary’s own Executive Director, Susie Harmless, was raised as a daughter of a career Air Force Officer. She, her sister and mother joyfully followed Dad all over the country and the world where she was blessed to experience living in Germany and Japan. She began her college career at the University of Maryland in Munich, Germany and finished her degree in Political Science on the main campus at College Park, Maryland.

Upon retirement from the Air Force, her father became Director of Development for DePauw University in Greencastle. It was the summer between her Junior and Senior years that she met her husband and partner for life, Michael. Soon after college they married, had one (1) wonderful daughter, Heather, and have lived in Greencastle for thirty (30) years. Michael served the community of Greencastle for eight (8) years as the Mayor of Greencastle and later joined Crowe Horwath as a Director. Their daughter, Heather, Director of Client Services for Multiple Sclerosis of Indiana is married to Bart who is employed by Baldwin & Lyons.

Prior to joining Rotary as our Executive Director, Susie enjoyed a career in state government working for the Indiana Department of Commerce where she was Director of Community Development and also worked within the Indiana Department of Revenue. Her time with Rotary has gone very quickly for her over these past six (6) years and she feels that Rotary is never a dull moment. The continual planning for wonderful speakers/meetings each week keeps her and staff very active to meet the requirements of the club meetings and our members. Susie truly enjoys, and would say her favorite piece of Rotary is being able to have interaction with club members from such diverse backgrounds. She feels continually enriched by knowing our members, and by planning and serving the transitions from year to year with the Rotary’s Board.

Rotary not only touches Susie’s professional life, but also touches her personally as she feels better informed on issues of the state and world which is a direct result of the quality of our programs, feels connected internationally due to her attendance and participation in the International Convention and is pleased to be able to serve others through the work that Rotary does here and in the world.

Susie’s hobbies and interests include loving to cook, consuming wonderful wine and traveling. She has spent some time recently being involved with the American Pianist Association as she loves music.

Her only regret may be that she did not go to law school to obtain a degree as she has always wanted to be an attorney. Her continued drive each day comes from her father’s influence on her throughout her life where he encouraged her to “always try harder” which is why she is so pleased to see our club always reaching to improve and to try harder to be the best service club in the state.

When asked whose the most interesting person Susie has ever met, she quickly noted that her two (2) meetings with Hillary Clinton rank high on her list as they both shared their passions for public and community service for others.