Speakers

Nike Imoru is a British-Nigerian casting director, producer, actress of stage and screen, and actor’s coach. After 25 years as a  professor and published scholar of theatre and history, she went into film. (Her first role was opposite Samuel L Jackson in Home of the Brave.)

She is best known in the NW for casting 5 seasons of Sy Fy’s Z nation, and casting over 20 feature films for North by Northwest Productions. She is the president and co-founder (along with Rebecca Petriello) of Rebel Kat Productions, a film finance company. Rebel Kat’s debut movie All Those Small Things starring James Faulkner (Downtown Abbey and Game of Thrones) has just been completed and is out to buyers and studios in Hollywood.  Ms Imoru is a member of the Casting Society of America, there are 800 members world-wide.  She gained her PhD from the University of Warwick UK.

Tim Komberec, President and CEO of Empire Airlines, Inc., was born and raised in Montana. After high school, Tim moved to Seattle, Washington where he worked for the Boeing Company as an experimental machinist until entering and serving three years of active duty in the US Army. Upon leaving the Army, Tim returned to Seattle to attend Seattle Community College and to pursue his flying career.

Tim has been actively involved in aviation since 1971. He has held senior management positions with several airlines and has logged over 13,000 hours as an airline pilot, check airman and instructor. He is an Airline Transport Pilot with type ratings in several aircraft.

 

His career has covered many aspects of the aviation business. He has negotiated and administered labor contracts, worked with the certification of several airlines, established and managed both large and small flight and maintenance operations departments, flown thousand of hours, and managed aircraft fleets from small turbo props to large jet aircraft.

 

Tim currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Regional Airline Association, the Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association, the Kootenai County Airport Advisory Board, the Idaho Economic Advisory Council and the Executive Board of the North Idaho College Foundation. Tim and his wife Linda reside in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Coeur d'Alene Club Rotarian, Steve McCrea will discuss his new book, Sliencing Thomas Kerl, an histroical novel about the Espionage Act of 1917. During the First World War the United States invested millions of dollars to persuade Americans to support the mobilization of men and resources. The government orchestrated a propaganda campaign and enlisted thousands of informants who sought to prosecute citizens who were thought to be less than loyal. This biography explores the life of one of those who was prosecuted. Originally from Nebraska, where he had thousands of acres of farmland, Thomas Kerl was a resident of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He was a farmer, developer, educator, philanthropist, state legislator and an attorney. His story reminds us of how the media can manipulate public opinion and how easily the truth can be overlooked.