Trustee 2025-29
Rotary Club of Sparks
Nevada, USA

Vicki Puliz earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s in business administration from the University of Utah before becoming a partner in a commercial electrical contracting business in Nevada in 1984. She helped lead and expand the business until it merged with a publicly traded entity in 2003, and then she retired.

Puliz joined Rotary in 1992 as the first woman in her club. She has served Rotary as director, learning facilitator, and Rotary public image coordinator. She has been helped lead several presidents-elect and governors-elect training seminars. “I see Rotary as a leadership organization that provides service,” she says. “Leadership development is one of our key benefits to members.”

Puliz is also interested in leadership development for young people. It was when she witnessed more than a hundred Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) participants supporting one young woman who was struggling that her vision of the power of Rotary expanded. She has co-chaired RYLA events in her district, facilitated them in Benin, and co-created a district youth leadership program for 12- and 13-year-olds based on RYLA concepts. She also served on the inaugural Youth Advisory Council for Rotary International in 2022, which was composed of young leaders from all Rotary programs and reported directly to the RI Board of Directors.

Rotary’s peace initiatives are another passion for Puliz. She serves on the Rotary Peace Centers Committee and has participated in events at the peace centers in Bradford, England, and in Istanbul, Türkiye. She also completed Positive Peace Activator training offered through Rotary’s partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace. She helped form a community of practice on building social cohesion and combating polarization, skills that she has applied in work with adults and young people.

For Puliz, it is critical for each member to know why they are in Rotary. “If each Rotary member could tap into that purpose and share it with others, it would be so powerful for our organization.”

Puliz and her husband, Tim, who is also a Rotarian, live in Reno, Nevada. Their blended family includes seven children, 12 grandchildren, and three Rotary Youth Exchange daughters. They enjoy outdoor activities in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and general aviation. Both are active members of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.

They support The Rotary Foundation as Arch Klumph Society members and members of the Paul Harris Society, the Bequest Society, and the PolioPlus Society.