District Leadership

Every successful Rotary district is comprised of strong people that are part of the district leadership team and it is no different in Rotary District 6460. This team includes the District Governor, District Governor Elect, and District Governor Nominee. These leaders along with past and future leaders that include Assistant Governors, District Committee Chairs, and Past District Governors help District 6460 thrive.

 

Neal Miller, District Governor (2023-24)

Neal joined the Rotary Club of Springfield in May 1993 and, due to a move, joined the Rotary Club of Galesburg in January 2021.  At the Springfield club, Neal served as President in 2008-09 and several years as treasurer and International Services director. Combining those assignments and his time as a director-at-large, he served on the club board for 16 years. Participating in community service projects and fundraising were important to Neal. He sold citrus and roses, worked cleaning the club’s designated street and volunteered reading and tutoring students at Ridgely School, the club’s adopted school. In 2015, Neal introduced the club to Rotary Flag Service as a fundraiser that could initially augment and long-term replace citrus sales. He took the reins testing flags, poles and lights, developing the procedures for flag installation and deployment, creating a database to maintain customer records and handle billing and payment, creating direct-mail marketing materials, creating routes for Rotarians to deploy and pickup flags and arranging storage for flags and lights. In the first year of operation, every member of the club participated in some aspect of the fundraiser. The Rotary Flag Service is now the club’s largest fundraiser and has the potential to continue to grow.

At the District, Neal served as Vocational Services director for three years, Treasurer for five and one year as District Conference Chair. He has been an active member of the Visioning Team since its inception in 2014.

Beyond the club, Neal served Rotary for eight years at Midwest PETS first setting up and managing registration for the 450 plus annual attendees and then serving one year as Vice Chair and two years as Chair. In 2017 and 2018, Neal served as the Facilities Manager for the annual Zones 30 & 31 Institute.

Neal and his wife Julie have two daughters, Heather and Rachel. Heather resides in Daytona Beach. Rachel is a former outbound exchange student and served as the president of the University of Illinois Rotaract club and later joined the DuPont Circle Rotary club in Washington DC. Rachel and her husband Conrad reside in Falls Church, Virginia.  The Millers have hosted several inbound youth exchange students starting when Heather and Rachel were five and three.

 

 

Dan O’Brien, District Governor Elect (2024-25)

Dan is a member and past president of the Rotary Club of Carlinville, Illinois. He first joined Rotary as a member of the Rotary Club of Carbondale, Illinois. He has served as assistant governor for District 6460.

O’Brien, an attorney, practices municipal law and estate planning in Carlinville, Illinois. He is also admitted to practice law in Wisconsin where he has practiced in state and federal courts.
Dan holds a law degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

Dan is married to Beth O’Brien, an Internal Medicine Physician. They enjoy travel to the international conventions and look forward to hosting their first Rotary exchange student. Dan and Beth support the Rotary Foundation as members of the Paul Harris Society.

 

 

William “Bill” Knake, District Governor Nominee (2025-26)

Bill is 1987 graduate of the Western Illinois University, Department of Agriculture in Macomb, IL. He owns and operates Tracer Industries, Inc. A sub-contract machine shop, specializing in wheel spindles and axles. He has been a member of the Havana Club since 1988 and has been an active member that entire time, including serving as Club President during the 1997-1998 Rotary year and Secretary/Treasurer from 2000-2007. He has also supported the District in a variety of capacities, including three terms as Assistant Governor and a stint as District Trainer in addition to being a member of the District’s Visioning and Rotary Leadership Institute Committees. Outside of Rotary, Bill has had numerous volunteer positions, most notably being involved in the Boy Scouts of America since 1973, where he has been a Dist. Commissioner in the W.D. Boyce Council.

Bill and his wife Barbara live in Havana, and they are the proud parents of two adult children Kelsey (Columbia, MO) and Carter (Quincy, IL).

 

 

William Durall, Immediate Past District Governor (2022-23)

After graduating from Knox College in 1972, Bill enlisted in the US Air Force (AF) and served almost 10 years as an enlisted Russian voice processing technician. He earned his Air Force commission in 1982 and spent the next 27 years in a variety of leadership positions in the communications-computer arena. During that time, he served as commander of two communications squadrons and one communications group. He also served as a senior staff member on two AF major commands and one joint combatant command.

During his 37 years on active duty, Bill and his wife (Peggy) moved 21 times, serving in Europe, Asia, Canada, and all across the United States. He retired as a colonel in 2009 and joined the Pittsfield Rotary Club (now the Rotary Club of Pike County) upon his retirement.  Since retirement, Bill has served as an associate instructor of psychology for John Wood Community College (JWCC).

He has also been involved in a variety of volunteer activities, serving on the Pikeland Public Schools Foundation, the JWCC Southeast Area Advisory Council, and the Community Foundation Serving Northeast Missouri and West-Central Illinois.