By Diane S. Smith
Special to the View
Now in its tenth year, Lakeway’s distinguished speaker — dinner series will be held at the Lakeway Activity Center on the third Sunday night of October and November, 2009, and the third Sunday night of January, February and March 2010.

“This is an exciting lineup of speakers,” said Pat Jacobsen, who with Allan Hitchcock, founded the Viewpoint series. “We are offering a variety of topics in order to present an interesting and informative evening, and this group of speakers is top notch.”
This popular series includes five catered dinners and five outstanding speakers, and is limited to 200 subscribers. The cost of the Viewpoints series is $75 per person for members of the Lakeway Activity Center, or $85 for non-members. No individual dinner tickets will be sold.
Leading off October 18 will be Peter Bay, conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. Bay spoke to Viewpoints six years ago, and he has led the list of speakers that Viewpoints members wanted to return. His witty, informative talk about 11 years leading the Symphony will be memorable. His title will be “Ask the Maestro.”
Sheri Soltes will speak Nov. 15 with the title “Texas Hearing and Service Dogs: Strays into Stars.” Soltes, formerly a Houston lawyer, moved to Austin to found the Texas Hearing and Service Dogs Foundation and now this non-profit organization provides dogs free of charge for Texans living with deafness and mobility related disabilities. Additionally, they have a special program for veterans injured in Iraq or Afghanistan. Her innovative training method and source for dogs will be of interest. She will also demonstrate with a Service Dog Team.
The Jan. 17, 2010 speaker will be Dr. Vijay Mahajan, who will speak with the title “Invisible Global Marketing to the Other 86 Percent” Mahajan, a most energetic man, holds the John P. Harbin Centennial Chair in Business at the UT McCombs School of Business, has authored 10 books, and asserts that a different type of marketing is needed to reach the largest new markets — those in developing countries, 86 percent of the world.
Dr. Michael Mauk will speak February 21, 2010 with the title “Why Memory Matters.” Mauk, neurobiologist at the new UT Center for Learning and Memory, focuses on understanding the ways in which the brain processes information that supports memory. He reveals the rules by which the cerebellum generates, stores, recalls and targets memory. Please remember to attend!
The March 21, 2010 speaker will be Dirck Halstead with the title “Moments in Time: from Vietnam to the White House”. Halstead, a photojournalist, editor and publisher of “The Digital Journalist”, UPI picture bureau chief in Saigon, 29 years a White House photographer for Time magazine, and now a senior fellow in photojournalism at the Center for American History at UT, has many entertaining stories for us.
The dinners will be catered by County Line, Texastar, Honey Bee Ham, Café Lago and Shugart & Spice and are BYOB. If a Viewpoints member cannot attend a dinner, please gift your reservation to a friend. Call Sandi Boston, 261-4733, to report your substitute or to cancel entirely.
The Viewpoints speaker selection committee members are Richard Drury, Patricia Jacobsen, Fred Hazen, Chip Muglia, Steve Miller, Edith Knauer, Diane Smith and Perry Smith. The hospitality chair is Sandi Boston and Judy Hazen will plan table décor.
“Please remember that Viewpoints is limited to 200 subscribers, so it is important to sign up now at the Lakeway Activity Center,” Jacobsen said.