Rotary International President
- Ray Klinginsmith
International President (2010-11)
Ray Klinginsmith, an attorney from Kirksville, Missouri, took office as president of Rotary International on 1 July 2010.
As president, Klinginsmith leads a global network of 1.2 million business and professional leaders who, through volunteer service, help meet the needs of communities worldwide. During his one-year term as president, Klinginsmith will encourage Rotary’s 33,000 clubs to partner with local governments and nongovernmental organizations to initiate projects that improve literacy rates and provide sustainable sources of food and clean water to communities in developing countries. He also oversees Rotary’s top priority of eradicating polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa and Asia. Since 1985, Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to the effort and are now working aggressively to raise an additional $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Great progress has been made, and the incidence of polio infection has plunged from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 2,000 in 2008.
Rotary also sponsors the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world. Since 1947, Rotary has contributed roughly $500 million to fund 38,000 students from 100 countries. These cultural ambassadors use the skills they acquire through their studies abroad to help their communities.
Klinginsmith was one of these cultural ambassadors in 1961, when he studied at the University of Cape Town as a Rotary Foundation ambassadorial scholar. "This program is an excellent opportunity for young people to expand their worldview and help promote goodwill," said Klinginsmith. "As a former scholar in this program, it will be rewarding for me to lead the very organization that provided me with such a valuable, life changing experience."
A member of Rotary for more than 40 years, Klinginsmith is currently a member of the Kirksville Rotary club.
As president, Klinginsmith leads a global network of 1.2 million business and professional leaders who, through volunteer service, help meet the needs of communities worldwide. During his one-year term as president, Klinginsmith will encourage Rotary’s 33,000 clubs to partner with local governments and nongovernmental organizations to initiate projects that improve literacy rates and provide sustainable sources of food and clean water to communities in developing countries. He also oversees Rotary’s top priority of eradicating polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa and Asia. Since 1985, Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to the effort and are now working aggressively to raise an additional $200 million to match a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Great progress has been made, and the incidence of polio infection has plunged from about 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 2,000 in 2008.
Rotary also sponsors the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world. Since 1947, Rotary has contributed roughly $500 million to fund 38,000 students from 100 countries. These cultural ambassadors use the skills they acquire through their studies abroad to help their communities.
Klinginsmith was one of these cultural ambassadors in 1961, when he studied at the University of Cape Town as a Rotary Foundation ambassadorial scholar. "This program is an excellent opportunity for young people to expand their worldview and help promote goodwill," said Klinginsmith. "As a former scholar in this program, it will be rewarding for me to lead the very organization that provided me with such a valuable, life changing experience."
A member of Rotary for more than 40 years, Klinginsmith is currently a member of the Kirksville Rotary club.
