Rotary International

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Rotary International President John Kenny addresses the Rotary International Assembly held in San Diego in January 2009. This assembly is for all District Governors elect around the world, it is an intensive week long training session.

John Kenny began his career in Rotary in 1970, and has a wealth of experience in all Rotary matters.

BIRMINGHAM, UK (29 June 2009) – John Kenny, a retired judge and notary from Grangemouth, Scotland, will take office as president of Rotary International on 1 July, becoming the first Scotsman to head the international humanitarian service organization in its 105-year history.

For more than 20 years, the eradication of polio has been Rotary’s top priority, and Kenny says he will devote his one-year term to the final push needed to vanquish the crippling, potentially deadly disease once and for all. Since Rotary vowed to end polio in 1985, cases have plunged by more than 99 percent, but Kenny says that’s not good enough.

“Until the day the earth is declared polio-free, this work must be our first priority, and our main focus,” Kenny told nearly 20,000 Rotary club members from more 150 countries at Rotary International’s annual convention in Birmingham.  “It is up to us to finish the job.”

Kenny has traveled to India to immunize children against polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa, Africa and the Middle East. 

To find out more about Rotary Worldwide go to www.rotary.org