Sam Owori to be RI President 2018-19 The 2016-17 Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International has unanimously nominated Samuel Frobisher Owori, of RC Kampala, Uganda, to be the RI President in 2018-19. He will be declared the president-nominee on October 1 if no challenging candidates have been suggested.
Owori says he sees in Rotary “an incredible passion to make a difference.” As president, he plans to “harness that enthusiasm and pride so that every project becomes the engine of peace and prosperity.” His chief concerns are membership and extension. Since he served as district governor, the number of clubs in Uganda has swelled from nine to 89. He urges past, present, and future leaders to work together to engage more women, youth programme participants, alumni and community members to increase Rotary’s membership in the coming years.
“There are many places which need Rotary and numerous potential members who have never been invited,” he says. “The problem is Rotarians who got in and closed the doors.”
Owori is CEO of the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda. Before that, he was executive director of the African Development Bank, managing director of Uganda Commercial Bank Ltd., and director of Uganda Development Bank. He has studied law, employment relations, business management, corporate resources management, microfinance and marketing at institutions in England, Japan, Switzerland, Tanzania and the US, including Harvard Business School.
Since becoming a member in 1978, Owori has served Rotary as RRFC, regional RI membership coordinator and RI Representative to the UN Environment Programme and UN-Habitat.
He has been a member or chair of several committees, including the IPPC, the Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force and the Audit Committee. Most recently, Owori served as TRF trustee, TRF Finance Committee chair and a member of the Investment Committee. Owori is a Benefactor of The Rotary Foundation, and he and his wife, Norah, are Major Donors and Paul Harris Fellows.
The Nominating Committee members are Sudarshan Agarwal, RC Delhi, India; Şafak Alpay, RC Istanbul-Sisli, Turkey; Ronald L. Beaubien, RC Coronado, USA; John B. Boag, Rotary E-Club of District 9650, Australia; Elio Cerini, RC Milano Duomo, Italy; Luiz Coelho de Oliveira, RC Limeira-Leste, Brazil; Frank N Goldberg, RC Omaha-
Suburban, USA; Kenneth W Grabeau, RC Nashua West, USA; Jackson S L Hsieh, RC Taipei Sunrise, Taiwan; Mark Daniel Maloney (chair), RC Decatur, USA; Barry Matheson, RC Jessheim, Norway; Kazuhiko Ozawa, RC Yokosuka, Japan; Ekkehart Pandel, RC Bückeburg, Germany; Noraseth Pathmanand, RC Bang Rak, Thailand; Robert S Scott, RC Cobourg, Canada; John C Smarge, RC Naples, USA; Michael F Webb, RC Mendip, England.
Back home, in India, PDG A Sampath Kumar, D 3230, recalls how PRIP Kalyan Banerjee, while sending Owori as his representative to their District conference in 2011–12, had referred to him as a probable future RI President.
Source: www.rotary.org
