Atlanta RI Convention Summary

Posted on Jun 24, 2017

The convention was a great success. Here are just of few of the main stories and key messages.

"Countdown to 0"- renewed commitment to eradicate Polio and the donation of a combined $1.2 billion from Governments and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - $100million from the Canadian Government.
Bill Gates speech on Rotary's incredible work with Polio Eradication - only 5 wild polio virus cases this year (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria). In the 1980's there were over 350,000 cases every year.
Outstanding speech by Andrew Young - first black mayor of Atlanta and human rights activist encouraging us to keep doing the "impossible".
Ashton Kutcher - actor and co-founder of Thorn - to end slavery and human and child sex trafficking...and asking Rotarian to support that cause.
Presentation by Brittany Arthur - President of the Rotaract Club of Berlin - if every Rotarian invited one Rotaractor to join their Rotary Club, we would have 2.4 million members!
Speech by Ian Riseley incoming RI President 2017-18 - Ian is a passionate environmentalist and asks every Rotarian to plant a tree in the upcoming Rotary year. DGE Kathi Dick is carrying this forward in D7080.
Introduction of RI President nominee - 2018-19 - Samuel "Sam" F. Owari from Uganda. (Owori is chief executive officer 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 United States, including Harvard Business School.)