Beloit Rotary 100th Anniversary Celebration

Ed Futa, past General Secretary and Chief Operating Officer of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation, managed operations for one of the world’s largest global humanitarian service organization with 33,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographic regions. With annual revenues of US$ 240 million and expenses of US$210 million, Rotary and its Foundation support 1.2 volunteers in their efforts to serve their local and global communities.

Rotary members are professional and community leaders who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary clubs initiate service projects to address today’s challenges, including illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, lack of clean water, and environmental concerns.

Rotary’s top priority is the global eradication of polio – a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in parts of Africa and Asia. Since 1988, when Rotary and its partners at the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the incidence of paralytic polio infection has plunged worldwide from 350,000 cases to fewer than 2,000 in 2008. Rotary club members worldwide have contributed more than $800 million and countless volunteer hours to the effort, and Rotary is now working to raise an additional $200 million to fulfill its commitment for a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

For the past 12 years, Futa led a diverse and educated staff of more than 650 at Rotary’s World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA and international offices in Sao Paula, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, Korea; New Delhi, India; and Parramatta (Sydney), Australia. More than one-quarter of Rotary’s staff was born outside the United States – from more than 40 countries. Another quarter has lived in another country for six months or more – in more than 70 countries. More than half speak a language other than English well enough to carry on a conversation. Nearly 40 languages are spoken at Rotary’s World Headquarters. Some 85 percent of staff has bachelor’s degrees and 23 percent have one or more master’s degrees.

Futa comes from Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was president of an international marketing consulting firm. He has served on the Board of Governors of the YMCA and as a mediator in the Neighborhood Justice Center of Honolulu. While in Hawaii, Ed was a member of the Bishop’s Advisory Council of the Dioceses of Honolulu. He is a keynote speaker at many Rotary International events including club and district conferences and international assemblies and conventions.