JEFFERSON CITY - Approximately 350 Rotarians and guests will have the opportunity to hear the future president of Rotary International speak Friday and Saturday during the Show Me Rotary Leadership Institute in Jefferson City.
Barry Rassin, who is from Nassau, Bahamas, will lead Rotary International in 2018-19. He will give the keynote address at a Friday night banquet at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.
With the constrained budgets of federal, state and local governments, service organizations often step forward to fill the gap. Rotary is one such organization.
The Show Me Rotary Leadership Institute, which comprises three Rotary districts working cooperatively, is in its 40th year of providing training for future Rotary Club presidents and secretaries in Missouri. This cooperation makes it possible to attract senior Rotary leaders from around the nation and world.
Rotary Club presidents and secretaries will receive training on topics such as leading volunteers, engaging in humanitarian projects, building strong clubs, assessing and serving a community's needs, and working collaboratively with other organizations.
Missouri has 160 Rotary Clubs and approximately 7,700 members statewide. As president of Rotary International, Rassin will lead a worldwide organization comprising 1.3 million Rotarians in 35,000 clubs in 200 different countries.
Rotarians and other donors fund The Rotary Foundation, considered one of the most outstanding philanthropic organizations in the world with a score of 100 percent and four stars in Charity Navigator.
Rotary is best known by many as the chief motivating force behind the efforts to eradicate polio. Along the way, Rotarians, in cooperation with the World Health Organization, have made inroads in developing distribution systems for medicines and vaccines for polio and numerous other diseases which have saved individuals around the world.
Utilizing the motto "Service Above Self," Rotary members believe they have a shared responsibility to take action on the world's most persistent issues. The 35,000-plus Rotary clubs work together to promote peace; fight disease; provide clean water, sanitation and hygiene; save mothers and children; support education; and grow local economies.
Rassin is a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas. He earned an MBA in health and hospital administration from the University of Florida and is the first fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives in the Bahamas.
He recently retired after 37 years as president of Doctors Hospital Health System, where he continues to serve as an adviser. He is a lifetime member of the American Hospital Association and has served on several boards, including the Quality Council of the Bahamas, Health Education Council and Employer's Confederation.
A Rotarian since 1980, Rassin has served Rotary as director and as vice chair of The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. He was an RI training leader and the aide to 2015-16 RI President K.R. Ravindran. Rassin received Rotary's highest honor, the Service Above Self Award, as well as other humanitarian awards for his work leading Rotary's relief efforts in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake there. He and his wife, Esther, are Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation.