GORDON McINALLY
PRESIDENT ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
2023-2024
R. Gordon R. McInally is president-elect of Rotary International. He was educated at the Royal High School and later at the University of Dundee, where he earned his graduate degree in dental surgery. He owned and operated his own dental practice in Edinburgh until stepping back from full time practice in 2016. Gordon was chair of the East of Scotland Branch of the British Paedodontic Society, and he has held various academic positions. He has also served as a Presbytery elder, chair of the Queensferry Parish Congregational Board, and commissioner to the general assembly of the Church of Scotland.
A member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Scotland, Gordon joined Rotary in 1984 aged 26. He has served as president and vice president of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. He has also served RI as a director and member or chair of several committees, including as an adviser to the 2022 Houston Convention Committee and chair of the Operations Review Committee.
Gordon says he looks forward to working with members on building new style Rotary clubs and groups. “My vision is that Rotary should exist everywhere in a style to suit everyone who has the desire to be part of us and to help us do good in the world,” he says.
Gordon is a patron of Hope and Homes for Children and led a partnership between that organization and RIBI during his presidency to lift orphans of the Rwandan genocide out of poverty and into stability. He recalls a moment of epiphany about Rotary’s power to transform lives while in Rwanda when he met a 16-year-old girl who had previously never owned shoes.
He is also a patron of Trade-Aid, an initiative of the Rotary Club of Grantham Kesteven, England, that provides sustainable humanitarian aid to individuals, families, and businesses in the developing world, as well as being an ambassador for Bipolar UK.
“No matter how long I live, I will never be able to give back to Rotary what Rotary has given to me,” says Gordon.
In his free time, Gordon enjoys rugby, good food and wine, and stick dressing — a tradition in the part of Scotland where he resides.
Gordon strongly supports The Rotary Foundation, which he describes as “the fuel that provides the energy to do Rotary service.” He and his wife, Heather, also a Rotarian, are Paul Harris Fellows, Major Donors and Benefactors of The Rotary Foundation. They are also members of the Bequest Society.
A proud grandfather, Gordon wishes to dedicate his presidency to making the world a better place for his granddaughters, Ivy and Florence, along with children everywhere to live and thrive.
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