Rotary's Commitment to the Un Millennium Development Goal

General Coordinator, Water Resources Group, 2004-08

Founding Chair, Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (Wasrag)

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Topic:  Rotary's Commitment to the Un Millennium Development Goal # 15, To Reduce by 50% the World Population Without Potable Water and Adequate Sanitation.  How can this be achieved?

Ron Denham received his education in England where he obtained a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.

After obtaining an MBA in Business Administration, he entered the management consulting profession, eventually becoming Senior Partner and Vice Chairman of KPMG Management Consulting, Canada’s largest management consulting firm.  In this capacity he played a major role in development projects in Peru, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Greece, Algeria, Senegal and Cuba, Subsequently he joined A.T. Kearney where he was Director responsible for developing the Canadian practice.

Throughout his busy career he has been active in the community and his profession.  He was Professor in the Business School, York University. He was elected Trustee of the North York Board of Education, Chairman of the Ontario Region of the Engineering Institute of Canada and President of the Institute of Management Consultants of Ontario. He was Chairman of the Stewardship Program at his church and was on the Board of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

A Rotarian for almost 60 years, he first joined in 1958 in Welland. He joined his present club—Toronto-Eglinton—in 1964.  He was President of his club and later District Governor. He was elected Paul Harris Fellow and is a Benefactor and Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to Rotary, to his vocation and to the world community he was presented with the “Service above Self” award, Rotary’s highest honor.  

He has been active with Rotary clubs in Siberia and the Far East since 1997. He participated in the chartering of clubs in Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Komsomolsk-na-Amur and Omsk and has participated in Rotary conferences in Barnaul, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk. He has represented the President of Rotary at many international conferences in Europe, North America and Africa.

He was the founding chair of the Water & Sanitation Rotarian Action Group (WASRAG), A group of over 1800 Rotarians helping people in the developing world improve life and livelihood through the provision of safe water and sanitation. In that capacity he has fostered many water and sanitation projects in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Ghana, and in many states in India.

His current mission is to encourage all 1.2 million Rotarians to become familiar with world water issues, and every Rotary club (33,000) to become involved in a sustainable water and/or sanitation program.