Rotary International President Kalyan Banerjee - 2011/2012

Posted by Sherrie-Ann Brazier

on Sep 02, 2011

On some days, when you pass his office on the 18th floor of One Rotary Center in Evanston, Illinois, USA, you will see Kalyan Banerjee seated at a large, round table with nothing on it, save for a few sheets of paper on which he is intently writing in longhand. Backlit by huge windows that offer a panoramic view of Chicago, and with his head down, Banerjee often appears to be in deep concentration, a man with a singular and urgent task.

He has been marshaling his energies for Rotary since 1972, when he joined the fledgling club in his hometown of Vapi, India. Around the same time, the young chemical engineer was starting up a small company to produce red phosphorous, an essential ingredient in fertilizer. Under Banerjee’s leadership, United Phosphorous Limited blossomed into the largest agrochemical manufacturer in India. And Vapi, due in no small part to the work of the local Rotary club, has been transformed from a sleepy village into a major industrial center in Gujarat State.

Over the last four decades, Banerjee has served Rotary as a district governor, president’s representative, committee and task force chair, Rotary Foundation trustee, and director. He also has been a member of the International PolioPlus Committee, heading up initiatives that have spurred Rotary’s polio eradication efforts in India.

Now, almost to his own amazement, Banerjee is the organization’s 101st president and the third from India.

To read the full story written by John Rezek in the July 2011 edition of "The Rotarian", please click on the link - http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/TheRotarian/Pages/Banerjee1107.aspx