Nan McCreadie to become Rotary’s first female president

Howard Lake | 25 June 2013 | News

Nan McCreadie takes over the presidency of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) on 1 July. She will be the charitable service organisation's first female president.

For the next year she will lead 53,000 Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland in 1,845 clubs, working with Rotary clubs in their communities, partner organisations and supporting Rotary national and international initiatives. She takes over from the current RIBI President, John Minhinick.

One of her challenges is to stem the declining membership numbers and to attract more women to what was once a male preserve.

McCreadie has been a member of the Rotary Club of Feltham since 1997. She said: "I am tremendously honoured to be appointed RIBI’s first female president which I firmly believe is a reflection of how Rotary is moving with the times. My focus for my year in office will be on attracting new members, especially women and young people who are interested in volunteering."

She welcomed the actions of many Rotary Clubs in swapping the traditional lunchtime or evening meetings in favour of online communities, meeting in each other's homes, and breakfast meetings.

She took the opportunity of her appointment to invite members of the public to get in touch with their local Rotary club. "With Rotary clubs in virtually every major town and city," she said, "there are numerous ways in which people can join Rotary and get involved in the many exciting local, national and international community projects we carry out each year."

McCreadie has worked in civil aviation and in particular in aviation security. She is accredited by the Department for Transport as a trainer of personnel who work in the UK Aviation Security Training Programme.

Rotary International was founded in 1905 in Chicago and is now the world’s largest international service organisation with 1.2 million professional men and women as members. There are 33,000 clubs in 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary clubs are open to men and women of all ages who are business, professional or community leaders and who want to use their experience for the benefit of others.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.