Ken Ruiz will share some personal experiences about his long history in Rotary and information about current Rotary ideas about increasing membership. San Marcos Rotary meets Wednesdays at 11:45 a.m. at the VFW Hall, located at 1701 Hunter Road. Visitors are always welcome.
Ruiz’s first career was as a Board-Certified Optician and later as International Sales Director for a division of Vision Service Plan, a not-for-profit vision benefits company. Today, he works in real estate in San Antonio.
Originally from New York, he holds a degree in Business and Economics from SUNY Oneonta. A 30-year Rotarian, Ruiz was honored as a Top 100 Rotary Club President worldwide in 2001-2002 for growing the Rotary Club of Weston, Florida. Now a Past President of Oak Hills Rotary in San Antonio, he continues to serve through scholarships and community service.
Fluent in Spanish and knowledgeable in Portuguese, his service extends beyond Rotary to church involvement and international charity work.
District 5840 serves 55 clubs and 2,300 Rotarians in a huge region of South Central Texas that encompasses 44 counties and 52,466 square miles.
There are a total of 529 Rotary Districts in the world, serving 46,000 Rotary clubs in 200 countries. Districts help clubs with training, recruiting members, club promotion and getting grants from the Rotary Foundation. Districts also facilitate communication between clubs about service projects.
Rotary was founded in 1905 in Chicago. It came to Texas in 1912 when clubs were organized in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. The Rotary Club of San Marcos was chartered in 1921. Seven District 5840 Governors have been members of San Marcos Rotary over the years. Rotary is nonprofit, nonreligious and nonpolitical.
Ken Ruiz
