Sangkoo Yun is selected to be 2026-27 Rotary International president
Sangkoo Yun, of the Rotary Club of Sae Hanyang, Seoul, Korea, is the selection of the nominating committee to become Rotary International’s president for 2026-27.
Sangkoo Yun, of the Rotary Club of Sae Hanyang, Seoul, Korea, is the selection of the nominating committee to become Rotary International’s president for 2026-27. He will be officially declared the president-nominee on 15 September if no other candidates challenge him.
Yun received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Syracuse University School of Architecture in the U.S. and an honorary doctoral degree from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the founder and CEO of Dongsuh Corp., which engineers and markets architectural materials, and the president of Youngan Corp., which operates in real estate and financial investment. He is involved in many civic organizations and has a special interest in the preservation of cultural heritage.
A Rotary member since 1987, when he was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Sae Hanyang, Yun has served Rotary International as a director, trustee, committee member and chair, and RI learning facilitator. He served for eight years as co-chair of the Keep Mongolia Green Project, by Korean members of Rotary. His RI committee roles include the Board Administration Committee (2013-15, vice chair 2014-15), the International Assembly Committee (vice chair, 2020-21), and the End Polio Now Countdown to History Campaign Committee (regional vice chair, 2023-27). He also served on The Rotary Foundation’s Executive Committee (2019-22, chair 2020-21) and Programs Committee (2019-22, chair 2020-22).
Yun received The Rotary Foundation’s Distinguished Service Award in 2021-22. He was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, awarded the Friendship Medal by the president of Mongolia, and recognized for distinguished services by the president and prime minister of Korea. He is a veteran of the Republic of Korea Army and an emeritus elder at Andong Presbyterian Church.
Yun and his spouse, Eunsun, are Rotary Foundation Benefactors, Major Donors, and members of the Arch Klumph Society, the Paul Harris Society, and the Bequest Society. They have two children.
To learn more about Yun, read his interview and vision statement, which outline his goals for Rotary.
The members of the Nominating Committee for the 2026-27 President of Rotary International are:
Jessie H. Harman (chair), Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast, Victoria, Australia; Francesco Arezzo (secretary), Rotary Club of Ragusa, Italy; Per Høyen, Rotary Club of Aarup, Denmark; Jeremy Hurst, Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Jan Lucas Ket, Rotary Club of Purmerend, Netherlands; Urs Klemm, Rotary Club of Aarau, Switzerland; Sam Okudzeto, Rotary Club of Accra, Ghana; Bharat S. Pandya, Rotary Club of Borivli, Maharashtra, India; Julia D. Phelps, Rotary Club of Amesbury, Massachusetts, USA; José Alfredo Pretoni, Rotary Club of São Paulo-Sul, São Paulo, Brazil; Dean Rohrs, Rotary Club of Langley Central, British Columbia, Canada; Kenneth Schuppert, Rotary Club of Decatur, Alabama, USA; Johrita Solari, Rotary Club of Anaheim, California, USA; Katsuhiko Tatsuno, Rotary Club of Tokyo-West, Tokyo, Japan; Guiller E. Tumangan, Rotary Club of Makati West, Makati City, Philippines; Kamal Sanghvi, Rotary Club of Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India; Chang-Gon Yim, Rotary Club of Daegu West, Daegu, Korea
— 5 August 2024