Korea’s first female district governor a true leader
Shortly after joining Rotary in 1998, Sung Hee Nam saw the governor of her district in Korea get a standing ovation “as if he were the president of a country,” she says. “I thought, ‘Oh, this guy gets this standing ovation because he’s serving others. I want to be a district governor someday.’”
SeongJoon Cho
Seven years later in 2005, she became the first woman to hold the job in Korea. And despite facing some challenges as a woman in a position that had been dominated by older men, she became a role model for women in Rotary and beyond.
Nam has worked hard to drive change through her own example. She served two terms as president of the Rotary Club of Daegu-Sooryeon, assumed multiple leadership roles in District 3700, and was a member of Rotary’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force in 2022-23. “In the past, women served in ceremonial or supporting roles,” she says. “But now everyone has seen that women can do well in any position — and be exceptional.”
Nam, who holds a doctorate in education, excels outside of Rotary too. She is president of Daegu Health College, chair of the Korean Council for University College Education, and a member of the Central Committee of the Korean Red Cross.
Nam advises women with families not to try to be everything all at once at work and at home. Still, she says, the best choices in her life were having children and joining Rotary. “The fact that someone I love will continue to live on this planet makes a big difference in my life. And for that planet to work well, altruistic actions are needed, and Rotary is the driving force for people to do unselfish acts.”
This story originally appeared in the August 2023 issue of Rotary magazine.