Past RI President Francesco Arezzo Shares Lessons on Leadership and Doubles Down on Eradicating Polio
RCB President Nancy Goedecke with Rotaract Club of Birmingham President Marquis Hollingsworth, PRIP Mark Maloney and PRIP Francesco Arezzo
This week, The Rotary Club of Birmingham (RCB) welcomed Francesco Arezzo, Immediate Past President of Rotary International, who visited Alabama from Sicily. He explained leadership through two classic films: High Noon, where the protagonist asks for help as a civic duty and finds himself fighting alone, and The Magnificent Seven, where the main character understands each man's dream and unites them for a bigger purpose. Arezzo called Rotary a "dream machine." He said leaders must know their members and connect each person's dream to the key initiatives of the club. He commended RCB for working closely with Rotaract.
Arezzo closed with a call to finish Rotary International’s fight against polio. He shared that more than 1,000 people worldwide have given their lives to the effort over 40 years. In Rawalpindi, he met a young girl paralyzed by polio who pulled herself along with her arms while other children ran. He said that behind every statistic is a tragedy for a child and a family, and Rotary owes it to them to finish eradicating the disease.
Bio for Francesco Arezzo
Francesco Arezzo is an orthodontist in private practice and owns an agricultural enterprise that produces extra virgin olive oil in Sicily.
A graduate of the University of Padua and the University of Cagliari, where he received a master’s in lingual orthodontics, Arezzo is a member of Italian, European, and American orthodontics associations.
Arezzo served as vice president of the National Association of Italian Dentists for the province of Ragusa. He founded and for seven years headed the Ragusa delegation to the National Trust for Italy.
The Arezzo family has produced olive oil for more than a century. Francesco Arezzo has served as vice president of the administrative council that oversees quality production in the Monti Iblei region and owns two boutique hotels there.
Arezzo was Rotary International president in 2025-26. A Rotary member since 1991, he has served as vice chair of the Joint Strategic Planning Committee and as RI director, chair of the 2023 Melbourne Convention Committee, learning facilitator, and district conference presidential representative. He also served as president of Fondazione Rotary Italia, making it easier for Italian citizens to support Rotary’s humanitarian projects worldwide.
When his fellow members proposed that he become club president, Arezzo was reluctant. He had a stutter and was terrified of addressing his club. But he accepted the challenge. And then he accepted another in becoming district governor. It all led to profound personal transformation. “When I speak onstage in another language, I understand how much Rotary has changed me in a positive and lasting way,” he says.
During his presidency, Arezzo focused on spreading peace through Rotary and on his vision for our long-term success. “The future of Rotary is one of growth,” he says. “We should have a more agile structure that is able to make decisions more quickly to match our rapidly changing world.”
Arezzo’s partner is Anna Maria Arezzo-Criscione, an entrepreneur in the tourism field. They have two daughters and two grandchildren. His daughter Raffaela spent a year in Florida, USA, through Rotary Youth Exchange. Francesco and Anna Maria are Benefactors and Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation.
Arezzo enjoys classical music, particularly that of Sicilian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini.