Kim Isenberg Introduced this week’s speaker, Rotarian Tory Kinson from the Farragut Club who spoke about the Rotary Youth Exchange Program and Walk for Water.
Tory Kinson is a lecturer for UT’s Department of Management & Entrepreneurship, teaching courses in International Business Strategy. He is also a leadership and career coach for Haslam’s Strategic Leadership and Physician Executive MBA programs.
Tory brings more than 30 years of experience from the corporate world as an executive leader for both the Fortune 500 as well as privately held corporations. His work has taken him to 44 countries, and he also speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
Tory also owns Apex Business Consulting which focuses on three areas: Leadership coaching, international expansion, and scaling start-ups into profitable businesses.
Tory received his B.S. in Business Administration from The Citadel: Military College of South Carolina and his MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. Tory loves the international business world. His passions are centered around being a global ambassador, helping people discover their gifts, and mentoring our next generation of leaders.
Tory shared his experience in his first trip abroad in his youth through Rotary. He shared the very first lesson he learned in another country “don’t ask what’s in it before you eat”. He also shared how his travels and experiences led him down a path of service, and he made it a point to show how millions of people around the world don’t have safe access to something we take for granted, access to clean safe water.
Tory also reflected on how his early life experience shaped his entire life. He never would have met his wife if not for his travels and during his career he has traveled to 35 different countries.
Tory also encouraged people to participate in “Walk Lakeshore” where participants walk a mile and a half carrying a 5-gallon bucket. They then fill the bucket with water and walk a mile and half back to experience just a little of what many around the world experience in their effort to access water.