District Governor

Cornelis Eduard “Ed” van Wijk DG D6540.

As of January 1, 2023, Ed is the pastor of Knightstown United Methodist Church. He preaches, teaches, manages, and is the spiritual leader of the congregation.

Before Ed came to Knightstown, he served the DeMotte UMC for 7 years and the Kentland Trinity UMC for 9 years.

While attending seminary Ed worked as the director of worship and education at Lowell First United Methodist Church.

In a prior career Ed was a computer consultant and worked on the implementation and operation of enterprise management systems based on the Oracle relational database system. He specialized in the implementation of human resource management systems.

Ed’s first career was in the Dutch Merchant Marine as a radio-officer traveling the world on freighters and passenger ships. His task as a radio-officer was to provide communication between ship and shore via telegraphy, telephony, teletype, and satellite.

Ed holds the Master of Divinity degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston Illinois, the Bachelor of Science in Systems Analysis and Design from Purdue University and the Radio Officer degree from the Radio Holland Radio Officer School in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Ed was born and raised in The Netherlands and emigrated to the USA in 1991.

Ed joined the Kentland Rotary Club in 2007 and was the club’s president in 2015/16. Since July 2016 Ed is a member of the DeMotte/KV Rotary Club and has served D6540 as AG from 2016 thru 2022. From 2022 through 2023 Ed served as district trainer. He is a graduate of the Rotary Leadership Institute, a Paul Harris Society member, a major donor, a benefactor, and a member of the bequest society.

In order to stay in shape, Ed runs and has completed 12 half-marathons. Ed loves to sing and play the guitar. Ed enjoys travel and hanging out with Rotary friends.

Ed is the father of three grown children: a daughter and two sons.