District 6250 Governor Edwin Bos has been a proud member of the Fort Atkinson Rotary club since 2003.  He has served on the Board of Directors, as Youth Exchange Officer, as the chair of several club construction projects, as Club President in 2012-13 and as Assistant Governor from 2014-2017.  Edwin is a graduate of Fort Atkinson High School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison (BSc Civil Engineering) and the Rotterdam School of Management (MBA).  After graduation he spent ten years working for a large Dutch construction company primarily in Amsterdam, Istanbul and the Caribbean. 

Edwin strongly supports Rotary’s many exchange programs in part because exchange programs have defined his own life.  His Dutch immigrant parents came to Fort Atkinson under the auspices of a Farm Bureau exchange.  After studying in Madison Edwin took part in an IAESTE work exchange to Gothenburg, Sweden and, after studying in Rotterdam, he participated in an AIESEC work exchange to Poznan, Poland where he met his wife Joanna.  Since returning to Fort Atkinson they have hosted two inbound exchange students.  
  
Edwin has participated in several District 6250 Friendship Exchanges.  He traveled to India with an RFE team led by PDG Dean Ryerson.  While in India he met Dr. Anouke Arakal of the Pondicherry Beach Town Rotary Club and that connection led to a Rotary Global Grant, sponsored by the Fort Atkinson Rotary Club, which funded four dialysis machines in Pondicherry.  He’s traveled to the Philippines with an RFE team led by Ms. Darla Leick of Marshfield Sunrise.  That RFE led to a friendship with Rotarian Roger de Guzman of the Kalibo Rotary Club and a Rotary Global Grant, sponsored by the five clubs in Assistant Governor group #8, for a pipeline that brought potable water to two spirited villages.  He’s traveled to Nepal with an RFE team led by current District Friendship Exchange chair Dr. Dave Clemens and, most recently, he led an RFE team from his Assistant Governor group back to the Philippines to help dedicate their water pipeline project and to establish new Rotary friendships and contacts.    

Edwin and Joanna live in Fort Atkinson.  Their oldest son, Harry, is attending the University of Alabama and is a member of the Rotaract Club there.  Their youngest son, Ernest, is co-president of the High School Interact Club and is planning to attend Arizona State.  Edwin is a past member of the Fort Atkinson School Board, a Paul Harris plus member, a sustaining member, and a Paul Harris society member.  He, his brother and their wives own and operate Bos Design Builders LLC in Fort Atkinson.  In his spare time, he enjoys activities that involve spending time with friends, family and anyone who enjoys a little gezelligheid*.  Something that he feels Rotary and Rotarians already have in spades!

* roughly translates as a cozy feeling

Edwin told us very personal stories about how Rotary connects the world and encourages us to go out and share our own Rotary stories and tell people the impact it has on our lives and the lives of people around the world. Rotary is a bottom up organization- WE choose what projects we want to support, and the 1.2 million Rotarians around the world help us achieve them. We are all heading in the same direction- to make a positive difference in the world.