COSAM News Articles 2016 September COSAM alumnus named president of Birmingham Rotary Club

COSAM alumnus named president of Birmingham Rotary Club

Published: 09/14/2016

Fred McCallum, chemistry ’79, has been named president of the Birmingham Rotary Club.

Established in 1913, the Birmingham Rotary Club is the second largest chapter of the international organization, which boasts more than one million members in 164 countries. The Birmingham Rotary Club brings together civic leaders to learn, exchange ideas and take action to solve critical community problems in Birmingham and beyond.

“We dream big dreams and make them come true,” said McCallum. “From the gift of the Rotary Trail to the Birmingham community, to improving the educational opportunities for our children across the city, to detecting and curing cancer halfway across the world in Sri Lanka, we are proud to serve as a shining example of ‘Service above Self’ as we look forward to a bright and impactful future serving others in our community and around the world.”

A native of Florence, McCallum went on to earn his law degree from the University of Alabama. In 1987, he joined South Central Bell, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in the wireline and wireless business units before being appointed president of AT&T Alabama in 2008. He currently serves on the board of directors for numerous organizations in the state, including the Business Council of Alabama, the Birmingham Business Alliance, the Birmingham Education Foundation, the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind Foundation, and PARCA. In 2014, he served as chairman of the Business Council of Alabama and president of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama Board. He has previously served as founding chairman of the board for the Birmingham Education Foundation, and chairman of the board of the Birmingham Business Alliance.

McCallum has been recognized with numerous awards for his dedication to community service, including: the 2014 A.G. Gaston Award by the A.G. Gaston Conference; the Significant Sig award for 2014, which recognizes Sigma Chi fraternity alumni members whose achievements in their fields have brought honor and prestige to the fraternity; the Brotherhood and Sisterhood Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice; and the 2015 Governor Bob Riley’s Building a Better Alabama award from the Business Council of Alabama.

McCallum and his wife, Connie, education ’80, have two sons, Will and Grant, industrial engineering ’12.