From Kenya to Regis

Kinoti family brings Kenyan heritage, service mindset to Denver and beyond

It’s quite possible that no family is more of a “Regis family” than the Kinotis.

M.D. Kinoti — simply Kinoti to those who know him — directs Regis’ Master of Nonprofit Management program and has taught at the University for more than 10 years. Tim, his eldest son, graduated from Regis in 2018 and has stuck around as a web content specialist for Marketing and Communications. Wega, Tim’s younger brother, is a computer science major who just finished his sophomore year.

Their collective story is an unlikely one for a family with roots in an impoverished rural area of Kenya. 

“I come from a very, very poor family,” Kinoti said. “There's no way I would have imagined being able to get [my children] through school.”

Kinoti grew up in Kenya and met his wife, Victoria, at Moi University there. After they married, he worked in Nairobi for the global nonprofit World Vision International. By 1999, Tim had been born and the family immigrated to the U.S., where Kinoti sought a graduate degree and more opportunities for nonprofit work. 

Initially living in Pasadena, Calif., Kinoti remembers the extreme difficulties of trying to provide for his family and advance his career during his first few years in the U.S.

“I came from working for World Vision [in Kenya] about seven years and had gotten into management,” he said. “I knew what to do. I lived in Kenya for those many years. Uprooting all that and coming to a very new and different culture, community and everything else — completely losing my status as a manager in a big organization and being a student — that was tough.”

Still, the family persevered. After a stop in San Luis Obispo, Calif., for more nonprofit work, Kinoti landed a faculty position at Regis in 2010. The family has since found Regis an ideal place to center themselves. “It's [my] prayer for Tim and Wega to stay grounded in faith in Christ and then to use that faith as a motivation for service,” Kinoti said. “Just being in this community gives us those two things and helps us to do both of them very well.” 

“It's [my] prayer for Tim and Wega to stay grounded in faith in Christ and then to use that faith as a motivation for service,” Kinoti said. “Just being in this community gives us those two things and helps us to do both of them very well.”

To Tim and Wega, service has become a family mindset rather than merely a regular activity. The family has volunteered for myriad organizations, including the Food Bank of the Rockies, Metro Caring and the city of Westminster. Victoria is a middle school special education teacher, and Kinoti volunteers for Rotary International and provides opportunities for his Regis students to serve nonprofits. “I think our family would definitely be characterized by service and living lives for others while also working hard on our education,” Tim said.

Tim and Wega have been heavily involved on campus, both serving as student senators, playing intramural sports and joining the University’s Black Student Alliance. Tim is taking MBA classes at Regis while he works and is considering law school. Wega dreams of applying his computer science skills in the private sector, but is focusing first on making the most of his time as a Ranger. “I didn't really want to go anywhere else than Regis, due to the fact that a lot of people here are nicer and it's a really welcoming place,” Wega said.

Kinoti returns to Africa yearly, taking Regis students on experiential learning trips to Uganda and Rwanda through the Master of Nonprofit Management program. Research and service trips bring him back to his home country as well, sometimes with his family. Until the next time they return to Kenya together — within a few years, Kinoti says — they’re content at Regis while they carry on the heritage that links them.

“I feel blessed to be in this environment, especially when I teach classes like Global Poverty, classes that I can bring my own experience into,” Kinoti said. “There is a perspective that is slightly different from what everybody else has. I think that makes learning and engagement in general richer for all of us.”