Red Cross Chat

Our brand new President and CEO Gail J McGovern was on the job for 5 days before we stuck her on a plane to China to visit those affected by the earthquake.
Actually, it was USAID that took her and Senior Vice President for International Services David Meltzer along with a delegation of 30 other leaders of business, […]

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Yesterday morning we welcomed Gail J. McGovern into the Red Cross family with a meet and greet in our headquarter’s atrium.  
We covered the announcement of her hiring fairly extensively here and all the same impressions of her hold true. I watched her get whisked away in mid-conversation with members of the rank & file but before leaving she […]

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We’re still working furiously to respond to those affected by the flooding and storms throughout the central United States.
But,
here in Washington DC (where the heat wave has broken thank goodness) we’re joined by busloads of well-dressed women visiting headquarters for our Tiffany Circle Summit.
This afternoon I had the privilege to sit in on their luncheon where I was moved by […]

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Last Friday morning our headquarters building in DC hosted a roundtable discussion about how the United States is and will continue to support recovery efforts in China following the earthquake there. 
President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice came over to address the group of nonprofits, corporations, and governmental agencies assisting China in relief efforts.
Even […]

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The new leader of the American Red Cross discusses the challenges ahead:

She looks forward to working with newly hired Chief Development Officer Jeffrey Towers on fundraising.
She says it’s beautiful to have a 126 year history but that same history can be a curse when it comes to shifting embedded systems. She’d like to improve our infrastructure.
She says a […]

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Age 9:
Wrote a 4th grade report about Clara Barton.
While working at AT&T:
Gave blood every year at the blood drive.
When her daughter was born:
Took the Red Cross infant and child CPR course
RELATED:

Blog posts about Gail J. McGovern
Press Release
Bio
News reports

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In deciding whether to take the President & CEO position at the Red Cross, Gail J. McGovern said she made a list of reasons to take the job.
She took her list to trusted friends and advisors but says she never got to show it to them.  As soon as she disclosed that she was considering the position they all started telling […]

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“When I was 9 years old I wrote a report on Clara Barton. Forty-seven years later I’m standing here as the leader of the American Red Cross.”
Gail J. McGovern, a theoretical math major at Johns Hopkins, then told her audience of senior leaders that they could do the ugly math to determine her age.

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As Gail McGovern took questions from some of the headquarters staff this morning, she explained one of her reasons for taking the job:
“As a marketing professor, I must say that the brand is to die for. It resonates on such a visceral level for Americans.”
She explained that she recently assigned her MBA students to breathe new life into […]

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