Gail McGovern, who became CEO of the American Red Cross in April 2008, recently told Southern California donors, volunteers and other local Red Cross supporters that working at the Red Cross has profoundly changed her life.
Prior to joining the Red Cross, McGovern was a professor at Harvard Business School, a division president at Fidelity Investments and an executive vice president at AT&T. She was twice named one of the top 50 most powerful women in corporate America. However, since joining the world’s largest humanitarian organization she feels personally gratified every day by witnessing first-hand how the organization helps people.
Just three weeks after starting the job, McGovern went to the Sichuan province in China to see how the Red Cross was assisting residents after the devastating earthquake destroyed hospitals, schools and homes. She keeps on her refrigerator the photo of a 7-year-old girl she met on that trip as a daily reminder of the Red Cross mission.
As part of an emergency response team in the Gulf Coast, McGovern personally served meals to residents in neighborhoods hit by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Although major disasters receive the most media attention, McGovern told her L.A. audiences that the majority of the 70,000 disasters the Red Cross responds to each year are residential fires.
“The Red Cross is there for families at big disasters, as well as small disasters — providing blankets, meals and more,” she said. “For disaster victims, there is no such thing as a little disaster.”
McGovern said that, in fact, one out of every five people has been touched by the Red Cross and thanked donors, volunteers and employees for making these services possible. If ever she needs a reminder of the importance of the Red Cross around the world, she just looks at the photo of the girl from China posted on her refrigerator door.
