After the resignation of Elizabeth Dole in 1999, the American Red Cross has had seven different permanent or acting leaders at the helm in the first decade of the twenty-first century (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Farrell, 2015). The quickly changing list of leaders has since ended when Gail McGovern was appointed to the office in April of 2008 (West, 2012). Since she has taken over the lead position of this agency, she has made many positive changes that has seemingly been moving the organization in the right direction. McGovern’s first priority was to cut costs and overhaul the charity’s infrastructure (Gose, 2008). When McGovern took over, the organization had $209 million dollars in operating debt, but she took immediate action to decrease this
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The American Red Cross adheres to seven principles used to guide it: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality (American Red Cross: Licensing, 2011). McGovern believes in and promotes these principles and her ethical character is recognized by many. In March 2011, she was appointed to the President’s Management Advisory Board and currently serves as the only nonprofit leader on this White House panel (American Red Cross, n.d.). McGovern is committed to maintaining the organization as a healthy, vibrant and sustainable organization for years to come and recognizes that she cannot allow things to become stagnant because the need to improve is constant (McGovern, 2014). Even with her turnaround of the agency, the ARC is faced with future dilemmas that she will have to work through. Blood demand is down because of more advanced medical treatments and improved blood management by hospitals (PR, 2014). She will be forced to reevaluate current operations to adjust to meet the new level of demand, improve services to those customers, streamline processes and increase productivity, in light of ever changing situations. McGovern seems to be on the right track to keeping the organization in good graces with the donors that support its mission. If she maintains her current ethical standards and holds the employees and governing bodies to the same ethical standard, the organization has the capacity to regain its once very respected
The American Red Cross adheres to seven principles used to guide it: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality (American Red Cross: Licensing, 2011). McGovern believes in and promotes these principles and her ethical character is recognized by many. In March 2011, she was appointed to the President’s Management Advisory Board and currently serves as the only nonprofit leader on this White House panel (American Red Cross, n.d.). McGovern is committed to maintaining the organization as a healthy, vibrant and sustainable organization for years to come and recognizes that she cannot allow things to become stagnant because the need to improve is constant (McGovern, 2014). Even with her turnaround of the agency, the ARC is faced with future dilemmas that she will have to work through. Blood demand is down because of more advanced medical treatments and improved blood management by hospitals (PR, 2014). She will be forced to reevaluate current operations to adjust to meet the new level of demand, improve services to those customers, streamline processes and increase productivity, in light of ever changing situations. McGovern seems to be on the right track to keeping the organization in good graces with the donors that support its mission. If she maintains her current ethical standards and holds the employees and governing bodies to the same ethical standard, the organization has the capacity to regain its once very respected