Officials have named a new executive director for the American Red Cross chapter serving the Jefferson City area.
Rebecca Gordon, who most recently ran the Friends of the Missouri Governor's Mansion, took on the position, and began Monday.
She takes the place of Abigail Anderson, who left the Red Cross for a job in the private sector late in 2021.
Gordon has a long history of working in nonprofits in numerous roles. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for 24 years.
She began her career as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Prevent Child Abuse Missouri. She serves as an adjunct professor at the National Criminal Justice Training Center, where she teaches a public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse in communities.
Gordon has worked with organizations such as Board Source, The National Children's Alliance, Prevent Child Abuse America, Midwest Regional Child Advocacy Center, Michigan Governor's Task Force to Implement Erin's Law (prevention of child sexual abuse), Children's Mercy Hospital, and other state, regional and local organizations.
The American Red Cross is in her wheelhouse, she said.
"When this popped up, I was having lunch with a friend of mine," Gordon said. "I said I really wanted to get back in. I wanted to help people directly."
She has been negotiating with the Red Cross for about six weeks.
"I've fallen in love with the people," she said. "It fits what I really wanted to do next -- get back in the thick of it on the front line, being able to support a mission that helps people."
The work takes Gordon back to her roots, helping families, she said.