Rebecca Gordon is an ideal choice to lead the local Red Cross chapter.
Gordon, who most recently ran the Friends of the Missouri Governor's Mansion, was recently selected as the agency's executive director.
She has served in various nonprofits for the past quarter-century. She's an effective fundraiser and a natural leader whose enthusiasm is as infectious as her smile.
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.
Her positions with Friends of the Missouri Governor's Mansion and the Red Cross have a big similarity: They both rely heavily on volunteers.
At the mansion, 63 volunteer docents give tours to some 60,000 people in a normal year. With the Red Cross, 90 percent of the workforce is volunteers.
"There's not a person I've met (at the Red Cross) who I haven't just thought the world of," she said.
She's already immersed herself in the Red Cross, studying all of their services and programs.
"I'm looking at how I can support blood donors, volunteer corps and disaster relief services," she said. "And I'm making sure my region is prepared to respond to a disaster and help them when they're impacted."
We congratulate Gordon on the position, and we're confident her work at the Red Cross will make a difference for the better in even more people's lives.
News Tribune