A Rear Admiral Takes Helm of Red Cross

In the past year, the American Red Cross has received an unprecedented amount of public scrutiny following allegations of mismanagement related to donations raised after the September 11 attacks, a public fight between the charity’s former president and its board of governors, and a fund-raising scandal at its San Diego chapter.

But the organization insists that it has turned a corner and that its new chief executive officer, Marsha Johnson Evans, is the perfect symbol of this reinvented Red Cross.

A former Navy officer and current head of Girls Scouts of the USA, Ms. Evans, 54, will become the 13th president of the American Red Cross when she officially starts August 5.

The previous president, Bernadine P. Healy, resigned amid widespread criticism over the Red Cross’s plans to spend donations raised after September 11 for causes not directly related to the attacks, a decision the Red Cross eventually reversed.

Ms. Evans held many positions in her 29-year career in the Navy, working as an aide in the White House during the last days of the Nixon administration, leading the Navy’s recruitment efforts, and eventually retiring in 1997 as a rear admiral. She is only the second woman to have achieved that rank.

Ms. Evans was recruited by the Girl Scouts to take over the organization in 1998, where she helped to increase donations from $97-million in 1998 to $121-million in 2001. Girl Scout leaders have praised her for increasing the role of minorities within the group’s programs and building new bridges between local Girl Scout councils and the national office.

Ms. Evans says the Red Cross presents new challenges and opportunities. But she says she will miss the Girl Scouts, joking that although she and her husband, a retired Navy fighter pilot, do not have any children, she will always have “2.8 million girls that I’m letting somebody else raise.”

In her new position, Ms. Evans will earn $450,000, the same amount Dr. Healy was paid. At the Girl Scouts, Ms. Evans said she earned $321,000.

Ms. Evans expects to head the Red Cross for at least five to seven years. “I’m here for the long haul, I guess you might say.”

In an interview, Ms. Evans talked about what she hopes to accomplish through her leadership.

The Red Cross is facing a tough time. Why did you accept the job?

I don’t think there’s a more important organization to the fabric of the country than the Red Cross. That’s not to denigrate all of the other really important human-service organizations that each have a niche. But if you look at the Red Cross in the way it has touched and continues to touch and will touch in the future the lives of not only Americans but people around the world, it’s on a level that’s different from all the others.

It’s not acceptable to say because the challenges are great and the world is different that we back off on our promise to the American people, who have for generations supported the Red Cross and I hope will continue to support the organization.

What is the biggest challenge facing the Red Cross?

I can only answer from the outside. But the issue that all nonprofits face is funding. There’s no question we’re all depending on the good will of donors, whether they’re corporate, foundations, or private citizens. And in an economically challenging environment we’re all faced with how to make the pie bigger, when it’s naturally inclined to shrink in a recession. So how to make the pie bigger [is a challenge] and how to, I don’t want to say compete for those resources, but how to make the case to the potential funders who have discretion over what they’re going to fund that the Red Cross is a good investment. That extends not to just the financial, but also to the time people commit to us.

The Red Cross, like other human-service organizations, has that challenge. And wrapped up in that is that whole issue of donor trust. The Red Cross has taken some very important and public steps to clarify [its policies]. And that really is a model for the nonprofit sector: Donors need to understand what their contributions will be used for.

At the Scouts you are credited with raising the number of minority participants. Is this a priority for the Red Cross?

The population we’re serving is very diverse from many different perspectives. It’s more than just racial and ethnic diversity; it’s age diversity, it’s geographic, it’s income. Since the mission of the Red Cross encompasses the notion of serving all Americans, then we should have as a goal to recruit, retain, and train a diverse volunteer force, as well as a diverse staff force, so that we can ensure that we are positioned to meet the needs of all the population.

It’s also absolutely critical that we make sure from a service-delivery point of view that we don’t leave any groups out. We ought to have an expressed effort to make sure that those groups who potentially could receive services know what’s available. It’s more than just saying if they happen to come in the door, well, we’ll serve them. It’s making sure they know what the Red Cross’s mission is and why they’re welcome to access the services.

Some people fear that your background with the U.S. military could jeopardize the Red Cross’s role as a noncombatant. How do you respond?

There’s a long tradition of the Red Cross working hand-in-hand with the military. So I don’t think we’re plowing any new ground in terms of my appointment. From an operational point of view, the ability of the organization to provide humanitarian services depends on being able to understand how the military is operating. It’s an advantage to have insight into how the military operates.

The Red Cross chairman said you have a “unique style of leadership.” What did he mean?

I’d like to think of my role as removing the barriers to the success of people and entities within the organization. The leader of any organization, no matter where that person is in the structure, that person’s job is to help the people reporting to them be off-the-chart successful.

Leaders need to build bench strength. You never know when that plane I’m on is going to fall out of the sky, and the organization has to carry on. So one of the most important tasks of a leader is constantly preparing people for their next role.

ABOUT MARSHA JOHNSON EVANS, INCOMING PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS

Education: Earned a B.A. in diplomacy from Occidental College, in Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in international security from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. In addition, she is a graduate of the National War College and the Naval War College.

Previous employment: Currently serves as director of Girl Scouts of the USA, in New York. Previously, she served for 29 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring in 1997 as a rear admiral.

Charitable interests: She and her husband give to Occidental College and the Naval Academy Foundation.

Hobbies: Biking, skiing, kayaking, and scuba diving. She says she just recently decided to learn how to play golf.

Book she was re-reading at the time of the interview: Valerie I. Sessa and Jodi J. Taylor’s Executive Selection: A Systematic Approach for Success.