Gail McGovern | |
---|---|
President of the American Red Cross | |
Assumed office June 23, 2008 | |
Preceded by | Bonnie McElveen-Hunter |
Personal details | |
Born | 1952 (age 71–72) Springfield,New Jersey,U.S |
Education | Johns Hopkins University (BA) Columbia University (MBA) |
Gail J. McGovern (born 1952) is an American businessperson,who became president and CEO of the American Red Cross on June 23,2008. McGovern held top management positions at AT&T Corporation and Fidelity Investments. She is a member of the board of trustees of Johns Hopkins University and the board of directors of DTE Energy. [1]
Born in 1952 and raised as Gail J. Rosenberg in Springfield,New Jersey. She was born into a jewish family,her father fighting on Omaha beach [2] She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in quantitative sciences from Johns Hopkins University in 1974 [3] and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1987. [3]
She began at AT&T Corporation as a programmer also working in sales,marketing and management. [3] Eventually she became the executive vice president of the consumer markets division,the largest business unit,responsible for $26 billion in residential long-distance service. [3] She held this role from 1997 to 1998. [4]
She joined Fidelity Investments in September 1998 as president of distribution and services. [3] [4] Her department served 4 million customers with $500 billion in assets. [3]
She was recognized by Fortune magazine in 2000 and 2001 as one of the top 50 most powerful women in corporate America. [3]
She joined the faculty of the Harvard Business School in June 2002 where she taught marketing and consumer marketing to first and second year students. [3] [4] McGovern was an adjunct faculty of the Harvard Business School.
She assumed the role of president and CEO of the American Red Cross on June 23,2008, [3] replacing Mark W. Everson,a former IRS commissioner and becoming the seventh chief in seven years. [5] In June she joined a delegation of 30 community leaders organized by the United States Agency for International Development to visit China and those affected by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. [6] The focus of her work at the Red Cross has been to improve the image of the Red Cross brand and thereby increase donations. [5]
In 2015 McGovern became embroiled in a controversy,after writing a letter to congressman Bennie Thompson,which appeared to be an attempt to quash a congressional investigation into the Red Cross's dealing with the federal government during its disaster relief work. [7]
In October 2023,it was announced that McGovern would retire as president and CEO on June 30,2024. [8]
On May 27,2020,McGovern was invited to and gave special remarks at her alma mater Johns Hopkins University's 2020 Commencement ceremony. [9] Other notable guest speakers during the virtual ceremony included Reddit co-founder and Commencement speaker Alexis Ohanian;philanthropist and former New York City Mayor,Michael Bloomberg;Anthony Fauci,director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and later leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force;and senior class president Pavan Patel. [10]
McGovern was selected for the inaugural 2021 Forbes 50 Over 50;made up of entrepreneurs,leaders,scientists and creators who are over the age of 50. [11]
She currently resides in Washington,D.C.,with her husband,Donald E. McGovern. She has three children and two grandchildren. [3]
Columbia Business School (CBS) is the business school of Columbia University,a private research university in New York City. Established in 1916,Columbia Business School is one of six Ivy League business schools and is one of the oldest business schools in the world.
Fidelity Investments,formerly known as Fidelity Management &Research (FMR),is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston,Massachusetts. Established in 1946,the company is one of the largest asset managers in the world,with $4.9 trillion in assets under management,and,as of December 2023,$12.6 trillion in assets under administration. Fidelity Investments operates a brokerage firm,manages a large family of mutual funds,provides fund distribution and investment advice,retirement services,index funds,wealth management,securities execution and clearance,asset custody,and life insurance.
Abigail Pierrepont Johnson is an American billionaire businesswoman,and the granddaughter of late Edward C. Johnson II,the founder of Fidelity Investments. Since 2014,Johnson has been president and chief executive officer (CEO) of American investment firm Fidelity Investments (FMR),and chair of its former sister company Fidelity International (FIL). Fidelity was founded by her grandfather Edward C. Johnson II. Her father,Edward C. "Ned" Johnson III,remained chair emeritus of FMR until his death in March 2022. As of March 2013,the Johnson family owned a 49% stake in the privately-held company,with Johnson herself holding an estimated 24.5%. She is a board member of Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Margaret Cushing Whitman is an American business executive,diplomat,and politician serving as the United States ambassador to Kenya since 2022. Whitman was president and chief executive officer (CEO) of eBay from 1998 to 2008. Afterwards,she became president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from 2011 to 2015,during the company's major split. She then served as the CEO of Quibi from its launch in 2018 until its closure in 2020. A member of the Republican Party,she ran for governor of California but was defeated by former governor Jerry Brown in California's 2010 gubernatorial election. Whitman was a senior presidential campaign official for Republican Mitt Romney in both 2008 and 2012,although she supported Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the 2016 presidential election and the 2020 presidential election,respectively.
Andrea Jung is a Canadian-American executive,non-profit leader,and prominent women's-issues supporter based in New York City. In April 2014,she became president and CEO of Grameen America,a nonprofit microfinance organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner,Muhammad Yunus. From 1999 until 2012,she served as the first female CEO and chairman of Avon Products,Inc.,a multi-level marketing company. Jung was also the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Cosmetic,Toiletry &Fragrance Association,and Chairman of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations.
Bernadine Patricia Healy was an American cardiologist and the first female director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American business executive who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018.
Brenda Czajka Barnes was an American businesswoman who served as president,chairman and chief executive of Sara Lee,and was the first female CEO at PepsiCo.
Since 2004,Forbes,an American business magazine,has published an annual list of its ranking of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Edited by prominent Forbes journalists,including Moira Forbes,the list is compiled using various criteria such as visibility and economic impact. In 2023,the gauge was "money,media,impact and spheres of influence". The top 10 per year are listed below.
Susan M. Cameron is an American businessperson who is the former chairman,president,and CEO of Reynolds American,Inc.
Susan E. Arnold is an American business executive who formerly served as the chairman of The Walt Disney Company.
Mary Bonneau "Bonnie" McElveen-Hunter is an American businesswoman,philanthropist,and diplomat who is the first female chair of the board of governors of the American Red Cross. She is the founder and CEO of Pace Communications,a content and integrated marketing agency,and was the U.S. Ambassador to Finland from 2001 to 2003. She served as the finance chairwoman of Elizabeth Dole's campaign for the Republican nomination for U.S. president. She also started the first billion dollar women's leadership campaign in America for the United Way.
James Alan Skinner is an American business executive. He was the executive chairman of Walgreens Boots Alliance. He was the vice chairman and CEO of McDonald's Corporation.
Ann Martinelli Livermore is a former Executive Vice President at Hewlett-Packard,where from 2004 until June 14,2011,she led the HP Enterprise Business business unit of HP. After being relieved of day-to-day operations,she was elected to the board of directors of HP. At the time,she was a 29-year veteran of the company and among existing senior management,the longest-service executive.
Gail Koziara Boudreaux is an American businesswoman and athlete. In college,she played basketball for the Dartmouth Big Green from 1978 to 1982. She later served as an executive for a number of companies such as Aetna,BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois (2002),and UnitedHealth Group (2008). In 2020,she was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". From 2008 to 2014,she was on the Fortune list of powerful women,peaking at No. 25. In 2015,she formed her own healthcare consulting company,GKB Global Health,LLC. In 2017,she became CEO of Elevance Health,now the second-largest American company with a woman CEO.
The President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness,originally the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB),was an ad hoc panel of non-governmental experts from business,labor,academia and elsewhere that President of the United States Barack Obama created on February 6,2009. The board reported to Obama and his economic team on possible ways to improve the nation's economy. Obama announced this new board on November 26,2008,and also announced that it would be chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker with campaign economic adviser Austan Goolsbee as staff director and chief economist.
Helene D. Gayle is an American physician,and academic and non-profit administrator. She has been president of Spelman College since 2023. She formerly was CEO of the Chicago Community Trust,one of the nation's leading community foundations. Earlier in her career she was the director of international humanitarian organization CARE,and spent much of her career in the field of public health research in epidemiology at the CDC.
Nikesh Arora is an Indian-American business executive. Arora was formerly a senior executive at Google. He was the president of SoftBank Group from October 2014 to June 2016. On June 1,2018,Arora took on the role of CEO and chairman at Palo Alto Networks.
Virginia "Ginni" Rometty is an American business executive who was executive chairman of IBM after stepping down as CEO on April 1,2020. She was previously chairman,president and CEO of IBM,becoming the first woman to head the company. She retired from IBM on December 31,2020,after a near-40 year career there. Before becoming president and CEO in January 2012,she first joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981 and subsequently headed global sales,marketing,and strategy.
Anne Finucane is an American banker who is vice chair of Bank of America and chair of the board of Bank of America Europe. She leads the bank's socially responsible investing,global public policy,and environmental,social and corporate governance committee. She has worked in the banking industry since 1995,when she joined Fleet Financial,which later merged with the short-lived BankBoston to become part of Bank of America. She is on the board of several organizations. She lives in Lincoln,Massachusetts.