PJ receives the Presidential Award for Excellence. From left to right, Trevor Riggen (President, Humanitarian Services), Gail McGovern (Chair of the Board of Governors and former President and CEO), PJ Doyle, and Cliff Holtz (current President and CEO)
Again and again, the people who work with PJ Doyle come back to the same thing: the way she shows up for others.
“I wish there was a way to quantify the number of people she has mentored,” said Melanie Tschida, executive director of the Red Cross serving Southern Minnesota, who nominated Doyle for the award.
Doyle joined the American Red Cross in 1991. Today, she holds several volunteer leadership roles locally and across the Minnesota and Dakotas Region. Over the course of her 30+ years of service, she has responded to more than 80 disasters, from local emergencies to major national responses, including Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. Just as important to the people who know her, she has spent decades helping other volunteers learn, lead and find their footing in difficult situations.
“When you’ve been around the Red Cross long enough, you learn to recognize a certain kind of person — the one who shows up first, stays late and somehow keeps everyone calm in between. That’s PJ Doyle,” said Joshua Gain, North Central Division Director for Service to the Armed Forces.
A calm hand during disasters
On many disaster assignments, Doyle has led teams that coordinate communication with community partners, government agencies and news media. In plain language, that work is about helping people understand what support is available, keeping partners connected and making sure information is clear when conditions are changing quickly.
Her colleagues describe a leadership style built less on title than on trust. “She listens first, speaks with care and leads without ego — earning the trust of partners, volunteers, and staff alike,” Gain said.
During her decades of Red Cross service, PJ Doyle has worked closely with emergency management partners across the country, including fire departments.
Helping people stay connected
Doyle’s service also reaches beyond disaster response. Through Red Cross International Services, she helps reconnect families separated by war, migration or disaster. She is certified as an International Humanitarian Law Expert Instructor and has taught hundreds of people across the country about the Geneva Conventions and protections for civilians during armed conflict.
Closer to home, Doyle helped establish the region’s first group focused on diversity and inclusion. She has also spent years building relationships with community organizations, government partners and universities across the Twin Cities, helping strengthen connections before they are needed in an emergency.
In the past two years alone, Doyle has logged nearly 1,000 volunteer hours while also dealing with significant health challenges. The number is remarkable, but the stories people tell about her point to something harder to count: the volunteers she has mentored, the relationships she has built and the steadiness she brings when people are under pressure.
For more than 30 years, Doyle has helped people through some of their hardest moments while helping others learn how to serve beside her. That long record of service is now being honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence, a milestone shared with the many people she has supported and mentored along the way.
Interested in using your skills to help your community like PJ Doyle? Visit RedCross.org/GiveTime to learn more and find your fit.
Support all the urgent humanitarian needs of the American Red Cross.
Find a drive and schedule a blood donation appointment today.
Your time and talent can make a real difference in people’s lives. Discover the role that's right for you and join us today!
