Totland becomes first ever female board chairperson in chapter’s 100-year history
NOVEMBER 19, 2019 – The American Red Cross Eastern Pennsylvania Region has named Karen M. Totland, PhD, as chairperson of its Board of Directors in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Totland replaces David Webb of The Boston Consulting Group, whose two-year term has expired. Totland served as vice co-chairperson of the board for the past several years and has been past chairperson of the board’s finance committee.
Karen Totland is Vice President of Global Procurement, Facilities and Corporate Sustainability, at FMC Corporation in Philadelphia. She earned her PhD in chemistry from the University of Ottawa and conducted post-doctoral research at MIT. In 2016 Totland led the project to relocate FMC’s corporate headquarters to the new FMC Tower at Cira Centre South.
Totland has a proven track record of building new organizations, deploying technology, achieving bottom-line results and developing talent. She is also a committed champion of diversity and inclusion as well as a global citizen, having lived in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
These characteristics will help Totland lead the board of directors into 2020 and beyond. Focuses will include partnering with Red Cross leadership to ensure effective delivery of the Red Cross mission, representing the Red Cross in the community to effectively mobilize resources needed, building a diverse workforce that reflects the communities the Red Cross serves in and around Philadelphia and sustaining fundraising to meet the needs of disaster victims in the region.
“I am proud to be associated with an organization focused on protecting the life and health of people throughout our region and around the world,” Totland said. “It’s an honor to serve the American Red Cross Eastern Pennsylvania Region, and I look forward to working with the Board and our network of volunteers and partners in advancing our mission.”
Totland now serves as board chairperson for one of the busiest Red Cross regions in the country. In an average year the American Red Cross Eastern Pennsylvania Region:
• Responds to more than 1,000 local disasters
• Provides direct disaster assistance to more than 5,000 people
• Installs approximately 10,000 free lifesaving smoke alarms
• Trains nearly 100,000 people in first aid, CPR and other lifesaving skills
• Provides almost 5,000 services for military members, veterans and their families
• Collects more than 150,000 blood donations
The Eastern Pennsylvania Region also operates the Red Cross House in Philadelphia, the only-of-its-kind Red Cross Center for Disaster Recovery in the United States.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.