The American Red Cross of South Carolina is honored to announce the appointment of a new Vice Chair of our Red Cross of the Lowcountry Board of Directors. Katarina Fjording, the Head of Volvo Car University America, will serve as a key member of the Chapter Board.

“We are so excited and pleased to have Katarina continue her years of Red Cross support by serving in this important leadership role,” said Ashley Henyan, the Executive Director for the Lowcountry Chapter. “Katarina is a community leader in Charleston and across the state and her passion for people and her commitment to our lifesaving mission makes her a valuable member of our South Carolina team.”

Fjording has served as a board member of the Lowcountry Red Cross Board of Directors since 2016 and has been volunteering with the Red Cross since 2001. A mechanical engineer, Katarina Fjording is a senior Volvo Car executive and an automotive veteran with more than 30 years of global industrial operations experience from Europe, Asia and America. Her most recent assignment, as Vice President Purchasing & Manufacturing Americas, brought her to South Carolina where she established Volvo Car’s first industrial footprint in America and oversaw the build-up of Volvo Car’s production facility in Ridgeville.  In addition to her work on the Red Cross board, Katarina currently serves on the Clemson University President’s Advisory Board, the College of Charleston School of Business Board, the Cradle to Career Board, the Gibbes Museum Board and she is an Honorary Commander at the Joint Military Base Charleston.

“As a board member I am thrilled to step up and accept this role with the Red Cross, especially during this critical time in history,” Katarina Fjording said. “When the nation is hurting the Red Cross is always there. We are hurting right now, and I am glad to be doing my part to help out.”

The Lowcountry Chapter of the Red Cross of South Carolina serves nine counties (Williamsburg, Georgetown, Dorchester, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Hampton, Jasper and Beaufort) and is made up of more than 600 active volunteers. In the past year, the Lowcountry team of staff and volunteers has responded to more than 500 local disasters and helped more than 1,500 people across the area. The team has also conducted over 2,400 blood drives and collected nearly 30,000 units of lifesaving blood.

The Lowcountry Chapter Board of Directors is currently chaired by Gary Baldwin, the CTO for Dynepic Inc. To begin Fiscal Year 2021, three new board members have been voted on to the board including: Casey Kellermann, the Owner and Broker-In-Charge of Kellermann Smith Real Estate, Pamela Stone, the Accounts Director of AMFWorkshop, Inc, and Eric Thome, the Director of Business Development at Charles Towne Holdings, LLC and co-owner of Barre3, Charleston.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families.  The Red Cross is a charitable organization – not a government agency – and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org/SC or @RedCrossSC