Catholic Relief Services Gets New CEO

Nearly a week after Save the Children appointe a new CEO, Catholic Relief Services has a new executive of their own.  The Baltimore-based nonprofit announced last Friday that Carolyn Y. Woo will replace the retiring Ken Hackett as CEO of the organization.  Woo, 57, had served on the CRS Board of Directors from 2004 until 2010 and is currently the dean of Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame.  She will officially become the seventh chief executive of CRS on January 1st, 2012. 

The Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop of Tuscon and Chairman of the CRS Board of Directors, said the following about Ms. Woo:

“Dr. Woo is a woman of deep faith with a strong commitment to the mission of the Church. She will bring exceptional abilities and gifts to the task of serving the poor around the world in the name of Catholics throughout the United States.  CRS is so blessed to have had Ken Hackett's leadership these 18 years, now to be followed by another outstanding faith-filled leader in Dr. Woo."

Woo, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, immigrated to the United States to attend college at Purdue University.  There she received her B.S., M.S.I.A., and Ph. D degrees.  During her six years on the CRS Board of Directors, she made several trips overseas to visit the organization's programs and staff.  This included a trip to Banda Aceh, Indonesia after the Indian Ocean tsunami.  She also made stops in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Kenya.  She released the following statement on her rise to CEO:

“I am honored to join an organization that is a true manifestation of the compassion of Jesus Christ and the Church's ministry of charity around the world.  I look forward to building on the strong accomplishments of Ken and the global staff of CRS.”

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