Richard Patton Joins the Board of the American Red Cross

WASHINGTON, Monday, June 30, 2008 — Richard Patton, a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, has been elected to serve a three-year term as a member of the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross. 

Patton joins a governance board of 23 individuals committed to the Red Cross mission to provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.  He has been appointed to the Philanthropy Committee, a committee responsible for the oversight of Red Cross fundraising policies, plans, goals and strategies.

When the Board of Governors met at American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, Patton received orientation to the Board and to the Red Cross. 

“On June 5, when I was at my first Board of Governors meeting, Red Cross local chapters were responding to initial flooding in the Midwest—three shelters in Nebraska provided overnight safety for 27 people,” Patton said.  “Since then the floods and tornadoes spread across eight states.  Some 5,000 Red Cross workers have provided more than 12,000 overnight shelter stays and served more than 300,000 meals.”

Patton is an entrepreneur with extensive leadership experience in the areas of finance, international business, regulated industries and pharmaceuticals.  He is chief manager of Courage Capital Management, LLC, of Nashville.  He is also a former board member of MAX Well Medical, LLC, of Nashville; Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. of Fort Worth; and The Krystal Company of Chattanooga.

Before being elected to the Board of Governors, Patton was Chairman of the Nashville Red Cross chapter.  Patton has been instrumental in a local disaster preparedness program called Join the 10,000, a program to recruit and train 10,000 Nashville area residents to join together as Red Cross responders in the event of a local disaster.  The program seeks to make Middle Tennessee the safest and most prepared region in the nation.

The American Red Cross is led by a Board of Governors with all of the powers of governing and directing, and of overseeing the management and affairs of the organization.  Service as a member of the Board of Governors is the highest level volunteer position within the American Red Cross.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches lifesaving skills; 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 humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at www.redcrosschat.org.