By Khalida Sarwari
At its annual meeting in June, the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter honored its 2013 volunteer award recipients, including Saratoga resident Bill Russell, who was presented the organization’s outstanding leadership award.
The Red Cross commended Russell for guiding the Silicon Valley Chapter through many transitions and organizational changes.
“The Silicon Valley Chapter would not be in the solid shape that it is today if Bill had not been volunteering his time and talent for the past 12 years,” a Red Cross press release stated.
Russell said the award took him by surprise.
“As the chairman of the board, I was standing at the podium giving away awards. What I didn’t expect was someone giving one to me,” he said. “I was quite surprised and very proud to be recognized.”
The award honors Russell’s leadership and service. He became involved with the Red Cross in 2004, when he was elected treasurer and finance committee chairman, serving in the role through 2007. Russell subsequently became chairman of the CEO search committee, and in 2010, he reprised his role as treasurer and finance committee chairman. Russell also played a role in the merger of the Palo Alto and Santa Clara chapters in 2008.
Russell, who is a Scot, came to the United States from the United Kingdom in 1996 for a temporary work assignment at Hewlett-Packard. While visiting, he stayed at the Inn at Saratoga and loved the city so much, he has called it home since he became a permanent resident in 2001.
He now serves as a corporate director of several public and private companies, including SABA, PROS, ParAccel, KXEN and B.T. Mancini. He is married and has twin daughters who recently graduated from Loyola Law School and Cal Poly.
Although he completed his term on the board of directors in June, Russell said he plans to continue to support the Red Cross in other capacities.
“With the Red Cross, you’re as involved as you want to be,” he said. “I’m a donor to the Red Cross, and I don’t see that changing.”
The 2013 volunteer award winners were honored at the annual meeting on June 11 at Peninsula Building Materials in Mountain View and during the volunteer recognition awards night at the Red Cross San Jose office on May 21.
Other local award recipients include Ioana Moldovan, Gary Mcleod, Portia Gage, Marcella DiSciullo, Irene Krugly, George Williams, Stephanie Wilde and Elizabeth Dietz of San Jose; Cathy Etheredge and Stuart Chessen of Cupertino; Janette Huber, Yuki Hirose and Kent Fielden of Sunnyvale; and Sean Imler of Campbell.
Beyond assisting in national disasters, the American Red Cross provides services and programs that help local communities prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. On average, the organization responds to three local disasters per week, ranging from residential fires and gas explosions to floods and other crises, Russell said. Volunteers help provide food and shelter to displaced families.
“In many cases, these people are standing out there on the streets,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the Red Cross, they’d have nowhere to go and no way of buying food. So that’s what drives me to be involved. I can’t imagine what it’d be like to be in that kind of situation.”
Learn more about the work that the Red Cross does at redcross.org/siliconvalley.
