Ted Dysart of Oak Park is new Red Cross Board of Directors Chair

The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois is pleased to announce today the appointment of Theodore L. Dysart as the Chairperson of the organization’s Board of Directors.

Dysart is a vice chairman at Heidrick & Struggles where he is a leader in the Global Board of Directors Practice and an active member of the Chief Executive Officers practice. He joined the Red Cross board of directors in 2011 and has served on various committees in that time including chairing the Board Development Committee, the Preparedness & Resiliency Committee, and committees for the American Red Cross Golf Classic and Heroes Breakfast. Dysart also helped lead a committee to find and recruit the organizations current CEO, Celena Roldán.

“We are honored to have someone with Ted’s qualifications and strong conviction for our mission in this important position,” said Celena Roldán, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois. “I have had the pleasure of working with Ted on our Board of Directors for the past two and a half years and am so pleased that he is leading our board into the future.”

Dysart says he always had an affinity for the Red Cross and was a first aid and CPR instructor for the organization as a high schooler. He hopes to continue to lead people back to the core mission and values of the Red Cross.

“It has been a privilege to serve with this organization and it is an honor to be in the same realm as the great leaders before me who’ve held this position,” Dysart said. “We have such a strong sense of community in Chicago and that was proven over and over again as we continually saw the tremendous generosity of our partners during last year’s unprecedented disasters allowing the important work of the Red Cross to continue.”

Dysart’s professional accolades include being ranked by BusinessWeek as one of the 150 most influential head hunters in the world, and being named by Executive Search Review one of six “executive recruiters to watch”. Over the last several years, he has been named ten times to the Directorship 100, a listing of the most influential individuals in corporate governance by Directorship magazine. In 2011, the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at Yale University named him one of the Rising Stars of Corporate Governance. He is a regular commentator on the subject of corporate governance, and his comments have appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and on CNN as well as other local and regional papers.

Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, he was a vice president with The Directorship Search Group, a consulting firm specializing in corporate governance consulting and board director searches. Earlier, he worked for WIN Enterprise, Inc., a member of the WIN Group. He is active in civic circles and also serves on the board of directors of AUSL, The Chicago Club, Economic Club of Chicago and CECP, The Force for Corporate Good.

A graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dysart was a member of the first class to receive a bachelor’s degree in management information systems. He is a resident of Oak Park.

Dysart will step into the role previously filled by Jill Schaaf of Baxter Healthcare (retired) who led the board for the last 2 years. Schaaf will continue to serve as a board member and is currently the Chair of the Community Outreach Committee.

The volunteer board includes more than 30 civic and corporate leaders from a range of professional backgrounds for the region that serves 9.5 million people in 21 counties in northern Illinois. A full list of members is located at redcross.org/il/chicago/about/leadership.

About the American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois:

The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois serves 9.5 million people in 21 counties including Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Jo Daviess, LaSalle, Lake, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Putnam, Stephenson, Whiteside, Will and Winnebago. 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 us at redcross.org/il/chicago or visit us on Twitter @ChicagoRedCross.