The American Red Cross New Hampshire & Vermont Region is pleased to announce that Roxanne Benzel has been awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence by the American Red Cross. Benzel is one of 25 stellar American Red Cross volunteers and employees to be selected, and she will be honored at the Annual National Awards Recognition Dinner on March 27 in Washington, DC. Benzel has served as a member of the Red Cross Board of Directors since 2013, and is currently serving her third term. The Presidential Award for Excellence is presented to an indivual or group of employees or volunteers who demonstrate exceptional performance or service in support of the Red Cross delivering on its multi-faceted mission.
Nominees for the award must go beyond meeting organizational goals and expectations, and must exemplify the highest level of commitment to Red Cross values and the execution of service and performance. Benzel was nominated and endorsed by multiple Red Cross Board members, including Volunteer Committee Chair Caroline Leonard and Board Chair Patrick Santoso. Leonard’s nomination described how Benzel has served as a diversity champion on the board, working with the nominating committee to help create a board that is diverse in gender, industry, age, and experience. Leonard described how instrumental Benzel was in helping the Red Cross merge its New Hampshire and Vermont regions into one, which included merging two boards.
“Throughout and since that merger, Roxanne has made an incredible effort to ensure that members of both states feel included and appreciated,” Leonard said. “This includes driving hours from her workplace in Nashua, New Hampshire to attend board meetings in Burlington, Vermont so that she could personally meet our Vermont team. Roxanne recognizes the needs of both of our states, and makes sure that both states have a voice at the board level, and we have steadily been building our Vermont board membership. This is almost exclusively due to the hands-on efforts by Roxanne.”
Involvement and dedication are also words used to describe Benzel’s work on behalf of the board. She is the Board’s Immediate Past-Chair, she has participated in meetings for every board committee, including chairing the nomination committee and chairing the diversity and inclusion committee. Benzel has represented the board at the regional and national level.
Santoso added, “Roxanne pushes us to be a better board through thoughtful meeting topics and initiatives. She is always searching for ways that the board can become more engaged and involved to support the mission. She is committed to improving the New Hampshire and Vermont region across all lines of service.”
Benzel is Continuous Improvement Leader and is a Lean Systems/Six Sigma Black Belt for BAE Systems’ Electronic Systems sector. She currently serves as Immediate Past-President of the Board of Trustees for the Hopkinton Historical Society. She is a graduate of Michigan State University and a 2012 graduate of Leadership New Hampshire.
About the American Red Cross:
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 redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.