Anna María Chavez Named New Girl Scouts CEO

Girl Scouts of the USA has selected Mexican-American Anna Maria Chavez as its new CEO. As mentioned previously in News Taco, the organization is stepping up efforts to recruit more Latinas into its ranks in order to grow its declining membership numbers and keep up with the demographic changes in the U.S.

According to The Sacramento Bee, Chavez held the position as the chief executive of the Southwest Texas chapter since 2009.  She was also a member of the Arizona Girl Scouts as a youth and will be “the first Hispanic woman to serve in the position”.  While her Southwestern roots and last name may help attract more young Latinas to the Girl Scouts, Chavez was also chosen because:

We wanted to find someone who had a strong leadership story of her own whose journey in life could serve as a shining example for all of our girls,” said Connie Lindsay, the national president of the organization and a member of the search committee.

Not to mention her extremely qualified background from the Girl Scouts:

Chávez was appointed chief executive of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas in 2009 after serving as deputy chief of staff for urban relations and community development for former Arizona governor and current U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. As deputy chief of staff, she promoted the governor’s policies, programs and initiatives through coordination and partnership with city, county, and tribal governments, federal agencies and community organizations.

In addition, she served as the governor’s policy advisor to the Arizona Department of Housing and advised Napolitano on strategies for coordinating housing and economic development. Prior to being appointed as deputy chief of staff, Chávez served as Napolitano’s director of intergovernmental affairs from 2003 to 2007. She also served as in-house counsel and assistant director for the Division of Aging & Community Services (DACS) at the Arizona Department of Economic Security. Chávez entered state government after serving as senior policy advisor to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater. Previously, she had been chief of staff to the deputy administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in Washington, D.C. Chávez also served as chief of staff for SBA’s Office of Government Contracting and Minority Enterprise Development.

As the number of young Latinas in the U.S. continues to grow and the Girl Scouts of the USA membership shrinks, the organization is anticipating that a Latina at the top position and bilingual campaigns can ensure its survival.