Daniel Wirth,  currently serving as the interim Northwest Regional Executive of the American Red Cross, has a committed history of fulfilling the Red Cross mission over the past decade. Beginning in March 2014 with the Indiana Region, his career quickly led him to accept the position as the Regional Disaster Officer for the Kentucky Region in 2016. Here he helped guide and mentor the disaster workforce of 17 for a 119-county territory. After four years of leadership in the disaster line of service, in January 2020, Dan moved to Washington State to serve as the Executive Director for the South Puget Sound and Olympics Chapter serving eight counties.   

Over these past three years, Dan has grown the South Puget Sound and Olympics Chapter Board of Directors membership to 17 active members, enjoys engaging Community Volunteer Leaders (CVL) who serve as an extension of the executive director role, supports fundraising activities, opens doorways for blood drives that advance the Sickle Cell initiative, looks for opportunities to serve with Services to Armed Forces, and continues to deploy to serve in multiple leadership roles during disaster relief operations.   

Dan’s deployments have spanned the nation including the Flint Water Crisis, Texas Flooding, South Carolina Flooding, Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Florence in North Carolina, the recent wildfires in California and Oregon, and served extended deployments for the Kentucky tornado operation helping the most vulnerable in Mayfield and surrounding counties, as well able to serve the migrant population on Pine Island during Hurricane Ian. Dan is bilingual and his ability to communicate with non-English-speaking disaster survivors has helped expedite response and recovery work in these communities.   

Dan’s passion for humanitarian work began early in his career as he and his partner served with the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic (2010-2013). He has held several positions including working in direct service with adjudicated youth in an outdoor program in Colorado (2001-2005), representing his Alma Mater, Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado in the admissions office (2005-2009), completing his Master of Arts Degree in Intercultural Youth and Family Development at the University of Montana (2010), and as an International Consultant for GrassrootSoccer working in Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, El Salvador and Jamaica (2013-2014).   

“My career is centered around making someone else’s time of need more bearable. It’s such a privilege to do what Red Cross allows us the opportunity to do for families during a time of crisis by offering support of their essential needs like shelter, food, mental health, and spiritual care.” Dan says he appreciates that Red Cross recognizes work/life balance as he and his partner are “loving” the Northwest Region and all it offers as they co-parent three children under the age of eight: Luna, Orion and Zephyr. These three keep their parents on their toes as they enjoy camping, biking, swimming, ballet, tap, hip hop, violin, piano, soccer… just a few activities as Dan and his partner are raising the next generation of humanitarians.