Nancy Aossey, President & CEO of International Medical Corps (IMC), a Santa Monica-based global humanitarian aid organization, was named non-profit CEO of the Year by the “Women Making a Difference” program of the Los Angeles Business Journal.
Since joining IMC shortly after its inception in 1986, Aossey has shepherded the organization from a three-employee start-up to a $100 million relief organization with more than 4,000 volunteers and staff working in 21 countries.
In 2005, IMC provided more than 3,475,000 medical consultations at fixed and mobile clinics; nutrition services focused on long-term strategies for famine relief to over 200,000 malnourished mothers and children; education on HIV/AIDS, malaria, epidemic preparedness and hygiene reaching over 5.1 million people worldwide; and more than 35,000 doctors, nurses, midwives and others trained to deliver health care in their communities, expanding care to millions more.
Ms. Aossey was selected from a group of 48 other women nominated from a wide range of non-profit professions at the program’s 15th annual luncheon in downtown Los Angeles. “Nancy Aossey is remarkable by any standards, but particularly for putting her efforts into areas where others might feel they could not make a difference,” said Vivian Mastrangelo of Union Bank of California in presenting the award to Aossey.
Aossey’s leadership was particularly put to the test in 2005, with the unprecedented wave of disasters that occurred across the globe. IMC was first to respond to many remote areas after the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Pakistan earthquake. And IMC mobilized emergency teams for the first time domestically after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In addition to responding to these crises, IMC continued its work in less-publicized disaster zones, like war-ravaged Uganda, and Somalia, which has suffered from relentless drought and famine.
International Medical Corps, which has been located in Santa Monica since its 1986 founding, has been devoted to delivering humanitarian aid that brings self-reliance. All IMC programs focus on local resources at the point of need – training personnel and working with local communities, doctors, nurses and other professionals, to help them rebuild with dignity and hope.
