FORT WORTH -- After 31 years in the Navy, the last three as commander of Naval Air Station Fort Worth, T.D. Smyers retired from the military and began looking for somewhere to continue serving the public.
He found it in an organization that deploys people, responds to humanitarian crises, supports military families and relies overwhelmingly on people who choose to do it -- the American Red Cross.Smyers, 49, took over this month as the first CEO of the Red Cross' North Texas region, a landmass that stretches from the New Mexico border to the Louisiana border, at a time of significant change for one of the world's best-known nonprofits."I didn't really want to sell anything, and I didn't really want to go into the defense contracting world," said Smyers, who retired as a Navy captain. "I wanted to take what I learned in the Navy and apply it to an organization that strives to make life better for people in their community."One of the major factors in Smyers' interest in the position is that he has a chance to greatly influence an evolving organization that has been reorganizing, consolidating and streamlining its operations. As evidence, the Chisholm Trail office in Fort Worth and the Dallas Area office have merged and now report directly to Smyers, who holds the dual job of executive director of the two offices.Both will remain open, and officials say the reorganization has not affected their ability to help people in need.Jodi Lash, an attorney and consultant who lives in Southlake and served on the Red Cross search committee, said Smyers' discipline, communication skills and belief in preparation repeatedly surfaced in interviews."He had a history of working in organizations that needed to become more efficient," Lash said. "He had those skills that we were looking for as we restructure. Major change can overwhelm people, but he likes to say that change is 'wet cement. It gives you a chance to remold things.' So in just a few short weeks, we've already seen some pretty impressive leadership out of him."In-depth educationThe American Red Cross, 130 years old and founded by teacher and nurse Clara Barton, is best-known for sending teams of staff and volunteers to disaster scenes, as localized as an apartment fire in Tarrant County and as massive as a hurricane on the Gulf Coast.The organization is also key in providing emergency support to military personnel and their families.Smyers, less than three weeks on the job, has been drinking from the proverbial fire hose on the organization he now runs."I've implemented a 90-day plan," he said, "and that 90-day plan is largely the education of T.D. Smyers on all things Red Cross."Smyers, who grew up in Boyd in Wise County, graduated from the Naval Academy and became a naval flight officer on the P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft. But when he got the rare chance to command the naval installation on his home turf, he chose to retire at its conclusion last summer."I wanted to go out on top," he said.Several months ago, he began talking to Red Cross leaders about the regional CEO position, which was created last summer when the organization started to shift from an every-chapter-stands-on-its-own philosophy.In the past, each Red Cross chapter was unique, based on its geography, fundraising abilities, stable of volunteers and other factors. Some chapters did well; others did not.But it was an inefficient system with lots of duplication, said Smyers and Anita Foster, chief communications officer for Fort Worth and Dallas.A sea changeFunctions such as information technology, human resources, accounting and marketing were all combined nationally or regionally, freeing individual chapters from those functions. Operationally, the 11 chapters in North, West and East Texas were combined into a region that would assume leadership on budgeting, expenses, fundraising and volunteer training.At the beginning of the process, the Red Cross had 142 full-time employees in the region's chapters, a number that has been reduced to 117. To replace that workforce, the Red Cross has stepped up its already robust volunteer roster."The goal is to make the delivery of services standardized across the region so that a person in rural West Texas receives the same level of support as someone in Fort Worth or Dallas," Smyers said. "It's not going to change anything we do. If anything, what we do will improve. In order to be effective, you've got to be more efficient."Local chapters will retain their offices and their boards, which will continue to advise Red Cross leadership and help raise money. Given the consolidation of regional chapters, Foster said, Dallas-Fort Worth will play an even bigger role because of its size and fundraising potential. The national Red Cross does not financially support local chapters unless there is a significant disaster."There will be an enormous responsibility for Dallas-Fort Worth to raise money" to help support the Red Cross' five-state region, Foster said. "This is a high-profile disaster area with a lot of resources."Online:northtexas.redcross.orgChris Vaughn, 817-390-7547Twitter: @CVaughnFWHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
