Heifer CEO Celebrates First Year At Helm of Hunger Relief Organization

Heifer International, the Little Rock-based worldwide hunger relief organization, is celebrating its new CEO’s first year on the job.

Pierre Ferrari took over for long-time leader Jo Luck a little more than one year ago. Ferrari, who has a very charismatic personality, has been leading three major strategies in his capacity as chief executive.  You can watch below or read our interview with Ferrari from one year ago at this link.

Heifer’s blog is full of coverage of the non-profit’s activities around the world. In a recent post, a recap of Ferrari’s first-year efforts can be found:

In his first year as head of Heifer, Ferrari has implemented three important strategies set by its board of directors. The most ambitious one is to expand Heifer’s projects in developing countries. In an effort to feed more hungry people around the globe, Heifer will now increase the size of its programs by an order of magnitude, focusing on areas with the most need.

“We as an institution need to lead what has been called the livestock revolution,” says Ferrari. “We must reach a rapidly growing group of small farmers, who are mostly women, to create the surplus needed to feed the world.”

Ferrari also intends Heifer to lead the way in use of technology to fight poverty. Improved technology, like cell phone connectivity, can empower people in new ways and make Heifer’s work even more impactful.

Dramatically enlarging our programs, though, means some real challenges for Heifer International. In order to fund larger projects, Ferrari is pursuing more diverse revenue streams, including foundation and governmental grants.

“The G8, the G2O, the Gates Foundation, and others have all rediscovered the critical importance of agriculture and are promising to do more for the small farmers,” Ferrari says. “From our point of view, it’s about time!”

The third of Ferrari’s priorities, and maybe the most difficult to manage, is to bring all the organization’s systems around the world into alignment. As a global institution, Heifer has seen its processes grow complex. Now, the website management, human resources, planning and finance systems are being streamlined and strengthened. Ferrari says these changes will let Heifer grow while still being flexible and transparent to donors, and maintaining the high-quality work Heifer is known for.

You can read the full blog post at this link.