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| Loretta Graham, Girl Scouts of Southern Ilinois' CEO |
I am extremely honored to have been selected as the New CEO of the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois. I am boundlessly grateful to the Board of Directors who empowered me to lead Girl Scouting, and I can hardly keep in my impatience to get started.
I joined Girl Scouts in 1991, beginning my career with roles in membership and marketing before returning to South Carolina over 9 years ago. I lived in North Dakota for more than 25 years. My achievements in the nonprofit sector include working with communities to be a voice and face for girls, and developing volunteer programs and council activities.
In Girl Scouting, we reach out to our communities for support and in turn we are challenged to be a service to those communities. In the Girl Scout Law, we pledge: To be honest and fair, courageous, strong, responsible, and to make the world a better place. I will hold true to this pledge. Even through the hard times that we may have throughout the year, I will remain committed to meeting the needs and interest of girls, and developing leadership skills. There’s a statement that fits us perfectly: “The best way to prepare for the future is to have a hand in creating it." Having a hand in it is something we strive to do every day. Together we can help girls imagine what they can do, and help them develop the skills to make their dreams a reality.
When we work together as one unit, we hold the key to the future of our communities. I want the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois to continue to be a leader in this movement and be a vital part of the success to all girls in this council. I appreciate your courage and confidence in moving forward to make Girl Scouting available to every girl. Just look around and you will find a Girl Scout who is striving to reach her potential and you made that happen!!!
Now let us take a moment to think about the importance of delivering the Girl Scout program and educating the girls of this generation. Tomorrow's problems demand bright, hard-working individuals to solve them, and the only way we can create these individuals is by acting as one unified body to support GSSI. They depend on us for their continued strength to guide them on their journey.
If Girl Scouting stands for anything, it stands for the united spirit in all of us because we achieve and we achieve because we meet the challenges and experience triumphs together!
What we are doing today is planting seeds for our future.
So In my work as the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois I pledge to adhere to the Girl Scout Promise and Law and to continue to implement and develop great programs for girls 5-17.
Loretta Graham
Chief Executive Officer