Derrick Chubbs' family dinner Sunday night had him thinking about how many people he could help feed with food that goes to waste. It would only take the next day for him to start. But it couldn’t come soon enough, as he repeatedly awoke during the night to see if it was time to go to work.
On Monday, Derrick was more than ready to assume his position as the new president and CEO of the Central Texas Food Bank, the largest hunger relief organization in Central Texas.
The long-time Austin resident is the fifth president and CEO in the Food Bank’s 35-year history and replaces former CEO Hank Perret, who had already planned to retire after successfully completing the Food Bank’s capital campaign for a new facility.
“I’m extremely excited,” Derrick said. “I couldn’t think of a better mission to be associated with than solving the problem of hunger.”
Only a few days into the job, Derrick is quicklygetting the hang of his new position and learning about hunger in Central Texas and how the Food Bank impacts the community from volunteers to staff to our clients.
“I underestimated the need,” he said. “The [hunger] gap is broadening, so we have a lot of work to do, which now makes me even more passionate about telling the story in the community that there is a tremendous need here and there just shouldn’t be. There is no excuse for there to be hunger in Central Texas.”
His vast experience in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors will help him lead the organization in addressing the growing hunger gap in Central Texas and increase the Food Bank’s impact in its 21 county service territory.
Prior to the Food Bank, Derrick spent more than 10 years at the American Red Cross. Most recently he served as the National Vice President of Humanitarian Services for Disaster Workforce Readiness, where he led the national strategy in disaster services support.
His work at the Red Cross also includes serving as the Division Vice President for the Southwest and Rocky Mountains Division as well as being the CEO of the Red Cross in Central Texas in Austin.
Before working in the nonprofit sector, Derrick spent 20 years in the private sector where he held senior leadership roles with IBM, Pervasive Software and Dell.
Derrick’s appointment ends an extensive, five month national search with more than 50 applicants.
As a new chapter in the Food Bank history begins, Hank will stay on board for the next few months in an advisory role. Hank came out of his first retirement in 2010 to lead the Food Bank’s capital campaign. He leaves the community with a new 135,000 square foot facility that will allow the Food Bank to expand its programs and distribute up to 60 million pounds of food a year.
