SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Amy Weaver has taken the helm as CEO of Direct Relief, the Santa Barbara-based nonprofit known for delivering lifesaving medical aid to vulnerable communities across the globe.
Weaver brings extensive corporate and nonprofit experience to the role. She previously served as president and chief financial officer at Salesforce and was a board member for Habitat for Humanity International. She said her goal now is to apply those strategic and operational skills to maximize human impact.
"I'm going from really focusing on maximizing profits to maximizing human impact," Weaver said. "But a lot of those skills are the same. It's strategic focus, it's financial responsibility, operational excellence. It is a constant focus on innovation, and above all, it's trust."
Weaver succeeds Thomas Tighe, who served as CEO for 24 years and led the organization through transformative growth. Under Tighe’s leadership, Direct Relief became the fifth-largest charity in the United States and one of the world’s largest providers of donated medications.
"Direct Relief has been through multiple administrations. We've been through a pandemic. There have been multiple civil conflicts around the world. In every case, Direct Relief has navigated them beautifully and only grown," Weaver said. "That's what I want to see in the future."
Since last July, Direct Relief has distributed nearly $2 billion in medical aid, shipped nearly 4 million pounds of medicine and supplies, and delivered close to 300 million doses of medicine worldwide. The organization was recently awarded the 2025 Seoul Peace Prize for its global humanitarian contributions.
"Every pallet of medicine that we ship out, every partnership we make—it's not just logistics, it's a lifeline for the people that we serve," she said. "My role now is to see how we scale that and bring it to even more people."
Weaver said her decision to take the job amid overlapping global crises was driven by a sense of urgency and opportunity.
"I've had quite a few people say, 'Aren't you picking the worst moment in history to jump into humanitarian aid?' But I honestly think it's the best," she said. "I mean, the scale, the immensity of the needs right now—and the needs are just growing every single day—but that means the opportunity to make a difference, the opportunity to actually be part of the solution, is even more meaningful."
She recalled a recent visit from a longtime partner in Haiti that reaffirmed Direct Relief’s reputation for listening first and acting with purpose.
"He said that Direct Relief really stood out to him because we didn't just send them what we thought they needed—we listened, and we heard what they needed," Weaver said.
Though Direct Relief operates in more than 100 countries, Weaver emphasized the nonprofit’s deep roots in Santa Barbara, where it was founded 76 years ago.
Weaver said she was inspired by the Direct Relief mural at the Santa Barbara airport when she first visited the area and made it a priority to visit a local clinic early in her tenure. She recently met with Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics' Chief Executive Officer Mahdi Ashrafian.
Weaver said she plans to meet with community leaders, clinic directors, and residents to build on Direct Relief’s longstanding relationship with the region.
"It's really a joy for me to be able to bring these skills to an organization that's just so deeply human," she said.
“Every Pallet Is a Lifeline”: Amy Weaver on Leading Direct Relief as CEO News Channel 3-12.
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