Ritchie L. Geisel Joins Bienvenidos as President & CEO

Ritchie L. Geisel steps into the Chief Executive role at Bienvenidos with a career devoted to nonprofit leadership. He brings with him 16 years experience as chief executive officer of four nonprofit organizations, leading two of them through processes of transformational change. Geisel comes to Bienvenidos from the Virginia Peninsula SPCA, where he served as interim executive director.

As President and CEO, Geisel will have overall responsibility for the strategic, programmatic, financial, and management operations of Bienvenidos. He will lead a talented and highly dedicated team to build upon the organization’s rich history of service to the community by visualizing and capitalizing upon opportunities for future growth.

“I am excited that Ritchie Geisel will bring his considerable talents to Bienvenidos,” states Board Chair Aja Tulleners Lesh, Ph.D., RN. “Now, more than ever, vulnerable families and children are in need of comprehensive services that help them make life changes and break down barriers to achieving growth, self-development and empowerment. As President and CEO, he will provide both the leadership and vision to expand the scope and depth of Bienvenidos’ programs and services, strengthening our position as a social service leader in Southern California.”

Geisel states: “The values that resonate most with me center around fairness, equity and opportunity, especially for vulnerable populations. Abraham Lincoln’s vision particularly speaks to me: ‘to elevate the condition of men…to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.’ I look forward to working with the Board and my staff colleagues to realize this vision for the children and families served by Bienvenidos.”

From 1998 to 2004 Geisel was president and CEO of AbilityFirst (formerly the Crippled Children’s Society of Southern California), one of California’s longest standing social service organizations. Prior to that, Geisel was president and CEO of the Princeton, NJ-based Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, the nation’s education library for people with print disabilities. He has also held executive fundraising positions at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, Princeton University, and the College of William & Mary.

Geisel received his MBA from Stanford University and is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in history. While there, Geisel set six university track records and was a three-time winner of the Rosengarten Award for cross country. He subsequently competed in the Olympic trials marathon and in more recent years has achieved All-American age group status in several distance events.

Geisel has two children, five grandchildren and four cats. He and his wife, Pamela, devote their volunteer time to animal welfare causes and have served since 2003 on the board of a Los Angeles area rescue organization, the Heaven on Earth Society for Animals.