David Piraino

Executive Vice President, Human Resources

David Piraino, Catholic Relief Services' Executive Vice President for Human Resources, oversees Program and Services, and Workforce Development for all CRS staff within the agency.

Mr. Piraino joined CRS in 1977 and served in Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Zaire and Burkina Faso. In 1984, he opened the West Africa Regional Office in Senegal and served as its first director. After a short stint away from the agency, Mr. Piraino returned to CRS in 1990 to serve as director of a grant to improve the quality of food aid programming. In this position he developed and facilitated many workshops and provided technical assistance on food aid around the world. In 1993, he became the director of the newly formed Technical Unit for food aid, micro-credit and health. In 1994 he returned to the field where he was named Country Representative for Ethiopia. He served there until 1997 when he returned to the agency's headquarters as Special Assistant to the Executive Director. He was appointed Director of Human Resources and a member of the Executive Management Team in 1998.

Prior to joining CRS, Mr. Piraino spent four years in Vietnam, two in the military and two as an office manager for RMK-BRJ a large construction consortium that built roads, hospitals and ports. After returning to the United States, he founded a general contracting company and a real estate company with two partners, serving as managing director. These companies built and managed moderate-income housing, nursing homes, offices buildings and apartment complexes.

Mr. Piraino holds a B.A. degree in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.