Michael Wiest

Executive Vice President, Charitable Giving

Michael R. Wiest, the Executive Vice President for Charitable Giving, oversees CRS' departments of Fundraising and Marketing & Communications. He has held a number of key leadership positions with Catholic Relief Services in a career that spans more than three decades.

Mr. Wiest joined CRS in 1973 and served for 20 years in Africa and Asia as Project Manager in Senegal; Country Representative for Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Indonesia and Morocco; and Regional Director for East Africa.

In 1993, he was appointed Deputy Executive Director at CRS World Headquarters in Baltimore. After seven years in that position, he left CRS for a year to serve as Executive Director of Franciscan Youth Center, an inner city outreach program in East Baltimore.

In October 2001, Mr. Wiest came back to CRS as Major Gifts Officer for the Mid-Atlantic Region. In this position, he worked closely with CRS' American constituency, complementing a career of overseas operations management.

Mr. Wiest was appointed Chief of Staff in October 2002 and Chief Operating Officer in June 2004. In both positions, he acted as the deputy to CRS President Ken Hackett. From October 2003 to March 2004, Mr. Wiest was also the acting director of the Fund Development and Marketing Division at CRS.

In January 2005, Mr. Wiest was appointed to his present post of Executive Vice President for Charitable Giving. In this position, he guides CRS' effort to serve Catholics in the U.S. in their efforts to live their faith in solidarity with the poorest of the poor overseas through charitable giving.

Mr. Wiest has served as President of Caritas North America and Vice President of Caritas Internationalis.

He is a U.S Army veteran and is active in four veterans' organizations. He is a member of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore.

He has a B.A. in English from Fordham University and an M.A. in English Literature from Duquesne University.