Service Unites: The American Red Cross with Koby Langley

Unless: The Podcast, hosted by Dr. Hemma R. Lomax

In this week's episode of Unless: The Podcast, Hemma visits with Koby Langley, Division Vice President at the American Red Cross, a two-tour combat Veteran, and a Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service.

Join Koby and Hemma for a timely discussion about Koby’s passionate philosophy of social bridging. This practical concept is particularly important this year when we will have seen elections globally in 64 countries, and polarizing partisan politics can do more harm than good. As representatives from all parties call for healing and peaceful collaboration across party lines, Koby’s message that “Service Unites” couldn’t be more timely.

Highlights:

• Koby’s journey as a two-tour combat veteran and the lessons he learned

• How the American Red Cross moves volunteers and resources to have impact at scale

• The importance of ethical and moral leadership in corporate organizations and institutions

Resources:

Koby's Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWLr0WKz-ng

Timestamps:

2:11 - Introducing Koby

5:45 - How do you get donors to step up?

16:26 - Taking the lessons learned from disasters into daily life

24:01 - The need for moral leadership

32:50 - The moment that made Koby realize he wanted to serve others

Biography

As a Division Vice President, Koby Langley provides oversight and leadership for all nine regions that constitute the Northeast Division. The Northeast Division delivers Red Cross services with a staff of 472 employees and 22,875 volunteers located in ninety-one facilities with a revenue target of ~$90M USD. The Northeast Division supports responding to more than fifteen disasters per day in a densely populated geography identified as one of FEMA’s most risk-prone regions with a population of 43 million. The Northeast Division also supports the nation’s blood supply while facilitating expanded use of Red Cross lifesaving training courses, including CPR, AED, and First Aid as well as providing critical services to our veteran and military families.

Koby previously served as the Senior Vice President of the International Services and Service to Armed forces departments at the American Red Cross for 7 years where he led global programs with a focus on the elimination of measles and rubella, international disaster preparedness, response, and recovery operations for communities in need while overseeing the worldwide support provided to the service members, veterans and their families.

Before joining the American Red Cross, Koby served as the Director of Wounded Warrior, Veteran, and Military Family Engagement at the White House and the Senior Advisor for Wounded Warrior, Veteran, and Military Family Initiatives for AmeriCorps, leading the largest expansion of grants for veterans and military families in agency history. In 2010, Koby was appointed to the Senior Executive Service at the Department of Defense, where he worked as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary and Senior Advisor for the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy. Koby assumed other roles such as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs, and appointee to the Presidential Review Team for the Department of Veteran Affairs. Koby served as the managing member of a litigation firm and worked as a veteran organizer for the successful congressional race of the first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress from 2006 to 2008.

During his military service, Koby was appointed the first in-theater foreign claims commissioner for Iraq. He developed and published the first Foreign Claims Act standard operating procedure in Iraq and paid the first civil reconstruction claims during combat operations.

Koby conducted over one hundred Foreign Claims Act and Laws of Armed Conflict missions/convoys in Iraq and served as an operational law attorney and prosecutor for the 82nd Airborne Division. He also served as litigation counsel for the Army, where he practiced with dozens of attorneys in the Department of Justice, assisting in the successful litigation of over 150 cases. He is published in numerous national news outlets and has conducted visiting correspondent interviews for Fox News and MSNBC.

Langley is a Harvard Law School-certified federal mediator, a two-tour combat Veteran, and a Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service.