Annemarie Reilly

Chief of Staff

Annemarie Reilly is Chief of Staff to Catholic Relief Services President Ken Hackett. She oversees the President's office and ensures clear and effective implementation of agency strategy and directives from the President through the five Executive Vice Presidents. Her key areas of expertise include emergency preparedness and response, as well as strategic planning and implementation.

Annemarie first joined CRS in 1992 as an intern with the El Salvador country program, and was soon hired as a program officer in the heath sector. She quickly advanced to senior management positions in Angola, Haiti, Burundi and Liberia, developing significant experience overseeing programs in very complex civil conflicts.

She returned to CRS headquarters to use this experience as the agency's Emergency Response Advisor. In this position, Annemarie was instrumental in the creation of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) in 1999. Subsequently, she moved to Nairobi, Kenya to take on the role of Team Leader of the Emergency Response Team, charged with building the agency's overall capacity for high-quality emergency programs. Under her leadership, the team responded to a variety of high-profile crises in areas including Kosovo (1999); Gujarat, India (2001 earthquake), Afghanistan (2001) and Southern Africa (2002 food security crisis).

After three years of service as Regional Director for Southern Africa, during which she supervised seven country programs (Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), Annemarie once again returned to Baltimore in 2006 to work as Director of Overseas Operations Strategy. She was responsible directly for development of an agency-wide five year strategic plan in the area of emergency preparedness and response. She became Chief of Staff in January, 2007.

Annemarie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and French from the University of Notre Dame and a Master's in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, with specializations in Economic and Political Development and Latin American Studies. She was born and raised in New City (Rockland County), New York, and currently lives with her family in northern Baltimore.