Pictured Above: Richard Ayoub with Project Angel Food Trustee Pauley Perrette at #PHOTO21 event.

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Project Angel Food Expands Leadership

Richard Ayoub Named CEO, Tim Robinson Elected Chairman

& Bill McDermott Joins Development Team

Los Angeles, CA – December 15, 2021. After six years as Executive Director of Project Angel Food, Richard Ayoub has been elevated to CEO. This comes at an unprecedented time of growth for the agency which has set record numbers of enrollment over the past two years in the wake of the COVID crisis. Project Angel Food now prepares and delivers over one million Medically Tailored Meals each year to over 2,400 critically ill men, women, and children each day.

When Richard joined Project Angel Food in 2015, the organization was $400,000 in debt. Under his leadership, the organization has flourished to meet the needs of L.A.’s critically ill, more than doubling its clients from 1,050 to over 2,400, its annual budget from$3.8 million to $8.3 million, and its staff from 31 to 75 full time employees.

Ayoub says, “Through each challenge we have grown as the need. I’ve been inspired by the dedication of our staff, volunteers, community leaders and benefactors big and small who have stepped up to meet every obstacle with a resolve so powerful that the impossible became possible time and time again.”  

Newly elected Chairman of the Project Angel Food Board of Directors, Tim Robinson says, “What is clear as we look to the future of Project Angel Food, is that Richard has the wisdom, leadership skills and heart to rise to the challenge of meeting record-setting demand on our services and sustaining our ability to meet that need today and into the future.”

As part of looking to the future, Ayoub announced that Project Angel Food is expanding its leadership team, adding Bill McDermott in the newly created role of Director of Special Projects. In this position, McDermott is responsible for exploring the possibilities of a much-needed expansion of Project Angel Food’s facilities, building a major donor program and a legacy program. Bill is one of the top fundraising professionals in the country; for the last two years he served as Chief Development Officer for GLAAD in New York City, and before that he led the development department of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, including management of their $74 Million dollar capital campaign. Ayoub says, “At this critical juncture in our history, I’m thrilled to have Bill join Mark McBride, Director of Philanthropy, and Mindy Glazer, Director of Institutional Giving and Strategic Partnerships in a development dream team to fund our vital work today and into the future.” 

In November, the Project Angel Food Board of Directors elected a new slate of executive officers including Tim Robinson, Chairman; Robin Fujimoto, 1st Vice-Chair; John Sonego,2nd Vice-Chair; Charles Frazier, Treasurer; and Steven Entezari, Secretary. Jason Ball continues in a leadership role as Chair Emeritus. 

Project Angel Food strives to end food insecurity and improve health outcomes of critically ill men, women, and children in Los Angeles with Medically Tailored Meals, delivered with care and compassion directly to their homes. Over 2,400 clients are feed daily, this is a 54% increase from pre-pandemic numbers.  Project Angel Food has delivered over 1,070,000 meals to date in 2021, and over 14,000,000 since its founding in 1989. The organization had been a Four-Star Charity Navigator rating and has been declared an essential service by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

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Richard Ayoub Biography

Richard Ayoub Richard, CEO of Project Angel Food, was named Executive Director of the organization in May2016, after serving six months in an interim capacity. He is the Past Chair of the California Food is Medicine Coalition (CalFIMC) and is on the Advisory Council of the Food Is Medicine Coalition (FIMC), a national association of medically tailored food and nutrition service providers.

He is a 2021 Los Angeles Business Journal Award nominee for Nonprofit Executive of the Year, a KNX Hero, and was awarded Executive of the Year by Los Angeles Blade Magazine and the LGBT Leadership Award by the Los Angeles City Council, just to name a few.

His leadership propelled Project Angel Food to be selected Nonprofit of The Year by State Senator Ben Allen, the City of West Hollywood, and LA Blade readers in 2019, 2020, and 2021. With his guidance, commitment to excellence and to our clients, Project Angel Food earned the highest rating on Charity Navigator- 4 Stars in 2020, and 2021.

Richard was raised in El Paso, Texas and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at El Paso and became an Emmy-award winning television and news executive producer in Texas, Arizona, Florida, and Los Angeles, where he was executive producer at KCAL9,KCBS2, and KABC7, in addition to the syndicated magazine show Extra. Ayoub was Executive Producer of Project Angel Food’s 2020 and 2021 Lead with Love Telethons on KTLA 5. Richard is a hands-on leader who frequently delivers meals, sometimes on his own, and sometimes with folks like Mayor Eric Garcetti, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Adam Lambert, or the Duke & Duchess of Sussex - Harry & Meghan. Richard says that the real stars are Project Angel Food’s clients.

Contact:

Brad Bessey, Dir. of Communications

bbessey@angelfood.org

(213)712-0789

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