By Jorge Mercado Monday, September 28th, 2026

Amy Weaver understands the importance of her position. As the CEO of Direct Relief, she understands the positive impact she can make on people who are suffering through some of the worst moments of their lives. 

It’s why she took the job in May 2025 and it’s why more than a year later, she is still willing to learn and do whatever it takes to continue getting better at steering one of the largest nonprofits in the world.

“It’s been such a privilege to step into this organization and it’s particularly incredible to me that we have this 78-year history that started with these two incredible men and has continued through all these passionate leaders and now it’s me,” Weaver told the Business Times. “I feel incredibly grateful to step into the leadership of this organization at this point in time and hopefully to take it to even another level.”

Weaver’s background is as impressive as they come. From working as a private attorney to transitioning through several executive roles at tech giant Salesforce, Weaver has attacked each opportunity presented to her head-on.

When she joined Direct Relief, it was with the intention to return to her roots of helping others. Direct Relief, ranked the fifth-largest nonprofit in the world by Forbes, is a top-rated humanitarian charity helping deliver medical supplies to people affected by crises and disasters throughout the world.

This includes most recently delivering $119 million in aid to Nepal just weeks ago after devastating flash floods struck the country in late August, killing hundreds of people, leaving thousands missing and tens of thousands of families displaced. Direct Relief also recently noted that it has delivered nearly $2.5 billion worth of supplies to Ukraine since February 2022, when it was invaded by Russia.

“In a lot of ways, there are many similarities to how Salesforce is run compared to a large nonprofit like ours. But I think the key difference that has meant so much to me is being able to be at a place that has this sense of mission,” Weaver said. “With so much going on in the world, the ability to come in every single day and know that what I’m working on and the efforts that I’m putting towards are going towards making things better is incredibly rewarding.”

“But it’s the exact opposite,” she said. “I get to visit these places and yes, there are you see some terrible things and some terrible heartbreak, but you can make it better and you can help and it’s really extraordinary.”

Direct Relief CFO Jon Steiner said one of Weaver’s strongest abilities is to “bring people together around a shared sense of purpose and then translate that purpose into action.”

“She leads with curiosity and empathy, listens carefully, asks thoughtful and challenging questions and creates an environment where people feel trusted to contribute their best thinking. At the same time, she brings tremendous ambition for what Direct Relief can accomplish and a clear expectation that we remain disciplined and thoughtful stewards of every dollar and every donation entrusted to us,” he said.

“What stands out most about Amy’s leadership is the combination of humanity, strategic vision and deep cross-sector experience she brings to the role.”

Weaver joined Direct Relief at an interesting time in the organization’s history. A few days after receiving the offer, the Trump Administration froze the U.S. Agency for International Development. It was officially shut down on July 1, 2025.

Direct Relief does not rely on any sort of government funding, but the shutting down of USAID, as well as other federal funding cuts affecting nonprofits, meant that the need across the world would be rising. 

“It’s heartbreaking to see rising need for services like ours, but it’s really at these moments in time, where things are the most chaotic, that I think you really see which organizations can step up and I think we’re really positioned,” Weaver said. “I always really believed passionately that if you are in a position where you can do more, you have a moral obligation to do more and I think Direct Relief is in the position where we can do even more.”

Amid this growing need, Weaver has brought her tech-sector expertise to the nonprofit sector. Weaver said that in the past year, Direct Relief has made “significant investments” in technology.

She said the focus through these first 18 months has been making sure that the company’s internal data is aligned — what she calls the most important step. Other strides include creating teams whose purpose is to use AI to assess weather patterns. 

This is helpful for pre-packaging disaster kits for areas that might need them, as well as analyzing shipping patterns to ensure the medical supplies, especially products that need to be kept at certain temperatures for maximum effectiveness, can reach their intended destination.

“The second we get a call about a potential donation, we’re on the clock, so we need to use technology to make sure that we have the most streamlined processes internally,” she said. “I think these investments are what’s going to really take us to a different level in terms of impact.”

One thing that comes with running Direct Relief is the condition that the person must live in Santa Barbara. For Weaver — like many others — that part has been a delight, noting that it’s hard to think of a better place to live. 

But one thing that has really stood out to her is how tied Direct Relief is to the community. She said she has met people volunteering today who told her that their grandparents volunteered decades ago. 

“When I hear things like that, it gives me this grand sense of responsibility,” she said. “I feel very responsible to Santa Barbara. I want those people I met whose grandparents volunteered; I want their grandchildren someday to volunteer at Direct Relief. I feel like we are woven into the history of Santa Barbara and I want that to continue.”

Even just meeting some of the local nonprofits in the area, hearing their needs, giving advice and overall just seeing the impact that they also have from this community.

One way Weaver has really tried to ingrain herself in the community is by putting herself out there via LinkedIn. On the site, Weaver publishes frequent personal entries on what work she is doing, what it means to her and more. 

“But particularly with the blog or the postings on LinkedIn, it is very personal. There is none of that filter that is between me and what we’re talking about,” Weaver said.

She said it has “taken some getting used to,” but it’s something she believes is important. When at Salesforce, she recalled the earnings calls where the focus was all on the numbers. 

On one call, she remembers talking about layoffs at the company and in the middle of mentioning the financial impact, she added that she didn’t want those on the call to forget these are real people who lost their jobs.

“I’m going to talk about the numbers. I’m going to talk about the financial impact, but I don’t want anyone, especially our employees, to ever think that we don’t realize there are real people behind us. I probably got more people reaching out after the earnings call than any other,” she said.

It’s why, despite the occasional discomfort, she is going to continue her blogs. 

“It’s been an important part of really connecting with people and letting them know what the opportunities are out there and the need,” she said. “That is what is most important for our organization.”

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