Dale Bannon has more than 20 years of nonprofit executive leadership experience and currently serves as the national community relations and development secretary (director) for The Salvation Army, one of the largest direct service social service organizations in the country, assisting nearly 24 million people in 2022. In this role, he leads a team of staff and vendor partners that develop and implement innovative digital fundraising strategies; strategic corporate partnerships; advertising and public relations efforts; emergency disaster response efforts; and the thought leadership, executive, and advisory communications of The Salvation Army. Prior to his time at National Headquarters, Dale was executive director and chief operations officer for The Salvation Army National Capital Area Command for seven years, during which time he led the renewal of the William Booth Society: a program that fosters increased metro-area support for The Salvation Army’s continued service delivery. While the director of development for Washington County Public Schools, Dale successfully led development efforts for opening the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, a comprehensive academic high school offering preprofessional training in the arts. This effort included creating the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts Foundation to cultivate ongoing philanthropic support for the school. He also procured significant annual competitive grants, the highest of which was a more than $7 million U.S. Department of Education teacher incentive fund grant that improved teacher tenure and student academic achievement at Title I high-poverty schools in Washington County. Dale also served as executive director for United Way of Washington County and as a Salvation Army officer, the latter of which made him the incident commander for The Salvation Army’s emergency disaster response efforts in Lakeland, Florida, following hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne in 2004. Dale has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in organizational leadership. Dale received his doctorate in executive leadership from the University of Charleston and was named a Dr. George E. Walker Fellow in 2015.