Myles D. Fish
President & Chief Executive Officer
Myles D. Fish is President and Chief Executive Officer of International Aid. Under Fish’s leadership, International Aid has grown to become a leading humanitarian healthcare organization that has, during the past decade, delivered more than $500 million in critical, health-related supplies to more than 170 countries worldwide.
Since joining IA in June 2001, Fish has significantly expanded the agency’s ability to serve the physical and spiritual needs of people during major disasters and through an array of ongoing development projects that involve community-based healthcare, disease treatment and prevention, and linking the resources provided by IA’s corporate and church partners with those in need.
Fish has played a key role in the development of IA’s new safe water initiative, which combines IA’s expertise in both disaster relief and long-term development work. Through the core elements of this program – distribution of the agency’s pioneering Plastic BioSand Water Filter; a related focus on education and training; providing prescription drugs to treat waterborne diseases; and collaboration with IA’s current and prospective partners – the agency is working to help address the growing global health crisis caused by lack of access to clean water.
Fish’s tenure at IA has involved directing the agency’s relief efforts during an extraordinary series of catastrophic events. Shortly after his arrival, Fish directed IA’s relief efforts in the wake of 9/11. He subsequently oversaw the agency’s response to the wars in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq; the four 2004 U.S. hurricanes; and the massive tsunami in South Asia. Most recently, Fish has led the most extensive relief effort in the agency’s history, sourcing and providing more than $50 million in relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
In addition to leading an organization that plays a pivotal role responding to global disasters, Fish has continued to advance IA’s ongoing development mission. Each year, International Aid focuses on bringing vital, long-term healthcare solutions and education programs to many of the world’s poorest regions. The agency also provides key supplies and resources to individuals serving in the mission field worldwide.
Fish’s deep dedication to serving people in need is clearly reflected in his 25-year career. Prior to joining IA, he held a series of leadership positions with Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministries. Fish joined that organization in 1984 and subsequently came to oversee its field operations, development and ministry services functions. Previously, Fish served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala. It was there, working in some of the country’s most remote and primitive areas, that Fish began a personal journey of service that has, over the years, taken him to more than 50 countries worldwide.
Fish holds a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University and a master of divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has been an ordained minister of the American Baptist Churches USA since 1986. He and his wife, Belinda, are the parents of three grown children and reside in Grand Haven, Mich.
Media Contact
Members of the press interested in more information about International Aid’s new safe water initiative are invited to contact:
Bruce Buursma
Communications Director
(616) 935-3624
buursmab@internationalaid.org
If you are a member of a humanitarian, faith-based, governmental or educational institution seeking additional information about International Aid’s safe water initiative, please contact International Aid at (800) 251-2502.
