Assistant Vice President, Affiliate Services
Easter Seals Headquarters
Easter Seals 2012 Robert E. Bradford Leadership Award

When Patsy Samuel was honored with the 2012 Robert E. Bradford Leadership Award, her friends and colleagues anticipated her exact response: “Really?!?”

It’s something that Patsy Samuel says often and with wonderful flourish. It’s her “catchword,” typically delivered with a huge smile, an infectious laugh and a slightly sarcastic, dry wit to capture a whole host of situations and meanings – and one her colleagues fondly associate as pure Patsy.

Her colleagues from headquarters and affiliates have compiled a long list of accolades for Patsy – enthusiastic, skillful, strategic, responsive, driver, passionate, warm, thoughtful, analytical, insightful, cheerful, and funny.

Patsy Samuel loves a challenge. One that is ongoing is Easter Seals new contract to provide autism services for Kaiser Permanente in California.

“Patsy did a tremendous job working with the California affiliates to develop the statewide autism project with Kaiser. Her enthusiastic ‘get it done’ approach made her an invaluable member of the statewide team and she was critically important to our success,” says Mark Whitley, CEO in Southern California. “Patsy is hardworking, skillful and focused but, at the same time, she’s funny, quirky and a real pleasure to work with.”

Patsy joined Easter Seals as a regional manager in early 2007. As the former Executive Director and CEO for a community-based health care organization, Patsy already had Easter Seals in her blood. The organization she led for nearly a decade was once the Aiken County, South Carolina, Society for Crippled Children in the 1950s – an Easter Seals in its former life – before expanding its offerings.

Since then, Patsy’s worked hard to develop, grow, support and inspire Easter Seals programs and affiliate organizations across the country.

Patsy has been a consultant to any number of CARF surveys. She’s worked with affiliates to assess their programs and services – and align these with funding streams that assure they are self sustaining. She’s played a key role with mergers and acquisitions – helping Easter Seals affiliates to expand their services and their reach in communities across the country. And, she’s successfully co-chaired the headquarters’ Caring & Sharing Annual Giving Campaign for the last several years.

“Patsy oozes enthusiasm for all things Easter Seals – from the individuals and families we serve to the staff and volunteers,” says Pat Jones, Executive Vice President for Affiliate Services. “She just can’t say no when it comes to bringing our mission alive. She really delivers.”