DAVID RIVARD, HAITI DIRECTOR
Born and raised in Minnesota, David Rivard has over 40 years of experience in a diverse realm of political, occupational safety and health, humanitarian and business activities. He has been an Ironworker since 1966, where he was a member of Ironworkers Local 512 here in the Twin Cities and he maintains his Union Membership in California. After serving in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, he founded Steel Reinforcing (SRI), a union signatory development and construction firm in California and Haines Rivard Construction in Louisiana. SRI has completed some of the largest and most notable public works projects in California including BART, MUNI, VTA, Cal Trans and Pac Bell Ballpark. Both companies build schools, fire stations, airports, hotels and other commercial projects. His companies have served as a financial source that assist groups working on organized labor, health, education, environmental and humanitarian related issues and also Airline Ambassadors, a non-profit corporation.
David married Nancy Larson, with roots in Minnesota, and through this marriage he found his true calling. Nancy Rivard has a humanitarian organization called Airline Ambassadors which is the only international relief and development organization of the airline industry. Airline Ambassadors operates in over 54 countries with over 10,000 members since 1990. Airline Ambassadors has worked in Haiti over the past 14 years and David has been permanently stationed there as Country Director, Airline Ambassadors Operations, since January 16, 2010.
Since the earthquake in Haiti, Airline Ambassadors has delivered millions of pounds of medical supplies, food, water and other disaster relief, including over 600 medical personnel through their commercial airline partners. Airline Ambassadors is partnered with the Haiti UN operations through MINUSTAH (UN operations in Haiti), UNICEF, HNP/BPM (Haitian National Police/Bureau of Protection for Minors), IBERS (Bureau of Social Services for Haiti), the Catholic Church and GVCM. Airline Ambassadors is also one of the only signatory partners of the Humanitarian Affairs Division (HAD) of the U. S. Army operating in Haiti.
After the El Salvadoran earthquake in 2001, Airline Ambassadors worked in a collaborative effort with members of the U. S. Congress and relevant professional organizations in El Salvador, Ecuador and the U. S. to compel USAID to take a broad view of promoting building codes and standards with U. S. tax dollars being spent around the world for reconstruction efforts. Leading this effort, Airline Ambassadors successfully established U. S. Public Laws S. 1401 and H. 1664 which are popularly known as the CASA (Codes and Standards for the Americas) Act, which overwhelmingly passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by President Bush in October, 2002. David formed the “CASA Corps” of Airline Ambassadors that provides building code and construction skills training wherever Airline Ambassadors conducts construction. A second Congressional Resolution, House Resolution 496, was also drafted by David and Airline Ambassador Advisor Member Congressman Tom Lantos. HR 496 compels USAID to implement the CASA Law.
