Congratulations: Scouting executive moving to OC

Jon Maeda, scout executive for the Boys Scouts of America Verdugo Hills Council is moving on and begins his new position of Director of Field Service with the Boy Scouts Orange County Council on Monday.

As the chief operating officer, Maeda will be recruiting new Scouts and scouting groups.

The Verdugo Hills Council has 4,000 Scouts, and the Orange County Council, headquartered in Santa Ana, served 28,000 Scouts as of 2009.

Maeda has been overseeing two field executives for the Verdugo Hills Council and will now be in charge of 15 field executives in his new post.

Maeda started with scouting in 1982 with the San Gabriel Valley Council as an entry-level district executive.

In 1994 he came to the Verdugo Hills Council as the field director and in 1997 he went to Old Baldy Council in Ontario where he was assistant scout executive.

In 2001, he was named director of field service for the Los Angeles Council and returned to the Verdugo Hills Council in 2005 as scout executive, where he has been responsible for all financial decisions, staffing and program development for the Scouts.

Maeda said he is most proud of the achievement made with the Verdugo Hills Council to return to traditional service, where parents lead the troops.

“We are also a leader in the food procurement for donations to the Salvation Army and other food pantries,” he said.

“It’s a thing that’s really needed, and if Boy Scouts can lead the way, then that fulfills part of our calling.”

Service to the community has been a key focus during his leadership, Maeda said. During the Station fire, the Verdugo Hills Council secured more than 100,000 cases of fluid replenishment for firefighters, police and volunteers.

“I feel that I brought traditional service back to the council and community,” he said.

An appointment of his successor will be made from inside the national scouting organization some time within the next two to three months, Maeda said.