Tony Sansone appointed president of CCS Board of Trustees

Friday, Jan. 27, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — On Jan. 1, Tony Sansone became the president of the Catholic Community Services Board of Trustees, receiving the gavel from former president Peter Corroon.

Catholic Community Services is committed to improving the quality of life of those in need in Utah, according to its mission statement. CCS provides various services, from feeding and sheltering the homeless to providing aid to refugees attempting to settle in Utah. 

Corroon is confident that Sansone will be up to the task of helping CCS deal with these issues.

“[Tony Sansone] will be great. He’s very organized,” Corroon said. “He’s someone who can show up, ready to do the work.”

Sansone worked with CCS long before he was installed as board president, having served as chairman of the organization’s Long Range Planning Committee. He also provided advice and input to their finance committee on many occasions. 

Sansone has worked in other leadership roles in the diocese as well. He gained experience from acting as the board president for the Catholic Diocese School Board for three years and from his current position as chairman of the St. Vincent de Paul Parish Finance Council.

His experience is not the only reason that everyone at CCS is confident he will succeed, said Brad Drake, CCS executive director. 

“He’s very organized, very positive, very supportive of what [CCS] does here,” Drake said. “He’s a high-energy guy and he’s really dedicated to making things happen.”

Sansone said he had an inkling that he would be adding “CCS board president” to his repertoire of leadership positions because last year, Drake asked him, hypothetically, how he would like to be board president. 

“He was feeling me out for it,” Sansone said, smiling.

He assured Drake that he would be pleased to accept the position, and when Drake approached him with the offer officially in December, he accepted.

“I was truly honored to be considered and appreciate the opportunity to lead [the CCS Board of Trustees] to help Brad and his team fulfill the CCS mission,” Sansone said.

The confidence that other members of CCS have in him will not be misplaced, he said, adding that in his new position he will draw from all his previous experiences as a board president. 

Already issues have begun to crop up that Sansone is keen to address. For example, government funding is important to keep CCS afloat, but the source for these funds  is not always permanent, Sansone said. 

Also, after the government revealed the sites for four new homeless resource centers to be built in Salt Lake City, CCS has begun working on how to assist in this endeavor, Sansone said. This year, he wants to help determine “how CCS can assist the city and county efforts as they roll out the new resource centers” and to identify “additional financial support to reduce our reliance on government funding,” he said.

Aside from addressing these problems, Sansone doesn’t anticipate making any drastic changes as new board president. I just want to “continue to have our board be a resource for [Drake] and his team, to further enhance the great work being performed by all the CCS leadership and staff,” he said.