Assistant Chief Scout Executive—Council Operations
Gary P. Butler
Gary Butler became assistant Chief Scout Executive for council operations, Boy Scouts of America, on Oct. 1, 2009. Prior to assuming his current role, he had served as national director of the Council Solutions Group since August 2008.
As assistant Chief Scout Executive for council operations, Gary gives leadership to the overall delivery of the Scouting programs through six departments and four regions. All national support and oversight of the 285-plus local Scout councils are coordinated and directed through the office of the assistant Chief Scout Executive for council operations.
Gary grew up in Rhode Island, earning his Eagle Scout Award and Vigil Honor, and has served on Scout camp staff for nine years, including serving as camp director. He also served as Order of the Arrow lodge chief for two terms. He has volunteered as a Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, and Venturing committee chairman and is a Wood Badge four-beader. He is also a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
A graduate of Providence College, he began his professional Scouting career in 1980 as a district executive with the Suffolk County Council on Long Island, New York. He subsequently served as a senior district executive and finance director with the Theodore Roosevelt Council, also on Long Island. In 1989, he joined the staff of the Passaic Valley Council in New Jersey as a field director.
In 1992, Gary began serving as a Scout executive in three councils, starting with the Rip Van Winkle Council in Kingston, New York; followed by the Penn’s Woods Council in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1997; and later as the Scout executive of the Greater Niagara Frontier Council in Buffalo, New York, in 2001.
In 2005, he joined the National Council staff as the director of the Finance Support Division. During his tenure with the National Council, Gary has visited more than 100 financially challenged councils, facilitating with council leadership the development of strategies for improving their financial and operational health.
Gary is married and has three children and two grandchildren.