Cape native Roger Mosby selected to lead Boy Scouts of America

A Cape Girardeau native and Southeast Missouri State University graduate has been named the new president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America.

The scouting organization announced the appointment of Roger C. Mosby in a news release issued Monday.

Mosby is a former energy executive, having served as vice president of human resources for Kinder Morgan Inc. in Houston.

His selection to head the Boy Scouts comes at a time when the organization is looking for ways to attract a new generation of youth to its ranks while navigating a growing number of sexual-abuse lawsuits.

“As the BSA moves through an extraordinary time of both change and opportunity, we believe Roger’s experience as a seasoned executive, adept at guiding transformation and driving growth, will bring the right combination of strength and focus needed to steer our organization toward a promising future,” Jim Turley, the BSA’s national chairman, said in the news release.

Although originally from Cape Girardeau, Mosby and his family moved to Union County, Illinois, and he graduated from Shawnee High School in Wolf Lake, Illinois. He went on to study biology and geology at Southeast, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1973.

Mosby was one of Kinder Morgan’s original six officers, and during his nearly two decades with the company it grew from 175 to more than 11,000 employees. He retired from Kinder Morgan in 2015 and started Mosby HR Consulting LLC, focusing on executive coaching.

“I am honored to assume a leadership role with what I believe to be the nation’s greatest youth-serving organization, one that is close to my heart and that I have served for years as a volunteer,” Mosby said in the Boy Scouts’ news release. “I am confident that my decades of experience helping talented people grow, transform and evolve organizations can be applied to further the mission of Scouting.”

Mosby was a Boy Scout as a youth and served more than 33 years as a volunteer in regional BSA councils as well as with the organization’s Southern Region, its National Committee and the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

He has received the Silver Antelope and Silver Beaver awards, the highest honors for volunteers at the regional and local levels, respectively, and is a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow, Scouting’s honor society.

“Roger’s expertise in leading, navigating and implementing positive organizational change will be invaluable to the BSA, said Ellie Morrison, national commissioner of the BSA. “His skills and experience are just what we need at this time.”

Mosby joins Turley and Morrison to form the BSA’s “Key 3,” the organization’s highest tier of national leadership.

Mosby succeeds Michael Surbaugh, who retired in November from the BSA presidency after four years of service. In recent years, the organization has been dealing with declining membership numbers and has recently opened its ranks to girls, transgender youth and gay scout leaders. In addition, the organization is dealing with several lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct on the part of employees and volunteers.

In a comment published by The Wall Street Journal on Monday, Mosby said he hoped to “lead the Boy Scouts out of some current challenges and into a new decade serving more youth, families and communities across America.”

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