The rain is coming down in cold sheets in Geneva when I arrive at the headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The building is surprisingly modest for one of the largest charitable organizations in the world, a cottage-like structure of five or six stories. Inside the staff is noticeably multi-ethnic, drawn from its member societies all over the world.

Geneva is also the new home for native Montrealer George Weber, BEd(PE)'70, MA'74, owing to his election as head of the Red Cross. He enters the boardroom section of his office. At 6 feet 2 inches, he has the natural presence accorded to tall men. He looks completely Canadian, which means he is an indistinguishable mix of several cultures. From his biography, I know he is the eldest of four children, born to an Estonian father and a mother of Austrian and Greek heritage who ran a dance studio. (According to some sources, Weber is still said to do a little cha-cha every now and again.) He is more famous however for his rise through the Red Cross ranks, from water safety adviser and international relief volunteer to secretary-general and chief executive of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The Red Cross is, disputably, the most widely recognized charitable organization in the world. It is indisputably the largest. With 274,000 employees and 128 million volunteers, the Red Cross attended to 19.4 million people in 1994 alone. Its famous symbol, a red cross on a white background, is the colour inversion of the Swiss flag, indicating the nationality of Red Cross founder Henri Dunant who created the organization in 1863 after witnessing the casualties of the Battle of Solferino in the War of the Italian Succession. If you're not up on the intricacies of that battle, fear not. The Red Cross legacy is significantly more enduring. Today, there are two international bodies: the Red Cross International Committee, which is mandated to take care of victims of armed conflict (its leader must always be Swiss; the current president is Cornelio Sommaruga); and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which carries out relief work in peace time and around conflict areas. It provides support to 169 national societies and helps them organize relief for natural disaster victims and refugees. Weber is the first Canadian head of the organization.

Previously Secretary General of the Canadian Red Cross, Weber is known for his international achievements during missions in Latin America, Vietnam and Africa. These missions and his executive leadership of the Canadian Society led to his selection as chief executive of the International Federation. He continues, nevertheless, to play a role in Canada through testimony to the Krever Commission of Inquiry on the Blood System in Canada, which has been looking into the circumstances of transmission of the HIV virus to some Canadians via blood and blood product transfusions in the early 1980s. Weber asserts, "We were dealing at first with an unknown adversary. We did things the best way we knew at the time, and with the information we then had. We scrambled to develop tests specific for the virus, and the blood supply has been safe since successful development of those tests."

The tainted blood problem did not hinder Weber's climb in the Red Cross, which is his life's work, and one to which he brings focus and determination. A friend of mine had interviewed him for another magazine and warned about his loquacious boundless energy. "Be prepared or he'll take charge of the interview," she advised. But this morning, even the robust George Weber seems to have met his match: a long flight back from Beijing, where he spoke at the World Conference on Women. "Do you need a coffee?" he inquires. "I definitely am having one," he says. I know he believes the media are both his saviour and Achilles' heel. Media attention to a disaster can help an appeal, and lack of it can be a great hindrance. Weber is preoccupied with what he feels are under- reported disasters such as flooding in North China, where some 194 million people are affected, the refugees of Bhutan and those displaced from Sri Lanka. "I have trouble with the media because there's not 'humanitarian proportionality,' " he says. "The humanitarian value set competes with the economic value set." There is little doubt as to which Weber thinks should take priority. The Red Cross needs free publicity. Weber recently encouraged the satellite company Inmarsat to give its Director General the discretionary right to waive call charges in disaster relief operations and for humanitarian purposes on a case-by-case basis. "We would love to be able to access free space for ourselves for two or three weeks, particularly after a major national disaster," he told the Inmarsat company magazine, planting a hopeful suggestion.

In terms of communication, there's nothing like the personal touch, and Weber often visits member societies and helping with appeals. What does it mean to launch an appeal? "A couple of ex-pats are sent to evaluate the situation, to try to decide how many victims there are, how many victims we can service and how much money is needed for recovery. We always try to help at least 10 percent of the most vulnerable people." The International Federation works through local Red Cross Societies, such as the one Weber led in Canada.

Weber's schedule is hectic and he travels incessantly, sometimes looking at his plane ticket late at night for bearings. But while the strife and disasters can be unpredictable, one thing is sure: Weber has certainly expanded the scope for a McGill education graduate. He first began to study engineering at Concordia University, a self-described "false start," then turned to McGill, where he earned a diploma in physical education at the Macdonald Campus, then went to McGill's downtown campus for the degree, as was the system in 1970. Weber, a swimmer and deep sea diver, moved on to do a master's degree in exercise physiology, focussing on heredity and the physical capability of twins, and in the process met his wife, Dr. Mary Ellen Morris, PhD'71, who had a lab next to his. She is a neurophysicist at the University of Ottawa, but on sabbatical in Geneva.

I ask him the obvious alumni magazine question: what is the value of an education degree? "I think it gave me good grounding in terms of dealing with people, coaching and developing people, and trying to unleash their creativity and their imagination." For those interested in an international career, Weber recommends combining an undergraduate degree with some international management experience and at least five languages: French, English, Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

His tenure as Secretary-General comes at a crucial time in world history: the end of the Cold War era. Weber believes the fall of the bipolar blocks has increased the insecurity through unleashing a series of conflicts. "There have been some improvements, such as with some communicable diseases. We thought we had civilized behaviour, that we'd seen the end of bad things with the Holocaust. Yet in Rwanda we see ethnic cleansing; have we done enough in teaching values, are our structures appropriate?"

He bristles when asked about attacks on the United Nations peacekeepers and Red Cross personnel, organizations accorded immunity through the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Even though his contingent is not supposed to be involved in areas of military conflict, security problems are a factor. "Every year, we lose a number of people. In Burundi, there was an attack on four vehicles, and increasingly we are seen as a target for some groups." The Red Cross has been working with its sister organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, to make humanitarian law better known and have it applied in a more forceful fashion. For Weber, the need to attack the root causes of these security problems, such as poverty, are crucial. "Many of our problems are attached to the breakdown of the family and of values. Yet, how do you teach values to a 10-year-old with nothing to eat?" While poverty is a preoccupation of the Red Cross, it is much less successful in recruiting money for development projects than for disaster relief. Weber explains his interpretation of the international system in simple terms: "It comes down to power and economic gain -- everybody wanting their share of the pie." Under his leadership, the Red Cross aims to reserve a piece of the pie for those not fortunate enough to be at the table.