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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Laura Ingalls (laura.ingalls@worldlearning.org) in Washington, 1.202.464.6973
Carol Bellamy to Step Down as World Learning President & CEO in May 2010
Board Chair heralds Bellamy's achievements and announces search for successor.
BRATTLEBORO, VT (March 20, 2009) -- The Board of Trustees of World Learning announced today that Carol Bellamy will step down as President and CEO in May 2010. Board leadership will initiate a year-long presidential search process for the next World Learning chief executive this spring.
"It has been such an honor and pleasure to serve this great institution and to work alongside its wonderful global staff for these past four years," said Ms. Bellamy. "Our mission has never been more timely and critical and I look forward to working through this final year to ensure that World Learning is positioned for ongoing success under its next leader."
"Carol Bellamy let me know that she would prefer not to have her tenure as World Learning's President and Chief Executive Officer extended beyond May 2010, the date chosen as her initial term when Carol joined us from UNICEF nearly four years ago," said Board Chair Ken Bartels.
Following standard protocol for presidential searches in institutions of higher education, the World Learning Board will commission a Presidential Search Committee, the members of which will be drawn from the ranks of both staff and trustees, and will avail itself of the full year to allow for an extensive and thorough process and a smooth transition of leadership. Ms. Bellamy will in the interim remain fully engaged in her post.
Carol Bellamy assumed the leadership of World Learning in May 2005, having completed ten years as executive director of UNICEF, the children's agency of the United Nations. Prior to that she served as director of the Peace Corps, becoming the first former volunteer to assume leadership of that organization.
During Ms. Bellamy's tenure, which witnessed the celebration of the organization's 75th anniversary, global operations have been restructured and put on a sound footing to ensure compliance and to better recognize the needs of staff and offices in more than 75 countries worldwide. She initiated an organization-wide strategic planning process and launched a twelve-point plan designed to strengthen systems, enhance the quality and impact of international programs, and expand recognition of World Learning as a leader in international education and development. Ms. Bellamy has also made significant strides in building the organization's global constituent network and fundraising capacity.
"Carol's presidency has been historic," said Board Chair Bartels. "Her legacy to World Learning is that we are an organization that is more focused, we are an organization that delivers programs which are more impactful, and we are an organization that has in place administrative and technology systems, many for the first time, that make the good work we do vastly more sustainable. Our global mission has been greatly furthered by her leadership; we are deeply grateful."
World Learning works globally to enhance the capacity and commitment of individuals, institutions, and communities to create a more peaceful and just world through education, training and exchange programs.
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