Employment History

Summary

Current: Consultant on Africa, human rights, economic justice and corporate responsibility. Previous: Worked for over two decades at the American Committee on Africa and The Africa Fund to advance human rights and economic justice through campaigns for corporate social responsibility. Promoted the involvement of state and municipal legislators with U.S. policy toward Africa.

The Africa Fund

January 1995 - January 2001 – Program Associate

Principal Program Associate for the project to promote the involvement of state and municipal officials in debates about U.S. policy toward Africa. The project, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, promoted national dialog and debate on African policy among U.S. state and municipal officials and increased direct contact between U.S. legislators and their African counterparts.

· maintained personal contact with key actors in a network of more than 500 state and municipal public officials

· provided research and drafted briefing papers for the Project Director on issues including human rights, development aid, debt cancellation, and legislation before Congress

· organized national and regional conferences of state and municipal elected officials and assisted in organizing an exchange program of U.S. legislators traveling in southern Africa and African legislators visiting the U.S.

· developed draft budget documents, wrote copy for funding proposals and reports to major donors

The Africa Fund/American Committee on Africa

1993- 2001 - Senior Researcher/Press Officer

· responsible for media relations, provided primary contact with reporters and arranged interviews with the Executive Director and other staff

· provided comment and analysis to print and broadcast media

· developed media strategies and tactics for events and press statements

· disseminated material to Internet distribution networks, provided formatted material to the webmaster for posting on Africa Fund Web site and updated information on other Web sites

· kept the Executive Director and staff apprised of shifting developments in Africa

· developed research on priority campaign-related activities

· primary resource person providing information to the public

· supervised organization's library of key documents and contacts both in the U.S. and abroad

· assisted in establishing research priorities in the face of changing organizational goals and focus

· coordinated production of organizational newsletters ACOA Action News and Africa Fund News, including proposing story ideas, drafting articles and photo captions, reviewing text and working with outside venders on design and printing

1980 – 1993- Research Associate

· researched and wrote about the U.S. corporate presence in southern Africa, including the banking, computer and oil industries

· authored the Unified List of United States Companies Doing Business in South Africa (1990), the definitive list of corporations that was used by the divestment movement, and co-authored several earlier editions

· drafted the “Guidelines for Divestment” adopted in January 1987 by five major national anti-apartheid organizations

· researched violations of the arms embargo against South Africa and coordinated a Freedom of Information case seeking documents from the Commerce Department related to weapons shipments to South Africa

· researched facts and arguments that formed core concepts behind sanctions and divestment programs and provided this information to key players in the anti-apartheid movement, including students, union leaders and state and municipal officials and members of the faith community

· testified before state and city legislative bodies and the United Nations on issues related to this work, and researched and developed preliminary drafts of testimony presented by other staff members before federal, state and municipal bodies

· drafted Congressional testimony and articles for the Executive Director

· worked as program staff on numerous campaigns including Unlock Apartheid's Jails and Nelson Mandela is Free but Cannot Vote

· position included overseas travel:

· Algeria and occupied Western Sahara, visited refugee camps, traveled with Polisario guerrillas and documented the illegal use of U.S. supplied weapons by Morocco; presented findings to Congress

· South Africa under apartheid to meet with leaders of the freedom movement

· attended conferences in Europe and South Africa

1985-1994 - Program Associate, State and Municipal Divestment Program

The program for state and municipal divestment successfully used public investments, purchasing power, and pension investments to pressure U.S. companies to withdraw from apartheid South Africa, and played a major part in expanding the movement for corporate responsibility in the United States. Served as primary assistant to Projects Director Dumisani Kumalo (now South African Ambassador to the UN).

· provided resources, model legislation, and other data as needed to help public officials develop legislation that limited public investments in and purchases from companies involved in South Africa

· maintained and updated a database of the states, counties and cities that adopted such policies

· worked extensively with state legislators, mayors, and city officials supporting divestment and selective purchasing policies

· assisted in organizing conferences, speaking tours and demonstrations

Computer skills

Word processing: Microsoft Word, WordPerfect

Spreadsheet: Excel, Lotus, Quattro Pro

Desktop Publishing: Microsoft Publisher

· primary staff liaison with outside consultants in design and maintenance of database program of contact and donor information

· responsible for setting up e-mail accounts for staff, loading software and in-house computer trouble shooting

Education

BA, Ithaca College

References

Available on request

March 2, 2001

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