|Press Release                             Contact
|July 14, 2000 Mr. Sunni M. Khalid-
| (202) 887-9682 (O)
| (202) 861-8645 (F)
|
|Andrew Young Named New Chair Of The National Summit On Africa's Board of
|Directors
|
|Former United States Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young has been
|named the new Chair of the Board of Directors of The National Summit on
|Africa.  Young succeeds Dr. Herschelle Challenor, the Dean of the School
|of International Studies at Clark Atlanta University, who officially
|stepped down at a Board meeting this week after chairing The Summit's
|Board of Directors for the last three years.  Dr. Challenor will remain
|on the Summit's new Board of Directors.
|
|Ambassador Young heads a revamped 18-Member Board of Directors.  The
|Board will set policy for The National Summit on Africa, which seeks to
|foster a stronger partnership between the United States and Africa.
|
|Joining Ambassador Young on the new Board are three holdovers from the
|founding Board of Directors, including Timothy J. Bork, resident Senior
|Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; noted scholar
|Ali Mazrui of the State University of New York (Binghamton); and Mora
|McLean, president of the Africa America Institute.
|
|Other new Board Members are Mr. Ayalew Mandefro, a Vice President for
|NetCom Solutions International of Chantilly, Virginia; Ms. Judith
|McHale, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Discovery Channel;
|former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary; Mr. Maceo K. Sloan; Chairman and
|CEO of the Sloan Financial Group in Durham, North Carolina; and Ms.
|Ingrid Saunders Jones of the Coca-Cola Company.
|
|The new Board and Summit Secretariat announced plans to transform The
|National Summit on Africa over the next year into the Africa Society - a
|national non-profit, non-partisan organization, with affiliates in every
|state and territory.  The proposed Africa Society will be charged with
|educating Americans about Africa and building bridges of understanding,
|communication and partnership with the Continent through seminars,
|conferences and other vehicles.
|
|The new Board also adopted a strategy to create an endowment of at least
|$10 million to ensure the Africa Society's financial viability and
|institutional longevity.  Funding will come through Membership fees,
|foundation grants and corporate contributions.
|
|In addition, six of the Summit's 2,300 nationwide delegates were elected
|Tuesday to slots representing their specific geographic regions on the
|new Board of Directors.  They are as follows:
|
|Ms. Davidayon Mayers-Kelley, CEO of Imprimus Companies of Atlanta,
|Georgia, who will represent the Southeast region;
|
|Dr. Nancy J. Dawson, an assistant professor at Southern Illinois
|University in Carbondale, Illinois, who will represent the Midwest
|region;
|
|Mr. Willard R. Johnson, professor emeritus at MIT in Boston and senior
|adviser to the Pan African Forum.  Mr. Johnson will represent the New
|England region;
|
|Mr. Peter Gishuru, a graduate student from Seattle, Washington.  The
|Kenyan native will represent the Pacific West Coast region;
|
|Dr. Leroy P. Gross, President and CEO of Intel Med, Inc., from Hampton,
|Virginia, who will represent the East Coast;
|
|Mr. Phil Sellars, an administrator with the Oklahoma City Public
|Schools, who will represent the mountain Southwest region.
|
|The Board of Directors is scheduled to meet at least three times a year.
|
|
|

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