Ford Foundation Appoints New Vice President For Communications

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NEW YORK, 7 February 2000 — Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation, announced today that Alexander W. Wilde has been appointed Vice President for Communications as of February 1, 2000.

Wilde (Lawrence University in Wisconsin, BA; Columbia University, Political Science, Ph.D.) had directed Ford's regional office in Santiago, Chile, since 1994, with programming in Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina. An expert on international human rights, he has also published books and articles and given frequent Congressional testimony on issues of democratization and foreign policy in Latin America. Before joining the Ford Foundation, Wilde was executive director of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 1987-1993. He had earlier held senior positions at the Helen Kellogg Institute, University of Notre Dame, and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., where he co-produced the "Focus" series for National Public Radio.

Wilde replaces Robert Curvin, who has retired from the foundation after almost 12 years of service to return to writing and teaching. Curvin, a former member of the Editorial Board of the New York Times, joined the foundation in 1988 to head the foundation's Urban Poverty Program. In 1996, he was tapped to fill a new vice president's position created to place a stronger emphasis on communications. In the fall, Curvin will begin a year teaching and doing research on neighborhood development at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Foundation President Susan Berresford said, "As a global foundation with offices in 14 countries, we want our programs, the values that guide them, and the accomplishments of our grantees to be broadly understood. Bob Curvin has done an outstanding job strengthening our worldwide communications capacity, and we feel sure that Alex will continue and build on recent efforts."

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

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