Holy Cow, yet another national board member has made the move from board member to full-time president. This time it’s the Englewood, Colo.-based American Humane Association’s new CEO, Tim O’Brien. The child abuse- and cruelty-to-animals-fighting AHA has 90 staff, a $10 million budget and satellite offices in L.A. and D.C. Thirty of its staff, led since September by Paul DiLorenzo, work in its Children’s Services division. DiLorenzo was executive director of Philadelphia’s Support Center for Child Advocates before spending the past eight years as a special assistant to the Deputy Secretary for the Office of Children, Youth and Families of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.
O’Brien replaced Robert Hall, the president for the last six of the AHA’s 124-year history. A month after DiLorenzo started his new job, the board decided that it was time for “a change in direction of leadership,” says press officer Jack Sparks. The board promptly appointed O’Brien, a CPA, as interim president. He brings limited professional experience in child abuse issues, but is no stranger to the politics of public policy, having been appointed by the state legislature to serve as Colorado State Auditor from 1984 to 1995. Contact: (303) 792-9900 or www.americanhumane.org.
Top this, you skeptics of the adroitness of America’s Promise: Michael Jordan is on the team! Jordan, now president of basketball operations for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, has a solid record of supporting youth work in Chicago, North Carolina (where he gained early fame) and elsewhere. He largely built the James R. Jordan Boys and Girls Club and Family Life Center on Chicago’s West Side. The 41,000-square-foot facility is named after his father, who was slain by two juveniles near his home in North Carolina.
Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean (R) and Johns Hopkins pediatric surgeon Ben Carson will join Jordan on AP’s 20-member board, chaired by Gen. Colin Powell (ret.). While neither has Jordan’s on-court moves, both are power players in the children and youth field. Kean has been president of Drew University for the past 10 years and is chair of both the Carnegie Corps of New York and the D.C.-based National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Dr. Carson is a well-known author and founder of the Carson Scholars Fund.
Departing from AP’s board is Arnold Langbo, currently the chairman of the Battle Creek, Mich.-based Kellogg Company, which has been one of AP’s major cash donors.
Getting Jordan into that little red wagon certainly won’t hurt attendance at the National Youth Summit in Orlando, Fla., June 22-25. The summit is also co-sponsored by the federal Corporation for National Service, the Points of Light Foundation (a de facto semi-governmental organization) and United Way of America. In Orlando, AP chairman Powell will aim for a three-point swish shot when he releases “AP’s Report to the Nation 2000.” The 1999 report issued in May stumbled after a fast break, and was eventually benched by critics, among them Youth Today (which AP says was guilty of journalistic fouls). Contact: (703) 694-4500 or www.americaspromise.org.
