Dr. Venkateswar Named Executive Director of Mercy Corps' New York World Hunger Center

February 5, 2007

Dr. Shyama Venkateswar, Mercy Corps' new Executive Director of the agency's planned New York-based interactive hunger and poverty center.

New York, NY - Mercy Corps, the global humanitarian agency, today announced the appointment of Dr. Shyama Venkateswar as Executive Director of the agency's planned New York-based interactive hunger and poverty center.

The facility, which is still in the process of design by Ed Schlossberg and ESI Design, has the working title of the World Hunger Action Center. As a new initiative within Mercy Corps' worldwide humanitarian mission, the center aims to educate visitors about the root causes of world hunger, motivate people to action, and provide the tools needed to engage a broader public in the ongoing struggle against poverty, injustice and oppression.

"Shyama brings valuable experience to her new role as Executive Director of the World Hunger Action Center," said Mercy Corps CEO Neal Keny-Guyer. "She is a recognized leader in the policy field, an accomplished scholar, a proven fundraiser, and above all an exemplary advocate for the issues Mercy Corps cares about."

In her previous role as Director of the Asian Social Issues Program at the Asia Society, a major international educational organization, headquartered in New York, Dr. Venkateswar helped to launch this high-profile public education initiative. The program explored a range of crucial social issues in Asia - conflict and peace building, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, environmental issues - and the range of innovative solutions needed to address them. She was also instrumental in establishing an internationally acclaimed annual event on microfinance as a poverty alleviation tool in Asia.

Dr. Venkateswar's experience in convening meaningful policy discussions and translating complex issues into concepts accessible to the broader public will be valuable as the agency moves forward in the planning process of the center, which is slated to open in early 2008.

"Our priority will be to increase awareness and mobilize action on global poverty and hunger, not just at the policy-making level, but among school children and members of the larger community" said Dr. Venkateswar. "Growing up in India, I witnessed first-hand the inescapable reality of poverty and hunger that exists in many parts of the globe. We must educate the next generation of Americans on important challenges in the world and how they can make a difference."

As part of an initiative to revitalize Lower Manhattan, the Battery Park City Authority selected Mercy Corps to design and operate the World Hunger Action Center, a new facility being constructed in Battery Park City, next to Rockefeller Park.

The World Hunger Action Center will anchor Mercy Corps' global engagement initiative to build public awareness about issues related to global poverty. Mercy Corps' recent merger with NetAid, the nonprofit working to educate, inspire and empower young people to fight global poverty, signifies a milestone in the agency's history. Last month, the organizations announced that they officially merged to dramatically alter the way Americans—especially young Americans—learn about and respond to the challenges of global poverty.

Dr. Venkateswar does extensive pro bono work including serving as an Associate Editor for the India Review. She has also served on the Allocations Committee for New York Women's Foundation and on the Grants Review Committee for the United States Institute of Peace.