Catholic Relief Services Appoints New Regional Director for Southern Africa

Catholic Relief Services
Tuesday, 28 January 2003

Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) Executive Director, Ken Hackett, today announced the appointment of Annemarie Reilly to the position of Regional Director for Southern Africa. Ms. Reilly, who will assume her new post in Harare, Zimbabwe, on February 15, 2003, will oversee the agency's programs in Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

"Given her wealth of experience within the agency, I believe Annemarie is uniquely qualified to meet the enormous challenges currently facing southern Africa," said Hackett. "In her new position as Regional Director she will be charged with leading the agency's efforts to tackle the severe food shortages currently plaguing the region, a crisis heavily exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

Since 1999, Ms. Reilly has been Team Leader for CRS' Emergency Response Team (ERT). Team members provide technical assistance and training to CRS programs around the world in several areas of expertise. Under Ms. Reilly's leadership, the ERT led CRS' emergency response operations in the wake of man-made crises in places such as Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone and Pakistan-Afghanistan, as well as natural disasters in India and Congo, among others.

Ms. Reilly's career with CRS began in 1992 when she served as a Fellow and later as a program manager in El Salvador, where she worked extensively on post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction programs. She later transferred to Haiti, where she became Assistant Country Representative.

In 1995, Ms. Reilly became the country representative for CRS in Burundi and later that year assumed the same position in Liberia, where she focused on humanitarian action and peace building. Ms. Reilly returned to CRS' Baltimore headquarters in 1997 to assume the newly created position of Emergency Advisor. In that capacity, she led the creation of the ERT and has served as its Team Leader in Nairobi since that time.

Ms. Reilly holds a B.A. in Government and French from the University of Notre Dame and an M.A. in International Affairs with a focus on economic and political development and Latin America from Columbia University. She will be joined by her husband, Tom Kelly, a graduate of Notre Dame as well, who is currently affiliated with the United States International University in Nairobi. Mr. Kelly is a specialist in economic development and poverty.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Relief Services, see their website at: www.catholicrelief.org