PUBLISHED: JULY 4, 2004

The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) is pleased to announce that, at ICNL’s Annual Meeting on June 10-11, 2004, the Board of Directors re-appointed Stephan Klingelhofer President, appointed Douglas Rutzen President-Elect, and elected John Clark, Hestern Banda, Bindu Sharma, and Gavin Andersson as Board Members.

The appointment of Mr. Rutzen as President on January 1, 2005 will complete the management transition begun several years ago. Outgoing President Stephan Klingelhofer helped steward the transition and nominated Mr. Rutzen for the Board’s consideration. According to Mr. Klingelhofer, “The appointment of Doug Rutzen ensures that the work and goals that I have strived for in my ten years at ICNL, and especially during my time as President, will continue in capable and dedicated hands. We are in a strong growth mode, and I look forward to working with Doug during this next, exciting phase of ICNL’s development, as I also pursue my long-time interest in establishing a mediation practice.”

To provide support during this period of programmatic growth, Mr. Klingelhofer will continue to serve as ICNL’s Chief Operating Officer during 2005 and will be available thereafter on a consultancy-basis. ICNL appreciates and thanks Mr. Klingelhofer for his commitment, loyalty, and important contributions to both ICNL and civil society.

Mr. Rutzen is well-known to many of ICNL’s constituents. He opened ICNL’s Washington office and managed ICNL’s cornerstone project, its Central and East European Program, since its inception. For the past decade, he has served on ICNL’s senior management team, helping ICNL develop its programs from East Timor to Honduras. Prior to joining ICNL, Mr. Rutzen taught law at Charles Law Faculty in Prague, served as Legal Advisor to the Czechoslovak Parliament, and worked for a major international law firm. He also worked with the deaf and mute, serving as a consultant to Helen Keller International in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Mr. Rutzen is a graduate of Yale Law School, with undergraduate studies at Cornell and Oxford.

The Board also confirmed the appointments of new Board members: John Clark (UK), Hestern Banda (Malawi), Bindu Sharma (India/Singapore), and Gavin Andersson (South Africa). The new members replace Joe Baidoe-Ansah (Ghana), Arthur Drache (Canada), Cole Durham (US) and David Robinson (NZ) whose terms of office expired in 2004, but who will remain active on ICNL’s Advisory Council. Further, the Board re-elected Rochelle Korman (US) and designated the new Board officers as: Richard Fries (Chair); Aroma Dutta (Vice Chair), Paul Nathanson (Treasurer); and Miklos Marschall (Secretary).

Chair Richard Fries paid tribute to outgoing Board members for their long and committed contribution to the development of ICNL to its present encouraging position of strength. He took satisfaction from knowing that their services would continue to be available to ICNL through their membership on the Advisory Council. He added that special thanks were due to Steve Klingelhofer for the selfless way he had led the transition of ICNL and welcomed the appointment of Doug Rutzen to continue to lead the development of ICNL.