Community Foundation chooses human rights leader as new president & CEO

Longtime human rights leader Maryam Elahi will become the next president of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut starting September 19, 2013, according to Paul D. Nunes, chair of its board of trustees. She was chosen after a six-month search to succeed popular president Alice Fitzpatrick, who retired after 18 years at the end of June.

“Ms. Elahi brings a remarkable resume to her new role in community philanthropy,” Nunes points out. “She has spent 25 years in the international human rights community: as an advocate, teacher, and grantmaker. She was most recently director of the International Women’s Program at the Open Society Foundations [OSF], where her grantmaking and advocacy focused on women’s empowerment.”

Prior to OSF, Elahi was the founding director of the Human Rights Program at Trinity College in Hartford, the nation’s first such undergraduate effort. During her ten years at Trinity, she established a human rights major and international human rights study programs in Cape Town, Santiago, Trinidad, and Hong Kong.

Before that, she served as the Advocacy Director on the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe for Amnesty International. She travelled extensively on Amnesty missions, gave testimony before Congress, and lectured widely, Nunes adds.

More information is available at the Community Foundation’s website: www.cfect.org.