Oxfam America Names New Leadership

WASHINGTON DC — International agency Oxfam America announced today that Ambassador Wendy Sherman, Vice Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group and Principal of Albright Capital Management, has been elected Chair of the Board and will assume the role starting November 1, 2010.  She will follow current Chair, Janet McKinley, who will step down next year after five years. The Board also elected Barry D. Gaberman, a longtime Ford Foundation executive, to the position of Vice Chair. The organization announced that Paul O’Brien, who directs Oxfam’s Aid Effectiveness initiative, has been promoted to the position of Vice President of Policy and Advocacy.

Ambassador Sherman served as Counselor and chief troubleshooter for the State Department, as well as Special Advisor to President Clinton and Policy Coordinator on North Korea.  From 1993 to 1996, under Secretary of State Warren Christopher, she was Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs.  Previously, she was a partner in the political and media consulting firm of Doak, Shrum, Harris and Sherman, and also served as director of EMILY’s List. Ambassador Sherman began her career as a social worker and community organizer, working in community development and child welfare. She was recently named to the US Department of Defense’s Defense Policy Board.  In 2008, she was appointed by Congressional leadership to serve on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.  She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group and the US-India Strategic Dialogue.

Newly-elected Vice Chair Barry Gaberman retired from the Ford Foundation in 2006 after more than three decades of service there. During his tenure, Mr. Gaberman served in positions ranging from Assistant Program Office to Deputy Vice President for the U.S. to Senior Vice President of the organization. In addition, he has served on ten philanthropic boards. Since retiring, Mr. Gaberman has advised the Foundation Center and been a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Gerhart Center on Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at American University in Cairo teaching a course he helped design on the role of philanthropy in society.

As Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, Paul O’Brien will be responsible for Oxfam America’s development policy and campaign work with both the public and private sectors.  The position oversees the DC office, the Private Sector Department and the agency’s organizing and alliance functions. Educated at University College Dublin and Harvard Law, Mr. O’Brien previously worked as CARE’s Africa Policy Advisor and as a US-funded advisor to the Afghan Government. Mr. O’Brien was chosen, in part, to strengthen the connection between on the ground field programs and Oxfam’s advocacy and campaign work.

Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser said, “Oxfam is very fortunate to have such talented and experienced leaders working with us to end poverty, hunger and injustice. With more than two billion people living on less than two dollars a day, we need nothing short of a global movement for change.”