PRB Welcomes New Trustees, Management and Technical Staff Amid Strategic Push

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) announced new board members, senior executives, and technical staff as it launches a strategic initiative to enhance the impact of its work to inform people about population, health and environment issues and empower them to use that information for positive change.

The three new members of PRB's Board of Trustees bring a wealth of experience and knowledge relevant to PRB's core activities of demographic data analysis, synthesis, and interpretation; policy-focused communication; and multimedia knowledge dissemination for effectively engaging target audiences in the U.S. and globally. The new Trustees are:

• Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, D.C. Glassman has 20 years of experience working on health and social protection policy and programs in Latin America and elsewhere in the developing world.
• Scott McDonald, who recently retired from his position as senior vice president for research & insights at Condé Nast, where he oversaw consumer, development, advertising and strategic research for all of the Condé Nast magazine and web properties. McDonald is an expert in understanding audiences and measuring media impact.
• Elizabeth Schoenecker, former chief of the policy, evaluation and communication division of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she served for nearly 25 years.

"We are very fortunate to have Amanda, Scott, and Elizabeth join the PRB Board at this pivotal time, when the organization is poised for strategic growth and change," said Jeff Jordan, president and CEO of PRB. "Their respective professional backgrounds and areas of expertise will be invaluable assets as our strategic initiative takes root."       

Key elements of the initiative include: broadening PRB's use of new and emerging mobile and digital sources for both data sourcing and knowledge dissemination; conducting further audience analysis and segmentation to enhance our targeting and expand the reach of PRB materials, training programs and communication activities; refining PRB's internal measurement and evaluation framework to foster additional learning and feedback loops; and leveraging the many knowledge networks in which PRB participates and communities of practice we support to generate synergies among organizations and individuals for policy and programmatic impact.   

Meanwhile, PRB has refined and expanded its senior management team:  

• Susan Rich is filling a new position of vice president for global partnerships to lead PRB's activities in the philanthropy and multilateral development sectors. Rich will also leverage her extensive contacts and experience in these sectors to develop new partnerships focused on global development issues. In addition, she will remain director of the IDEA project through its completion in August 2015.
• Barbara Seligman will join PRB on April 20 to take over the role of vice president of international programs, where she will lead program activities with U.S. government partners. Seligman is a recognized reproductive health expert who has served in senior leadership and advisory roles with nonprofit and for-profit development consulting firms, foundations, prominent think tanks, and the U.S. government. 
• Peter Goldstein has joined PRB as vice president of communications and marketing. He came to PRB from InterMedia, a global nonprofit research group, where he led communications and business development activities. Prior to InterMedia he spent 20 years in international journalism.

PRB has also hired two new research associates with strong academic credentials: Kristin Bietsch, who recently earned a doctorate in demography from Princeton University, has joined PRB's international programs team; and Alicia VanOrman, who will complete her doctorate in sociology in May at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will join PRB's U.S. programs on July 1, 2015.

Population Reference Bureau (www.prb.org) informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations.

For more information, contact: Peter Goldstein at 1.202.939.4507; [email protected]

SOURCE Population Reference Bureau

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