Originally published on the CGS blog on November 1, 2015.
The Boards of Citzens for Global Solutions, Inc. and the CGS Education Fund have announced the appointment of Earl James as Executive Director. He will take up the role effective immediately and will be responsible for implementing the organization’s new five-year strategic plan.
The Board is pleased to appoint Earl James as our Executive Director! As a long time board member, advocate, and staffer, Earl brings experience and passion to our organization. We look forward to working with him to build a strong constituency for world peace and effective global governance.
–Victor Lang, Chairman of the Board (CGS Education Fund)
Earl James has worked for social change in the nonprofit sector for over 40 years, including a previous stint as Development Director for CGS (1994-95), where he was instrumental in establishing and funding a staff position to build a US-based coalition for an International Criminal Court, and in increasing membership in CGS by 40%.
He has also served as an International Election Supervisor in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, as Executive Director of CGS’s Pittsburgh Chapter, for the Rachel Carson Homestead Association (PA), and for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
As Director of Preservation Services for the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, he launched Rivers of Steel, a National Industrial Heritage Area, and as Director of Programs and Development for the New Mexico Environmental Law Center he organized statewide coalitions working on environmental health issues, and on cleanup and prevention of mining pollution.
He has conducted grassroots political organizing for Citizens for Global Solutions’ electioneering arm in Eastern Kentucky, Long Island and Washington State, and has helped numerous grassroots advocacy organizations become more effective by offering organizational development support. An award-winning novelist and screenwriter, he lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico with his wife Karen.
As the new Executive Director, Earl writes,
I believe we are taking a path forward that is ripe with more potential to advance our goal of achieving a democratically governed world than ever before. The convergence of two powerful developments has established these new opportunities:
First, in June of 2015, The Hague Institute’s Commission on Global Security, Justice and Governance issued a report titled Confronting the Crisis of Global Governance that clearly delineates deficiencies in the structure and resources of the UN that could be corrected within five years with adequate global grassroots support. Among these are establishment of a rapid response emergency peacekeeping force and a UN Parliamentary Network.
Secondly, CGS staff and boards have devoted a great deal of attention and energy in the last few months to assessing our own strengths. We have greatly refocused our programming to include helping the Commission plan a 2020 World Conference on Global Institutions that will provide a platform and opportunity for many of UN reform recommendations to be enacted. This is an opportunity not to be missed!
More about all of this is to come, so stay tuned! Thank you for your interest in a democratically governed world and in Citizens for Global Solutions.
