Press Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NetHope Appoints First Chief Executive Officer

June 11, 2006

McLean, Virginia –

NetHope Inc., a global non-profit organization serving as a catalyst for collaboration in the International NGO community and an enabler of best use of technology for connectivity in the developing parts of the world, has announced the appointment of Dr. William A. Brindley as its next Executive Director and first Chief Executive Officer.  Dr. Brindley succeeds Molly Tschang, who has returned to Cisco Systems after completing her Cisco Fellowship term as NetHope Executive Director, and Dipak Basu, also a Cisco Fellow, and first NetHope Executive Director.

“On behalf of the NetHope Board, it is my pleasure to welcome Bill Brindley as our new CEO and Executive Director,” says Ed Granger-Happ, Chairman of NetHope and Chief Technology Officer of Save the Children.  “Bill brings a wealth of corporate and nonprofit experience to NetHope that will take us to a new level as a nonprofit organization.” 

"Joining NetHope at this time is a tremendous opportunity. As the developing world becomes more dependent on technology to enable relief, development and conservation programs, the need for a reliable and effective communications infrastructure is greater than ever before," says Bill Brindley, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, who also notes that "Global nongovernmental organizations are facing significant challenges in order to be more responsive to crisis and ongoing development needs, and I believe NetHope is the right organization to help address these challenges. I am looking forward to working with the NetHope team to help our member organizations serve the tens of millions of end beneficiaries in over 100 developing countries around the world."

During his 30-year career in the technology, business and nonprofit arenas, Dr. Brindley served 15 years as a senior executive with Citigroup where he led various business and technology sectors.  His work there was characterized as “Leading Edge” by Gartner and benchmarked as “Best Practice” by Audi and the United States Department of Defense. Dr. Brindley’s career at Citigroup included six years as a member of the Leadership Team of The Citibank Private Bank, and four years as a chief deputy to Citigroup’s Corporate Technology Officer, with responsibility for information and communications technology globally.

Dr. Brindley’s experience includes positions as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Information Officer with financial services, high technology and grass-roots educational organizations. He has also served on a number of corporate and nonprofit boards and led the formation of several nonprofits. 

Dr. Brindley graduated magna cum laude from American University and holds several graduate degrees including a doctorate in organizational change management.  He is a graduate of The Wharton School’s Advanced Management Program and has also completed postgraduate courses at both Columbia and Harvard Business Schools.

“Molly Tschang has been instrumental in establishing a clear vision and mission for NetHope,” says Brindley.  “I look forward to my new role as NetHope builds on past successes and strives towards meeting new global challenges.”

About NetHope:

NetHope is an information technology consortium of seventeen of the international community’s leading non-governmental organizations (NGO’s).  Through member collaboration and by facilitating public benefit partnerships with major technology companies, NetHope enables members to expand their wireless communications infrastructure and increase the leverage potential of internet-based applications as they serve tens of millions of end beneficiaries in 100+ developing countries worldwide. More information about NetHope can be found at www.nethope.org.

Contact:

NetHope Media Contact: Matt Sriram

Email: matt@NetHope.org

Phone: 301.801.1511

William Brindley, NetHope

Email: WBrindley@NetHope.org

Phone: 703.388.2845