1.23.2008 - 11:53am ET

(CSRwire) WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Wallace Global Fund announces the appointment of Ellen Dorsey as its new executive director. Dorsey has led environmental initiatives in philanthropy and has extensive experience in the human rights field. Dorsey will assume her new post on March 1st, 2008.

Dorsey comes to the Fund from The Heinz Endowments in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she has been serving as senior program officer for the Environment Program. Her work experience ranges from environmental protection and health to human rights, public policy and academia.

"Ellen Dorsey has an extraordinary mix of experience, from grassroots activism to national and global policy advocacy, with strong strategic and leadership skills. We are delighted to welcome her to the Wallace Global team," said Scott Wallace, the Fund's Co-chair, on behalf of the Board of Trustees.

A private family foundation, the Wallace Global Fund makes grants in three priority areas: the environment; human rights; and civic engagement. Targeted programs include: global population; reproductive rights; women's empowerment; civic engagement; media reform and independent media; justice; climate change and clean energy; biodiversity; peak oil/re-localization; and sustainable environmental, consumption and land use policies. The Fund is guided by the vision of Henry A. Wallace, former U.S. Vice President, Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, and Progressive Party candidate for President in 1948. The Fund evolved from the Wallace Genetic Foundation, founded by Henry Wallace in 1959.

"I am thrilled to join the Wallace family and a wonderfully dedicated staff, who have earned the Fund an outstanding record of achievement in supporting progressive social, political and environmental principles," said Dorsey. "I care deeply about the causes that the foundation supports and I believe we're well matched to make the Fund an even more energizing force for non-profit communities."

Dorsey is the current chair of the board of Amnesty International USA. She previously directed Amnesty's national field program and its human rights and environment program. She has a doctorate in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, was selected as a Fulbright Research Fellow in South Africa, and has been a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham College, American University and Georgia State University. She has lectured and written extensively on women's environmental health, human rights and African politics. She is co-author, with Paul J. Nelson, of New Rights Advocacy: Changing Strategies of Development and Human Rights NGOs, forthcoming in February from Georgetown University Press.

Dorsey succeeds Melissa Shackleton Dann, who served the Fund as executive director and, prior to that, as senior program officer for 12 years. Senior program officer Scott Denman has been serving as acting executive director in the interim. The Fund is grateful for the work of the Isaacson, Miller executive search firm in spearheading this important search.