WASHINGTON, DC - Adele Simmons, former President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and before that President of Hampshire College, has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Fair Labor Association (FLA), effective September 1, 2003. She succeeds former Agriculture Secretary and Congressman Dan Glickman, who in turn succeeded the late Charles Ruff, the former White House Counsel who was the founding chair of the FLA.

The mission of the FLA is to combine the efforts of industry, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), colleges and universities to promote adherence to international labor standards and improve working conditions worldwide. Companies in the FLA commit to the labor standards in the FLA code of conduct, to extensive internal monitoring according to established FLA principles, to external monitoring by accredited independent monitors, to a public reporting process that includes annual reports on each company and public reporting on all external monitoring visits, to remediation when instances of noncompliance with the code are identified, and to participation in the FLA's third-party complaint system. The FLA board consists of six industry representatives, six NGO representatives, three university representatives and the chair.

"I am delighted to have this opportunity to chair the FLA board at such a pivotal time
in its history," Simmons said. "The FLA has played a pioneering role in bringing together companies, universities and civil society groups to create a set of workplace standards and an ambitious system for monitoring those standards and overseeing remedial actions. It is beginning to make significant progress not only in improving working conditions around the world, but in demonstrating the capacity of such voluntary multi-stakeholder initiatives to make a real difference in the lives of workers.

"In the months ahead the FLA will further refine its monitoring programs and launch a transparency initiative in which reports of all independent external monitoring visits will be posted to its website," she added. "It will also issue its first annual reports on its participating companies. The FLA also hopes to build on recent outreach efforts to NGOs in Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world, and more fully develop its programs for college and university licensees. I am eager to do whatever I can to help the FLA expand its impact and achieve its goals."

Simmons currently serves as Vice Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020, a non-profit organization that promotes regional strategies for strengthening the Chicago area, where she has focused on involving the Chicago business community in early childhood education. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the University of Chicago, President of the Global Philanthropy Partnership, and a Senior Advisor to the World Economic Forum, where she is working to assist members who are interested in using philanthropy to address global poverty.

A graduate of Harvard University with a D. Phil. from Oxford University, Simmons is trained as a historian with a focus on Africa and the Indian Ocean. She served as Dean of Jackson College at Tufts University and Dean of Students at Princeton University, while also teaching at both institutions. In 1977 she was named President of Hampshire College, and then in 1989 she became President of the MacArthur Foundation.

At MacArthur she oversaw more than $1.5 billion in grants, including approximately $600 million through the Foundation's international programs, in areas related primarily to the environment, women's reproductive health, human rights, peace and international security. Under her leadership, MacArthur brought together corporations and civil society groups to establish new multi-stakeholder approaches to addressing critical global issues ranging from the environment to human rights, and it funded a number of NGOs both in and outside the United States that focused on the rights of workers, and particularly women.

Simmons has served as a member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University and on numerous visiting committees at Harvard. She currently chairs the Committee to Visit the Harvard School of Education and is a member of the board of the Program for Human Rights at the University of Chicago. She has served on a number of corporate boards, including First Chicago Corporation and the Boston Globe, and she currently serves as a director of the Marsh and McLennan Companies. Her non-profit board memberships have included the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the Field Museum of Natural History. She is also on the boards of the Synergos Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Rocky Mountain Institute, The American Prospect and the Union of Concerned Scientists. She is on the advisory boards of the Ethical Globalization Initiative and the World Bank Institute.

Simmons is the co-author of "Who's Minding the Store?", an analysis of the impact of civil society on corporate responsibility that appeared in the 2002 edition of the Global Society Yearbook, prepared by the Centre for Civil Society at the London School of Economics, and Modern Mauritius, which is the story of how indentured laborers working in the country's sugar industry organized for improved working conditions, and eventually for independence.

Robert Durkee, vice president for public affairs at Princeton University and a university representative on the FLA board, said, "Adele Simmons brings a lifetime of commitment to issues related to fair treatment of workers, extensive knowledge and experience, demonstrated leadership in a broad range of organizations, seemingly limitless energy and curiosity, strong interpersonal skills, sound judgment, a clear understanding of the many challenges that the FLA still needs to overcome and a clear determination to provide the leadership necessary to overcome them. She brings just the right blend of pragmatism and aspiration that the FLA needs to continue to set high goals, and making steady progress in achieving them."

FLA board member Bob Zane, Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Sourcing, Distribution and Logistics at Liz Claiborne, said, "This is good news for the apparel and footwear industries and their workers. Adele will be instrumental in moving the FLA forward and helping us to achieve our worldwide goals."

Board member Pharis Harvey, a founder and former Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Fund, said, "Adele Simmons brings to the Fair Labor Association a worldwide reputation for effective advocacy for fairness in the global economy. Her acceptance of leadership of this initiative is a strong endorsement of its potential to enhance the rights of workers around the world. I am confident that under her guidance this potential will be realized."

For additional information about the FLA, please consult its website at www.fairlabor.org.

Fair Labor Association

Fair Labor Association

More from Fair Labor Association