FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, January 8, 1999

Basile Named as Director of Private Sector Cooperation and International Volunteerism at the Peace Corps

Washington, D.C., January 8, 1999—Victor J. Basile, a former executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, has been named director of the Peace Corps\' office of private sector cooperation and international volunteerism, Peace Corps Director Mark Gearan announced today.
"Vic Basile\'s extensive experience in philanthropy and development for non-profit groups is a great asset to the Peace Corps," said Gearan. "His strong leadership, creativity, and vision make him an ideal choice to build and expand our partnerships with the private sector. And I am also confident that he will serve as an excellent representative of the agency in promoting international volunteerism."
Since 1994, Basile, 53, who resides in Washington, D.C., has served as vice president of Basile Ryan, Inc., a consulting firm for non-profit organizations and small businesses. The firm was a strong advocate for the civil rights of gays and lesbians. For six years prior to that, Basile worked as executive director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), where he is credited with transforming the organization into one of the largest lesbian and gay political organizations in the United States.
Previously, Basile spent 12 years at ACTION, the then umbrella agency for the Peace Corps, where he worked in recruitment, planning, and evaluation. He was a VISTA volunteer in North Carolina, where he organized low-income communities and recruited for Job Corps in Tyrell County.
Basile holds a bachelor\'s degree in public health education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His activist career includes work as co-producer of a documentary film, co-founder of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, and as a consultant to non-profit groups such as EMILY\'s List, the Terry K. Watanabe Charitable Trust, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, and Advocates for Youth.
The office of private sector cooperation and international volunteerism works to obtain donations, both material and financial, to the agency\'s Gifts-In-Kind and Peace Corps Partnerships programs.
Currently, nearly 6,700 Peace Corps volunteers are working in 80 countries in the areas of business, the environment, education, health and nutrition, and agriculture. Since 1961, more than 150,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps.

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