FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, February 15, 1996

Special Assistant to the President Tapped to Direct Peace Corps' Communications Department

Washington, D.C., February 15, 1996 - Mark Gearan, director of the Peace Corps, named Andre Oliver as the agency\'s new director of communications today.
Oliver will manage the communications operations at the agency\'s Washington headquarters and 12 regional offices.
Oliver brings extensive expertise in the communications field that includes work in the public and private sectors, as well as in the international arena. Before coming to Peace Corps, he served as a Special Assistant to the President in the Office of Public Liaison, where he handled constituency outreach inititiatives involving the federal budget and health programs. Oliver\'s experience in the private sector includes work with the Rendon Group, where he developed the company\'s corporate development strategy and managed new business outreach for Fortune 500 companies targeting Indonesia, the Middle East and South Africa.
Oliver also served as an election observer for the United Nations Observer Mission in South Africa, where he monitored the voter education work of domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations. He was then appointed team leader for the U.N. observer group in Botshabelo, South Africa\'s second largest township.
Peace Corps director, Mark Gearan said, "Andre Oliver\'s extensive experience in the public, private and international arenas, coupled with his proven success as an expert in communications, make him an ideal choice as Peace Corps\' new director of communications. Andre is an extraordinarily talented man with a lot of ideas. He will be a great asset for the Peace Corps."
Oliver received a B.A. in English with an additional concentration in political science from Tufts University in 1984. During his senior year at Tufts, he worked as a research assistant in the Office of the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor.
Today, Peace Corps has nearly 7,000 volunteers working in 96 countries. Their grassroots development assistance focuses on business development, education, environmental management and preservation, health and nutrition, agriculture, water conservation and sanitation, and urban and youth development. More than 140,000 Americans have served in Peace Corps since 1961.

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