World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond seeks new executive director

The World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond is looking for a new executive director.

Randolph Bell, the nonprofit educational organization's president, stepped down at the end of June. He remains a member of the board of directors.

The council's board chairman, James K. Martin, said the replacement process is under way and that the council has been in discussion with the national World Affairs Councils. An executive committee of the council is conducting the search, he said.

The Richmond council's goal is to inform central Virginians about the importance of international affairs in their lives and bring them into contact with influential people in the field.

"It's certainly hard to lose someone of Ambassador Bell's stature," said Martin, senior vice president for regulation and integrated planning at Dominion Resources Inc. "The speakers he's brought in over the years have been phenomenal."

Bell, 61, retired from the U.S. State Department in 2003. He served as ambassador at large and special envoy in the department's Bureau of European Affairs. He became executive director of the World Affairs Council of Greater Richmond in 2004.

"The fate of our country and its economy depend on events beyond our shores," Bell said. "People need to understand more and more how that is so."

The local council has about 400 individual members and an additional 1,000 through corporate memberships, he said.

In the current recession, Bell said his replacement at the council will need to be a strong fundraiser to maintain the group's locally supported programs.

In partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University, the council directs the Virginia Center for the Teaching of International Studies, which has trained more than 1,400 high school teachers and through them touched thousands of students. The local council also uses its programs to create educational materials for teachers.

The council's speaker forums are rebroadcast over the WCVE public radio station, and Bell has also provided a weekly foreign-affairs commentary on WCVE.

Through its International Executive Forum, and its partnerships with the Greater Richmond Chamber, the Greater Richmond Partnership, the Export-Import Club of Richmond and other business groups, the World Affairs Council works to grow the region's business and financial community.

The organization also has ties with the area's schools and colleges, and students attend the council's events free.

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or .