New Chief Executive Appointed For The International Centre For Missing & Exploited Children

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) announced today that Maura Harty has been appointed by the Board of Directors to be the organization's new President and CEO.     

Harty previously worked for ICMEC from 2008 to 2010 as Senior Policy Director of the organization's Koons Family Institute on International Law & Policy.  In that role she worked with foreign leaders to create a global missing children's network to protect children and supervised the organization's efforts to implement new legislation and strengthen existing international child pornography laws.  Between 2010 and 2012 she served as the President and CEO of Make-a-Wish Foundation Mid-Atlantic. 

Harty is also an experienced diplomat with 29 years of experience at the U.S. Department of State.  During her tenure at the State Department, she served as Special Assistant to Secretary of State George P. Shultz; Executive Assistant to Secretary Warren Christopher; U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Paraguay; and Executive Secretary of the Department under Secretary Colin Powell.  From 2002 until she retired in 2008 she served as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs.  Most recently she returned to the State Department in 2012 where she has been a part-time Inspector with the Office of the Inspector General.      

Harty will succeed ICMEC's long-term President and CEO Ernie Allen who created the organization and has headed it for the past sixteen years.  Under his leadership, ICMEC became the leading international resource used today by governments and policymakers around the world on the issues of child abduction, child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.  He built a global missing children's network involving 23 nations, trained law enforcement in 121 countries and worked with parliaments in 100 countries to enact new laws on child pornography.   Earlier this year Allen announced plans to retire at the end of October.         

"Ernie is considered the foremost expert in the world on the issues of missing and sexually exploited children.  He has been the visionary and the heart of ICMEC and has built a strong foundation for the future.  Finding someone who we felt could succeed him was a significant challenge for ICMEC", said Franz Humer, Chairman of the Board of ICMEC.  "Working in partnership with governments around the world is critical in the effort to protect children from abduction and sexual exploitation.  Maura's international and diplomatic experience will be a tremendous asset in the organization's effort to increase awareness on a global basis about the problems of child victimization and to work with individual countries on a solution."

About the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.
ICMEC is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization.  It is the leading agency working on a global basis to combat abduction and exploitation.  ICMEC works in partnership with INTERPOL, the Organization of American States, and the Hague Conference on Private International Law among others.  For more information about ICMEC visit: www.icmec.org.  News media:  [email protected] or call +1 703.837.6329

Media Contact:
International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children
[email protected]
(703) 837-6329

SOURCE International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children