Dr. Vincenzo Morlini to Lead AFS Worldwide Network Partnership

NEW YORK, NY, August 5, 2011 - The AFS International Board of Trustees appointed Dr. Vincenzo Morlini as president of AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc. by unanimous vote. The appointment followed an extensive search for a leader for the worldwide AFS Network. The network comprises more than 50 AFS Partner organizations with programs in more than 80 countries. Morlini’s appointment reaffirms AFS’s commitment to promoting global cooperation through one of the exchange industry’s most recognized and valuable intercultural learning organizations and its programs.

Dr. Morlini, who will be AFS Intercultural Program’s first European president, said “I am honored and I am very much looking forward to leading AFS as its new president. My own experience as an AFS exchange participant from Italy to the United States taught me the immense value of intercultural education. I acquired English as a second language during my time in Ohio, a skill that has provided me with many advantages in my career. But perhaps more significantly, my host family in the United States became part of my extended family and remains so to this day. The mission of AFS, to create a more just and peaceful world through intercultural learning, is as valid today as it was in 1947 when the AFS exchange programs first started. The immense benefits provided by immersive intercultural experiences that allow people to connect and enable them to share their cultures cannot be overstated.”

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Vincenzo as president” said Christian Kurtén, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of AFS International. “He brings a wealth of experience from the business world as well as an outstanding track record as national partner director of our AFS Partner in Italy, Intercultura, one of the most successful organizations in the AFS Network. We are confident that under his leadership our network will continue to grow and to offer our participants the life-changing intercultural experiences that AFS has been offering for more than six decades.”

Dr. Morlini was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He was an exchange student with AFS from Italy to the USA in 1966. He has held a number of senior level positions in the corporate sector, including the presidency of the Cassa di Risparmio di Reggio Emilia Spa and financial controller and operations manager for Apple in Italy. Since 2006, he has served as the national partner director of AFS Intercultura in Italy. One of the hallmarks of his tenure at Intercultura was the extraordinary growth in the number of program participants, both being hosted in Italy and going abroad on AFS exchange programs.

Contact: Carlos Porro
Tel: 212.807.8686, ext. 1921
Email: carlos.porro@afs.org