CorpWatch Hires New Executive Director

San Francisco and San Cristobal de las Casas -- CorpWatch announced today that it had completed its search for a new executive director. Maria Elena Martinez, a Mexican activist and researcher will join the organization as Executive Director as of October 1st.

"We conducted a thorough search and we found the best candidate," said CorpWatch board chair Mele Lau Smith. "We are very excited that Maria Elena is coming on board. She brings with her a diverse set of skills and experiences that will enrich the organization tremendously."

For the last several years Ms. Martinez, who holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, has been the Director of Desarollo Alternativo, a Mexican non-profit working on alternatives to corporate globalization for rural areas. She has also been a visiting scholar at the CIESAS and PROIMMSE social science research institutes in Chiapas, Mexico, and was formerly the Mexico Program Coordinator at Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, in Oakland, California. She was also co-founder of the Chiapas Support Committee and the Comit Emiliano Zapata solidarity committees in the USA.

"At a moment when corporate-globalization continues to trample people's rights in the United States, Mexico and around the world," said Ms. Martinez, "I look forward to the challenge and honor of working with an organization that plays a leadership role in confronting the globalization paradigm and promoting alternatives to it."

CorpWatch's founder and outgoing Executive Director, Joshua Karliner spoke of the importance of Ms. Martinez joining CorpWatch. "The organization has grown to the point where it is attracting highly talented and experienced people such as Maria Elena. This is good for us, and it's good for the movement," said Karliner. "I am very much looking forward working with Maria Elena to assure a smooth transition, and then to collaborating and working closely with her and the rest of the CorpWatch team well into the future."