Peter Bell: President of CARE USA

Peter Bell is president of CARE USA, a non-governmental organization committed to poverty eradication around the world. It is a member of CARE International, the world’s largest private relief and development organization, working in more than 60 developing countries.

Before Mr. Bell became president of CARE USA in 1995, he was a member of its Board of Directors for seven years, serving as chair for five. Prior to this position, Mr. Bell was president of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for nearly a decade. From 1984 to 1986, he was a senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and president of the Inter-American Foundation, which supports grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 1980 to 1983.

Mr. Bell served as Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare during the Carter Administration. Earlier, he worked for the Ford Foundation for 12 years, including 10 with its Latin American program. He is also co-chairman of the Inter-American Dialogue and a trustee of the World Peace Foundation and Human Rights Watch.

In an April 2001 speech at the School of Public Policy and Social Research at the University of California, Los Angeles, Mr. Bell outlined his vision. “Ending poverty is not only a moral necessity,” he said. “It is also a feasible task. We must take a comprehensive approach. [All people must have] access to adequate nutrition, clean water and basic education and the fulfillment of basic civil liberties.”

Mr. Bell, 59, is a native of Gloucester, Massachusetts. A Yale University graduate, he received a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.