THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

              PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES MARK L. SCHNEIDER 
                   AS DIRECTOR OF THE PEACE CORPS

     The President today announced his intent to recess appoint Mark L.

Schneider as Director of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps has been without a director for six months and there is a pressing need for the new director to undertake planning for steps to expand the volunteer corps as mandated by Congress.

Mr. Mark L. Schneider, of Walnut Creek, California, a former Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador, is currently the Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has served in that position since November 1993, directing U.S. foreign assistance programs in this hemisphere, supporting democracy, social and economic development and environmental protection. Previously, he served as Chief of the Office of Analysis and Strategic Planning and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director at the Pan American Health Organization. In addition, Mr. Schneider served as Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights at the Department of State from 1977 to 1979. He was the recipient of the Bernardo O'Higgins Medal for human rights work from the Government of Chile, of a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellowship at Reed College, and of the Congressional Fellowship of the American Political Science Association.

Mr. Schneider received his BA from the University of California-Berkeley and his MA from San Jose University.

The Peace Corps is an independent agency with approximately 7,000 volunteers serving in 77 developing countries for two-year periods. The Peace Corps has demonstrated that people-to-people programs at the grass-roots level can contribute significantly to international development and understanding on a limited ($245 million FY2000) budget. The Peace Corps has about 1,100 employees worldwide, of whom approximately 500 are in the Washington, D.C. headquarters.

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