Heifer International announces new CEO

Congo native knows business, nonprofits

New Heifer International Chief Executive Officer Pierre Ferrari is introduced by former CEO Jo Luck and Interim CEO Charles Stewart during a news conference Thursday morning at the organization’s headquarters in Little Rock.
New Heifer International Chief Executive Officer Pierre Ferrari is introduced by former CEO Jo Luck and Interim CEO Charles Stewart during a news conference Thursday morning at the organization’s headquarters in Little Rock.

— Heifer International named Pierre Ferrari as its new chief executive officer Thursday, ending a national search to replace the global charity’s longtime leader who retired in January.

Ferrari, a Congo native living in Atlanta, has served on the board of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream since 1999 and is director of the Small Enterprise Assistance Fund, a nonprofit that provides funding to fledgling businesses in Second and Third World economies. He also served as Coca Cola’s senior vice president for marketing in the 1990s.

His background with large companies as well as social ventures focused on ending poverty stood out to Heifer board members who started out with 370 resumes, said Doug Smith, chairman of Heifer International’s board of directors.

“He’s an investor in social change. He’s someone who loves to delve into problems and figure them out,” Smith said about Ferrari before introducing the new CEO on Thursday morning at the headquarters of the anti-hunger charity in downtown Little Rock.

An endorsement from Ben & Jerry’s founder Ben Cohen also weighed heavily in Ferrari’s favor, Smith said,reading Cohen’s comment that Ferrari’s “ability to direct sources where they will do the most good is almost uncanny.”

Heifer has seen its donations dip during the recession, a time when the United Nations’ World Food Program estimates that 925 million people do not have enough to eat. The nonprofit reported $102.8 million in contributions and grants during its 2009 fiscal year, compared with a total of $128.4 million in 2008, according to its IRS 990 form.

During Jo Luck’s 18-year tenure as president and chief executive officer, Heifer’s annual budget grew from $7 million to more than $130 million. Heifer completed its four-story, 94,000-square-foot headquarters near the Clinton Presidential Center in 2006 and added an educational center to the site last summer.

Smith said Heifer, which helped 1.5 million families last year, is counting on Ferrari to take the “calculated risk ... required to address the scale of hunger and poverty that we have to address.”

The new chief executive officer said he will not use “weak words” like “alleviate, diminish, lessen or reduce” hunger when talking about Heifer’s mission to end hunger and poverty.

Capitalizing on sharing the same name of a fast sports car, Ferrari said speed is important.

“Twenty-two thousand children die of preventable causes like hunger every day,” he said. “Our task is urgent, to say the least.”

After 66 years of service, Heifer doesn’t need reviving, Ferrari said. But the organization needs to be responsive to change while building on the principles of its founder, Dan West.

Pierre Ferrari has been named the new leader of Heifer International, the anti-hunger nonprofit based in Little Rock.

Heifer names new CEO

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Founded in 1944, Heifer provides agricultural training and livestock such as cattle, chickens and rabbits to poor families in 53 countries and 28 U.S. states. Those who receive animals are asked to “pass on the gift” by giving some of the offspring of animals they receive to another family.

Ferrari said it’s too early to tell whether he wants to make any policy changes, but in the coming years he wants Heifer to listen more, develop more locally relevant projects that are sustainable and ignite people’s entrepreneurial spirit.

“In this increasingly chaotic world, we will need to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. The energy I’d like to tap into to get this done is entrepreneurship,” he said.

Ferrari’s own entrepreneurship skills attracted Heifer’s search team.

In his days since working for Coca Cola, the Harvard MBA holder founded, directed or worked for a number of international companies and organizations that encourage business or social programs in developing countries.

He is an investor and director of Guayaki Sustainable Rainforest Products, a company working to restore 200,000 acres of South American rain forest and create jobs. He’s also director of Maji Mazuri, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that supports anti-poverty programs in Kenya.

Joining the 60-year-old Ferrari at the announcement Thursday morning were his wife, Kimberly, and his two stepdaughters Olivia and Elsa Stallings. Ferrari also has two sons, Peter and Oliver Ferrari.

His salary wasn’t disclosed. Luck earned $265,360 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, and also received $31,275 in benefits.

Luck, who is writing a book about her time at Heifer, intends to stay on as president through July.

Charles Stewart, Heifer’s interim CEO, will return to Heifer’s board of directors. He stepped down as chairman in January to take over during the search that involved interviewing seven candidates before narrowing the field to three people.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/29/2010

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