Emory Report homepage   >   Current issue front page

March 28, 2005
Carters step down from Carter Center board

BY Deanna Congileo

As part of a planned transition for the governance of The Carter Center, former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter announced at the center’s March 21 Board of Trustees (BOT) meeting that they would relinquish their titles as BOT chair and vice-chair. The trustees then elected trustee and San Diego businessman John Moores, owner of the San Diego Padres and recent chair of the California Board of Regents, as the new BOT chair.

“Continuing a transition process ... that began in 1994 with the creation of an external Board of Trustees, Rosalynn and I have decided to relinquish our titles,” Carter said. “We will remain as trustees on the board and plan to maintain active roles in Carter Center programmatic and fundraising activities, including Rosalynn’s work with her mental health program.

“Rosalynn and I see this as part of the ongoing process of preparing The Carter Center for the time when we no longer are active,” he continued. “We are blessed with good health and stamina that allow us to stay engaged in the many facets of the center, but now is the time for our board to assume a more prominent role. As its founders, we know The Carter Center will always be linked to our identity and personalities, but we proudly recognize the center has expanded its reach beyond what the two of us contribute.”

Moores, a Texas native, is a business leader and active philanthropist. Moores founded BMC Software in 1980 and remained at the company until 1992. In 1989 he founded the River Blindness Foundation to distribute treatments for the disease in developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. The foundation was absorbed into The Carter Center in 1997.

“Rosalynn and I are very pleased that the board has selected one of its own, John Moores, as the next chair of the Board of Trustees,” Carter said. “John has been a member of our board since its creation in 1994. We first met John and his wife, Becky, more than a decade ago, when we learned of their philanthropic efforts to assist those suffering from river blindness disease. This unselfish commitment led to their greater involvement in the work of The Carter Center and an unquestioned belief in its mission. We are confident in the center’s future with John as chair.”

“I am excited and humbled as I undertake this challenge,” Moores said. “The board is mindful that it is impossible to replace President and Mrs. Carter and the unique roles they have in the world. To my relief, they are not going anywhere and will remain, as long as they desire, very active in all phases of The Carter Center’s efforts.

“The Carters have laid a strong foundation for the future of the center,” he continued. “I accept this honor with a keen understanding of and devotion to the center’s mission to wage peace, fight disease and build hope for the most needy citizens of our world.”

 

TOP