The Iraq Foundation is pleased to announce that its Executive Director, Rend Rahim Francke, has been selected by the Iraqi Governing Council to be Iraq's representative in Washington, DC.

Rend Rahim Francke is a native of Iraq. She is a founder of the Iraq Foundation and has been its Executive Director since 1991. Under her management, the Foundation expanded its work and built its capacity, currently running three major Iraq-related projects with a total budget of $1.6 million in 2002. Ms. Francke has set strategic goals for the foundation, designed programs and supervised their implementation, hired and trained staff, worked with grantors and raised funds, and supervised the financial activities of the Foundation.

Rend Rahim Francke has worked extensively with the Iraqi communities in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and northern Iraq. She has drafted policy papers on behalf of the Foundation and represented the Foundation with government and international institutions and non-governmental organizations. She has built partnerships and cooperative relations with several non-governmental organizations and research institutions.

Ms. Francke has done extensive research on Iraq, and has published essays and articles on Iraq, including a chapter titled ³The Iraqi Opposition² in Iraq After the Gulf War, ZED Books, London 1994; Iraq: Race to the Finish Line in Middle East Insight; and The Iraqi Opposition and the Sanctions Issue in Middle East Report. Her op-ed articles have appeared in The Washington Post, The Washington Times and The Boston Globe. Mrs. Francke has testified on Iraq in the U.S. Congress and has participated as an analyst on Iraqi issues on national television and radio programs. She co-authored The Arab Shi'a: Forgotten Muslims, published by St. Martin's Press in 2000.

Ms. Francke holds degrees from Cambridge University and the Sorbonne.