For Immediate Release
July 5, 2006

Contact: Jonathan Adams, ARC, Tel: (646) 502-8843

Rinku Sen to Lead the Applied Research Center 
Analyst and Author to Replace Founder Gary Delgado During Historic Transition

New York, NY—The Applied Research Center's Board of Directors announced today that Rinku Sen has taken the position of President and Executive Director at the national research and policy institute. Ms. Sen will immediately take over the leadership role vacated by founding director Gary Delgado who steps down this month.

“In the 25th anniversary year of the Applied Research Center, we are thrilled to usher in an unprecedented period of growth and expansion with a visionary leader pulled from our own ranks,” said Susan Colson, chair of ARC’s Board of Directors. “Rinku has worked with the founding director to build ARC into a vital and respected national institute. We are confident that she will continue and expand that important work as President and Executive Director.”

In her new role, Ms. Sen will oversee the growth and operation of ARC’s offices in New York, Chicago and Oakland.  She will play a key role in shaping the organization’s programmatic initiatives in research, policy, training and communications; spearhead development and fundraising; and serve as a key spokesperson on issues of racial justice.  Ms. Sen will also retain her role as Publisher of ColorLines, the national newsmagazine on race and politics published bimonthly by ARC.

“This is an important time for the nation to recommit itself to racial justice,” Sen said this morning from her office in New York City. “From immigration and health care to education and national security, we must craft policy solutions that address pressing issues as they confront long-standing racial inequality.”

Rinku Sen replaces Gary Delgado who has stepped down after leading the organization since its founding in 1981.  Mr. Delgado, a founder of the national community organization ACORN as well as the Center for Third World Organizing, will stay on as President Emeritus, guiding the organization through the transition period.

“The ARC staff and board were very fortunate in recruiting Rinku Sen; she has an extensive background in community organizing, and she is an accomplished researcher, analyst, and writer,” offered Mr. Delgado.  “This is a good time for a transition in ARC’s leadership. I look forward to a close relationship with the ARC family and the great successes in ARC’s future under Rinku’s leadership.”

Ms. Sen’s new role as President and Executive Director is effective immediately.  She will continue to work from the Applied Research Center’s executive office in New York.

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