Contact: Dean Owen, World Vision, 253-906-8645

LOS ANGELES Oct. 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- Dean R. Hirsch, stepping down as president and CEO of World Vision International, will become the organisation's global ambassador, beginning October 1.

Hirsch, who joined World Vision in 1976, will represent the organisation at various meetings, events and other engagements. He will be based in Seattle, Washington (USA) and Geneva, Switzerland.

"Dean will support me in maintaining, building and enhancing the internal and external reputation of World Vision," says Kevin Jenkins, who assumes the presidency of World Vision International on October 1. "He will continue to bring to World Vision the invaluable knowledge and insights that he has accumulated over his 33-year career."

As president, Mr. Hirsch was instrumental in focusing the organisation's attention on helping children by addressing the root causes of poverty and injustice. Public advocacy became a third pillar of World Vision's work, in addition to emergency relief and development, and a major campaign responding to the effects of the HIV & AIDS epidemic was mounted. During his presidency, World Vision also responded to large-scale natural disasters including the Asian Tsunami, Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan Earthquake

Prior to his appointment as international president, Hirsch served World Vision as chief operating officer, vice president for development and vice president for relief operations. He has worked in the United States, Africa and Europe, and has visited virtually all of the nearly 100 nations in which World Vision works.

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. We serve the world's poor - regardless of a person's religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information, please visit www.wvi.org.