Washington, DC — The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Herdrich as Senior Presidential Advisor, Global Partnerships and Cultural Heritage Strategy.
Herdrich has worked with CLIR for more than a decade on initiatives in the Middle East and North Africa region. In this new role he will provide strategic guidance to CLIR on long-term, large-scale approaches to cultural heritage preservation and documentation, including integrating cultural heritage into emergency response frameworks and addressing ongoing and emerging threats to both tangible and intangible heritage. Additionally, he will advance digitization diplomacy and advocacy efforts, engaging U.S. and international policymakers and institutions to elevate cultural heritage as a global priority, providing counsel to CLIR’s President, Dr. Charles Henry.
Of Herdrich’s appointment, Henry says, “With unique expertise and creative talents, Peter deftly builds coalitions, communities, and transnational partnerships that lead to shared digital environments of our cultural commonwealth. He brings a rare practical diplomacy to an often splintered and fragmented world, and through that vital cohesion fosters the more elusive human condition of hope.”
Over his long and distinguished career Herdrich has served as the CEO of Cultural Capital Group, a strategic consultancy specializing in design and implementation of cultural heritage preservation, digital infrastructure, and government advisory projects. Working with CLIR and other dedicated implementation and funding partners, he has directed digital infrastructure, strategic planning, and documentation projects in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, and Yemen.
He co-founded The Antiquities Coalition, an international NGO combating looting and illicit antiquities trafficking, served as CEO of the Archaeological Institute of America and Publisher of ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine, held senior roles in broadcast television news as an award-winning producer, and is a founding Board Member of Rare Book School at the University of Virginia.
“Our community’s efforts of the last fifteen years have brought extensive, worldwide attention to the cause of cultural heritage preservation. Still, a glance around the world tells us that the loss of heritage remains at an emergency level. Working with Dr. Henry and CLIR, we will confront this head on – implementing on-the-ground solutions, scaling up projects, strategizing with global partners, and advocating loudly. It is time to act.”
CLIR is an independent, nonprofit organization that forges strategies to enhance research, teaching, and learning environments in collaboration with libraries, cultural institutions, and communities of higher learning. CLIR promotes forward-looking collaborative solutions that transcend disciplinary, institutional, professional, and geographic boundaries in support of the public good.
For more information, visit www.clir.org.
Media Contact:
Amy Lucko
Chief Operating Officer
Council on Library and Information Resources
alucko@clir.org