May 5, 2014

Yardley, PA – May 5, 2014 --- At the 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting of the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia (IVC) held at City Hall, Philadelphia at the end of April, Hill Wallack Partner Thomas J. Jennings was unanimously elected by the members to serve as Chairman of the Board of Trustees effective July 1st.

IVC is the region’s official international relations organization and a public/private partner with the U.S. Department of State and the City of Philadelphia. Mr. Jennings and his family have been IVC volunteers for nearly twenty years, serving as homestay hosts to over thirty delegations from Eastern Europe and Asia; arranging for professional meetings and hospitality for distinguished visitors from abroad, including: the participants in the US State Department’s prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program; representatives of the region’s nine Sister Cities; and international graduate students studying at law and business schools. Mr. Jennings has sponsored and hosted monthly First Thursday receptions for the international community in Philadelphia as well as IVC’s signature American Summer Experience held annually in July. He has facilitated the introduction of international commercial enterprises with their American counterparts at the invitation of regional economic development agencies.

During the Annual Meeting, the Board adopted a new name for IVC after a year-long search that included more than 140 suggestions by its membership. Selected was Citizen Diplomacy International of Philadelphia (CDI) which now shines the spotlight on its volunteers—the Citizen Diplomats—who meet with IVC/CDI’s distinguished guests from abroad and provide genuine American experiences. CDI knows that it will need the help of a new generation of citizen diplomats—the millennials. With that in mind, Mr. Jennings introduced noted polling scholar, John Zogby, who discussed his book First Globals which is about unleashing the potential of our millennial generation, a cohort of citizens who already hold a firm belief in the value of making contact, making friends and making peace—CDI’s core values.

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