Archive - April 26, 2017

On December 23, 1999, Mark Schneider (El Salvador 1966-68) took over from Mark Gearan as the new Director. Schneider was an RPCV, the second to become Director. He had previously worked on the Hill for Ted Kennedy, and he even got Kennedy to come briefly to HQ for a short speech where Kennedy was lavish in his praise of Mark. Mark was another of those “In, Up and Out” Directors, lasting on the job until January 20, 2001. Not that it was Mark’s fault. With the change in the White House, and Bush in office, Mark was history. Unlike most Directors, he did not leave a footprint in the office, however, he did work on developing information technology projects done by PCVs. A first for the agency. A few years before Mark came to the job, I was working at the agency and proposed at some meeting that Peace Corps Volunteers . . .