Washington, DC — The Board of the DC-based Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) announced today that Joy M. Zarembka has assumed the role of Executive Director while John Cavanagh, Director for the past 12 years, takes a year-long leave to focus on the “new economy” as part of the Institute’s staff. Cavanagh has been with IPS for a total of 27 years, the first 15 as Director of the Global Economy Project. For the next year, he will co-chair the New Economy Working Group at IPS with David Korten of YES! Magazine.
Before recently becoming the Operations Director, Zarembka spent a decade directing the Institute’s Break the Chain Campaign to support and advocate for abused, enslaved and exploited workers in the DC area. “In the past, there was an absence of people of color on the IPS board, staff and among our fellows. The appointment of Joy Zarembka as the new director of IPS marks a new era in our organization’s history,” commented Board Chair E. Ethelbert Miller. “America has Obama. IPS has Joy. We have begun to live in the future.”
Zarembka has been quoted extensively in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and many other media outlets for her expertise in human trafficking and race relations. She wrote the ground-breaking book The Pigment of Your Imagination: Mixed Race in a Global Society and contributed a chapter to Barbara Ehrenreich’s and Arlie Hochschild’s book, Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and Sex Workers in the New Economy. “So many world events currently coincide with our mission and expertise in examining the environment, peace and justice,” says Joy Zarembka. “It is a very exciting time to be leading the organization.”
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Zarembka received an undergraduate degree from Haverford College and a Master’s degree in International Relations from Yale University. In 1997, she was awarded the Fox International Fellowship to study at Cambridge University.
Of her year’s tenure as Director of the Institute, Joy Zarembka says, “It is a great honor to serve an institution that has served me and the community so well for so many years. My goals for the year are simple yet bold – enhance our communications department, increase our fundraising capacity and expand our professional development and mentoring.” Cavanagh added, “I am really pleased that IPS continues to nurture such incredible talent in its ranks. I’m excited for Joy and other rising leaders as they shape a strong future for IPS and for the world.”