NGLTF's Lorri Jean stepping down

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced Wednesday that executive director Lorri L. Jean will step down from her post at the completion of her two-year contract on May 31, 2003. In June of this year, Jean, who resides in Los Angeles, will assume the position of chief executive officer at the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, which she led as executive director from 1993 to 1999. She will be joined there by current NGLTF deputy executive director and longtime colleague Darrel Cummings. "Lorri put her life on hold to come and help us at a time when the organization was facing tremendous financial difficulties and overall instability," said Margaret Burd, NGLTF's board cochair. "In the two years that she has been at the helm, we not only have recovered from that instability but have positioned the organization to play an increasingly vital and effective role in the GLBT community for years to come." "My work at the task force has been enormously gratifying," commented Jean. "We have accomplished what I was hired to do, and more, thanks to a remarkably talented staff and a dedicated board. Now it is time for a new leader to take the organization to its next stage. I am proud that the new executive director will inherit a strong organization that is well-poised to meaningfully lead our movement toward freedom, justice, and equality, and I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition of executive leadership for this vitally important GLBT organization."