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Catholic Relief Services Names New President, CEO

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Catholic Relief Services says it has named the first woman to lead one of the world's largest international humanitarian relief organizations.

Carolyn Woo, the former dean of the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, is the seventh CEO and president of the Baltimore-based organization. Woo succeeds Ken Hackett, who is retiring after leading CRS for 18 years.

In 2004, Woo became one of the first lay members of CRS's board of directors, which had previously been limited to bishops. She has also served on the board's audit committee, visiting CRS programs in Africa and Asia. The Hong Kong native earned a doctoral degree at Purdue University, where she later served as a faculty member.

CRS has a global staff of 5,000 and programs in nearly 100 countries.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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