ACLU Names Mark Wier as Chief Development Officer

Wier to Oversee ACLU’s Fundraising and Development Efforts Nationwide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

New York, Jan. 10, 2012– Mark Wier, an executive at the International Rescue Committee, has been named the Chief Development Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Wier, 42, will oversee the full spectrum of the ACLU’s fundraising and development efforts nationwide. As a member of the ACLU’s senior management team, Wier will report to Executive Director Anthony D. Romero.

“We have a top-notch development team that we can be justifiably proud of,“ Romero said. “Mark’s record of innovation and success will help us retain our preeminent position as one of the nation’s leading non-profit organizations.”

In addition to managing a development staff of more than 50, Wier will continue the growth of major gifts, foundation grants, planned giving and direct marketing for the organization, which has raised $95 million in the 2011 fiscal year.

“This is both a tremendous opportunity and a big challenge,” Wier said. “What we need to do is demonstrate to a new generation of donors that the work we do is more important than ever. Fortunately, the ACLU has a great story to tell.”

Wier is currently the senior director of corporate and foundation relations at the IRC. He leads a worldwide team responsible for raising funds from private and family foundations, corporations as well as donor-advised funds.

Before the IRC, Wier was the director of educational development at WNET, the PBS station in New York, and the director of development at the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.

Wier has also been a corporate relations manager for the New York Public Library and grants manager for the Museum of the City of New York.

Wier has an M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton.