Mori Taheripour Appointed Vice President of Corporate Diversity

WASHINGTON, Tuesday, April 18, 2006 — Business executive Mori Taheripour will join the American Red Cross as Vice President of Corporate Diversity, where she will lead the organization’s push to develop relationships with minority organizations, civic groups and others to reflect all communities the Red Cross serves.

“Mori joins us at a time when the Red Cross is working to take our diversity programs to the next level,” said Senior Vice President for Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer Rick Pogue. “Her wide-ranging business expertise and relationship-building experience convince me that she is the right individual to do just that.”

Taheripour joins the Red Cross from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has enjoyed proven success in marketing healthcare initiatives and building relationships with minority communities and organizations. In 1997 she co-founded Innovative Health Solutions, Inc., a healthcare consulting firm dedicated to developing prevention and education initiatives for diverse populations. As managing partner, she led the development of innovative HIV prevention projects, including work on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“These are exciting times at the American Red Cross,” said Taheripour. “I am pleased to be joining the organization at such a pivotal moment and look forward to the opportunity.”

Taheripour has an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating in 2003, she collaborated in launching the Wharton Sports Business Initiative, which explores business and marketing issues associated with professional sports leagues and organizations and to providing transitional business education to professional athletes. Taheripour was born in Iran and attended an international elementary school until moving to the United States in 1978. She attended high school in New Jersey and received her B.A. in Psychology and Premedical Studies from Barnard College in New York.

The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.