Chuck Hitchcock, the newly elected Chair of the NGO DPI Executive Committee, discovered the wonders of the world reading National Geographic during his boyhood in Southern California.

Later at Colgate University, where he studied Political Science with an emphasis on African Studies, he had the opportunity to go to Sierra Leone with Operation Crossroads Africa. There he spent three months building a road with students from Africa and North America.

After returning to Colgate for his senior year, he joined the Peace Corps where for two years he taught everything from third grade English to graduate courses in Western diplomatic history in what was then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

Subsequently, Chuck taught Sociology for 35 years at Southampton College of Long Island University, during which time he also chaired the Executive Committee of the Faculty for ten years. These experiences with diverse groups and occasionally conflicting goals helped Chuck to hone his leadership skills. He was named Dean for 5 years before the College was sold to the State University at Stony Brook.

After leaving Southampton College, Chuck became an NGO representative to the United Nations for Peace Action, the largest grassroots peace network in the United States. Chuck chaired the annual 2008 UN NGO DPI Conference which was held in Mexico City on the themes of peace, development and disarmament.

Chuck was elected Chair of the NGO/DPI Executive Committee in June of 2010 and assumed his position at the end of the annual Conference in September. Chuck’s priorities are to ensure the financial future of the Executive Committee by reaching out to new constituents in fundraising efforts, stimulating increased involvement of DPI associated NGOs in the activities of the Executive Committee, helping other NGOs become associated with the DPI, expanding the Committee’s outreach to NGOs in other parts of the world, and increasing the involvement of young adults in the United Nations.