09/24/09 AIDS Project RI's New Executive Director             Former APRI Board Chair Appointed to Lead Prominent AIDS Service Agency in Rhode Island   Providence, R.I. – September 24, 2009 – In a statement released today, Margaret Holland McDuff, CEO of Family Service of Rhode Island, announced that AIDS Project RI has named former board chairman Stephen R. Hourahan as its new executive director. “I am very pleased to announce that Stephen will join us as executive director of AIDS Project RI on September 30th.  He brings experience, talents and passion to the programs of AIDS Project RI, fostering a new level of excellence, particularly in the area of prevention and education.”    Hourahan brings more than 20 years of experience working on the front lines of the AIDS movement as an educator, fundraiser and advocate for people with AIDS.  Beginning with his work as the first director of development at the AIDS Action Council in Washington, DC in 1989, he has worked in all aspects of the AIDS crisis. After leaving the staff of AIDS Action, he continued to raise money and awareness as a board member and served in that position until 1993.  Additionally, he was an active member of the Nantucket AIDS Network board, helping to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for AIDS housing, prevention and care. Throughout the 1990s he also served as a board member and chair of AIDS Project RI, and was honored by AIDS Project RI last December with the Richard Katzoff Leadership Award. With a professional background in communications and politics, he has held numerous positions in government and the private sector that will be extremely beneficial in helping APRI achieve its mission. He was the communications director and campaign chairman for former U. S. Senator Lincoln Chafee and before that held several positions with the late U.S. Senator John Chafee.  More recently, he has worked as director of public affairs at Duffy & Shanley Public Relations and as senior vice president and director of marketing and corporate communications at Bank Rhode Island. For more than two decades AIDS Project RI has been serving Rhode Islanders living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.  It merged with Family Service of RI in 2008. Currently it is gearing up for AIDS Walk 2009 on Sunday, October 25.  More information is available at www.aidsprojectri.org.