Bill Fisher

William Fisher (born 23 October 1928 in New York City) is an American journalist and retired manager of development programmes. He is a regular contributor to the news agency Inter Press Service, for which he mainly covers issues of human rights, foreign policy, international politics and the Middle East. Additionally, Bill Fisher writes for Truthout.org and media in the Middle East as well as in the United States (such as The Washington Post and the New York Daily News).

Fisher holds a B.A. in Journalism from Stetson University in Deland, Florida (USA). He began his work life as a journalist, working as reporter and then Bureau Chief for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, and as correspondent for the Associated Press in Florida.

Manager of international development programmes

He went on to work as a public relations director for a number of non-profit organizations, including the American Foundation for the Blind, where he became the unofficial press secretary for the deafblind author and activist Helen Keller.

Between 1961 and 1963, Fisher worked for the administration of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He played a key role in designing and implementing the U.S. Export Expansion Programme, which aimed at increasing the country’s exports by smaller businesses. Fisher served as a member of the White House Committee on Export Promotion.

Subsequently, Fisher became the chief executive officer of a public relations firm based in London. There, together with his late wife, Florence Fisher, he founded in 1972 the first environmental consulting firm outside the United States. This firm, Environmental Resources Ltd, dealt with harmonizing the environmental legislation of the original members of what is now the European Community, and represented the Dutch government as well as major multinational companies. It three times received the Queen's Award for Export.

Fisher’s long career in international development began in 1980, when, on behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development, he helped to develop and implement a strategic plan to create jobs in Jamaica by attracting foreign investment. He has since then worked as a consultant to major multinational companies and institutions as well as to governments and international organisations, including the U.S. Department of State, the European Union, the Dominican Republic and Japan. He has worked extensively in industrialised and developing nations all over the world on a wide range of projects designed to stimulate private sector development.

Fisher retired from active overseas development work in 2003, when he resumed his career as journalist, writing extensively for IPS and various other media outlets.

Publications

Fisher's book "Experiment in Development" came out in 1983, published by the Fund for Multinational Management Education. Besides his journalistic work, he has written hundreds of reports for government and the private sector. Fisher is currently working on a book that compares radical Islam and fundamentalist Christianity and Judaism.

External links

* [http://billfisher.blogspot.com "The World According to Bill Fisher"] — Fisher's blog
*News written by Fisher for the news agency [http://www.mwglobal.org/ipsnorthamerica.net/_authors/wfisher.php Inter Press Service]
* Fisher's contributions to [http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/billfisher.shtml Truthout.org]