Ellen McCurley ’82, Founder of Non-Profit Organization That Helps Children Affected by AIDS, to Give Talk on ‘War and Plague in Africa’

WORCESTER, Mass. – Ellen McCurley ’82, founder of the Pendulum Project, a non-profit organization that helps children who are orphaned and vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS, poverty and war, will give a talk titled "War and Plague in Africa: The Social and Human Costs of Political Violence" on Nov. 8 at 12:30 p.m. in Stein Hall, Room 102 at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk is free and open to the public.

Upon graduation from Holy Cross, McCurley pursued a successful career in advertising and marketing. In 2001, however, after a trip to Malawi, Africa, she embarked on a different professional and personal path. After watching the suffering of people in Africa, her priorities shifted and she started the Pendulum Project. She also returned to school to pursue degrees in social work and public health. She has traveled extensively in Africa and has witnessed some of the most dramatic consequences of armed conflict in the region.

McCurley has more than 15 years experience as a business and marketing executive for various companies including Thunder House, a division of McCann Erickson Worldwide Advertising. She co-founded the Donovan Group, an Inc. 500 advertising agency headquartered in the Boston area, where she headed up new business development and client services for a diverse client base comprised of Fortune 500 and high technology companies. She has served as a board member, advisor and fundraising volunteer for several US humanitarian non-profit organizations devoted to women and children and the AIDS effort. She is the executive producer for Pendulum Films, a documentary film company that created "Malawi — A Call to Action" about the AIDS epidemic in Malawi and sub-Saharan Africa.

In January, McCurley was the subject of a feature story in The Boston Globe that detailed her dedication to helping children affected by AIDS in Africa.

The talk is sponsored by the Peace and Conflict Studies concentration at Holy Cross.