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AACC Announces the 2010 Board of Directors and Officers

MCLEAN, Va., March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) held its 9th Annual General Assembly on Saturday, February 20, 2010. The event highlighted AACC's achievements in 2009 and its goals and objectives for 2010. In addition, it provided an opportunity for members to present themselves to serve on the Board of Directors and to network with existing and prospective new members. There was a significant turnout of existing and new members who participated in the election to join the Board of Directors as well as the twelve members who ran in the election for six open seats on the Board of Directors.

In a competitive election compliant with good governance practices, the newly elected Board of Directors members include Anisa Nusraty, Vice-President of American Cashmere & Wool; David D. Beg, CEO of Metro Pact Corporation, representing the Barakat Group of Companies in the U.S.; George S. Dunlop recent past Principal Deputy Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and currently Chairman of Cobis Systems; William C. Joern, President of Business Development Associates; Atiq Panjshiri, CEO and partner of United Insurance and Financial Services, Inc., and the Hon. Don Ritter, Sc.D. , Investor and Partner in several businesses in Afghanistan, were all re-elected to the Board.

On Tuesday March 2, 2010, the 2010 AACC Board of Directors held its first meeting, at which the annual election of officers took place. Sulaiman Lutfi, Executive Director of TriVision was elected as the Chairman of the Board succeeding Ajmal Ghani A., CEO of A-Zai Enterprises-Investment Co., who remains on the Board ; Hon. Don Ritter, Sc. D. was re-elected as the President & CEO; David D. Beg was elected as the Vice-President succeeding John A. Gastright, Jr., the Vice President for Government Affairs at DynCorp International, who remains on the Board; Virginia Sheffield, President of Sheffield Advisors, LLC was elected as Secretary of the Board replacing Estela McClean, Chief Executive Officer for Symbion Power Services US, who has left the Board; Yama Azami, President of Washington Mortgage Group, was re-elected as the Treasurer and William C. Joern and Hassina G. Ansary, President of La Tulipe were re-elected as Executive Committee Members-at-Large.

AACC enters 2010 with a rich agenda of business and investment promotion highlighted by its signature Business Matchmaking efforts, private sector business and policy forums, and events connecting U.S. businesses with important business and economy-related officials in both the U.S. and Afghan governments.

For further information, please contact AACC at 703-442-5005.

About AACC

AACC serves the interests of its members through numerous programs, advocates for a free and open market economy in Afghanistan, and endeavors to strengthen U.S.-Afghan economic relations. AACC works to ensure that Afghanistan's economy and the employment of the Afghan people remains a priority for U.S. and Afghan policymakers and serves as a link between business and government to encourage progressive economic policies that will result in increased business and investment between the U.S. and Afghanistan. It is the goal of AACC to promote the exchange of information and provide resources to members through investment conferences, seminars, networking events, publications, and other avenues to stimulate U.S.- Afghan business and investment.

SOURCE Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce