Contact:   Elissa Ruffino (NIAF) 202/939-3106 or elissa@niaf.org

(WASHINGTON, DC — March 26, 2003) The John R. Mott Scholarship Foundation, Inc., a supporting organization of the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF), recently announced the election of Mario V. Mirabelli, Esq. as its president.

Mirabelli, a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Patton Boggs LLP, is a director and former treasurer of NIAF. The Rev. Paul S. Tipton a Washington consultant and the former president of Jacksonville University and Spring Hill College, was elected treasurer of the Foundation. Comm. Peter Caruso of Clifton, NJ, who represents the Region of Calabria in the United States, was elected secretary. Other members of the Mott Foundation Board of Directors are Ambassador Paolo Janni and Benjamin Palumbo of Washington, D.C. and Louis Pierro, Esq. and Martha Hobbs of Albany, New York.

“As a first generation Italian–American whose father was born in Calabria, I look forward together with our Board to help fulfill the wishes of John Mott to give back to deserving youth from the area of his birth an opportunity to further their education,” Mirabelli stated.

The John R. Mott Scholarship Foundation was created by the late John R. Mott of Albany, New York who was born in Serra D’Aiello, Italy. With assets in excess of $3 million, the Mott Foundation makes available through the NIAF scholarships for up to $10,000 to youth from the Region of Calabria, Italy based upon academic achievement and financial need.