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New York, NY, April 5, 2000 - The American Numismatic Society (ANS) announced that it has hired Ms. Caroline Hightower part-time as Director of Planning and Programs. Ms. Hightower has an extensive background in administration, program development, publishing and fundraising. She will be working with the ANS director, board, staff and membership to evaluate current programming and to develop new programming.

Ms. Hightower is the former Director of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, a national membership organization founded in 1914. During her 17-year tenure, AIGA membership increased from 1,200 to over 10,000, chapters were initiated and established in 38 cities nationwide and programs increased from five exhibitions and catalogues a year to over 400 nationwide and abroad. A biennial national conference for over 2,000 participants was initiated to focus on history, theory, documentation and practice. After an extensive planning process a building was purchased on Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District in 1991, a successful capital campaign was undertaken, and the Institute moved from the Upper East Side where it had been for 80 years.

Before the AIGA, Ms. Hightower was a grant officer at Carnegie Corporation, Articles Editor at the Saturday Review, Editor at McGraw Hill, and Advertising Manager and Graphic Designer at the University of California Press. She has served on a variety of boards and as a consultant to numerous institutions. In 1998, she developed a course for the Arts Administration Program, at New York University School of Continuing Education on the Effective Non-profit Board.

The American Numismatic Society (ANS), founded in 1858, is a non-profit international center for the preservation and study of coins, medals and paper money, representing more than 2,500 years of material culture. The ANS collection contains close to one million objects and spans all periods and geographic areas, including Greek and Roman, medieval and modern European, American, Islamic, Asian and African coins, as well as other materials. In addition, the ANS holds the world's finest numismatic library, which is also strong in non-numismatic monographs and references on history, art, economics, language and culture. Both the collection and the library are open to the public.

For further information, contact Vanessa Samet at (212) 234-3130 ext. 231.