Fred Monk is the Chairman of the Board of the Columbia World Affairs Council, which he helped to create in 1993. It is the only council of its kind in South Carolina.

On a full-time basis, Mr. Monk is the business editor of The State, South Carolina's largest daily newspaper, based in Columbia, with a circulation of 135,000 daily and 170,000 on Sunday.

He has been a reporter for The State since 1970, and has covered business news since 1974. In 1975, he was named business writer for The Columbia Record, the city's former afternoon daily, and became business editor of The State in 1981.

He currently writes two weekly columns for the newspaper, as well as writing other business and financial stories.

Mr. Monk received the Ambrose E. Gonzales Award for excellence in reporting at The State and The Columbia Record in 1982.

In 1987, he received the award for the best financial writing for a daily newspaper in South Carolina from the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., he was graduated from the University of South Carolina College of Journalism in 1971. He has attended the Wharton School of Business program for business writers and was one of five journalists selected in 1982 to tour Japan under a program sponsored by the Keizai Koho Center in Tokyo.

He has been active in professional journalism organizations. He was the 1986-87 president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, which consists of more than 1,500 business editors and writers from across the United States. He served on the society's board of governors from 1978 to 1989.

Mr. Monk is a past president of the Central South Carolina Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

He graduated from the Leadership South Carolina program in 1992. In 1994, he was selected as a fellow of the Atlanta-based Society of International Business Fellows and is South Carolina chairman of that organization.

In 1994, Mr. Monk was named International Ambassador of the Year by Columbia's Committee of 100 for his work in the international area.

He is chairman of the St. Martin's-In-The-Fields Episcopal Church Foundation. He is a major in the South Carolina Air National Guard, where he serves as a public affairs officer.

He also serves on the boards of the Dreher High School Foundation and the Capital City Club.

Mr. Monk has worked with a number of foundations and organizations that have brought international visitors to South Carolina, including the National Forum Foundation, the Atlantic Council, the Columbia Council for Internationals and the Freedom Forum. In the past year, he has hosted visitors from Russia and Macedonia.

Ms. Normanne Potter has been the Executive Director of the Columbia World Affairs Council since December 1994.

Before assuming her present position, Ms. Potter worked for Eticon Inc., which does business etiquette consulting.

Originally from Virginia, she has lived in Columbia since 1989. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina, with bachelor degrees in Economics and International Relations.

Her hobbies include horseback riding and racing her Jack Russell terrier dog.

LuAnn is originally from Tampa, Florida. She graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1991, with double majors in Economics and Spanish.

She spent three years in Japan teaching English through the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.

LuAnn's newest project for the Columbia World Affairs Council includes directing the World Class Partnership Program, which matches South Carolina schools with partner, or "sister," schools in foreign countries. She is also helping to develop a Japan-South Carolina Society.

Lynn K. McNeil joined the staff of the Columbia World Affairs Council as an Assistant Director in June 1996.

Before assuming her present position, Lynn worked part-time in the Office of International Programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while earning her Masters of Arts degree in Liberal Studies. She is a 1990 graduate of Wake Forest University, and holds a BA degree in French.

Lynn studied abroad in Dijon, France, at the Universite de Bourgogne during her junior year of college, and after graduating returned to Paris on a student work program sponsored by the Council on International Education Exchange (CIEE).

Some of her duties for the World Affairs Council are coordinating the foreign language conversation groups and helping with the development of a new Japan-South Carolina Society.