Dr. E. Quinn Peeper Elected President of The English-Speaking Union of the United States

NEW YORK - May 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Dr. E. Quinn Peeper was elected President of The English-Speaking Union of the United States (ESU) effectively immediately at a meeting of its Board of Directors on May 4.  Dr. Peeper, a long-time activist and supporter of the ESU, succeeds Alice Boyne, who recently stepped down as the organization’s President and retired as its Executive Director after a 43-year career at the ESU.

Dr. Peeper is immediate past President of the New Orleans Branch of The English-Speaking Union.  He chaired the Branch’s National Shakespeare Competition from 1999 – 2004, and during his tenure as president, he introduced the organization’s English in Action and Shakespeare Set Free Institute programs in New Orleans, where they have met with great success He served as the ESU-US representative to the ESU’s International Council Meeting in Tokyo in 2007, and, for several years, Dr. Peeper developed and escorted cultural tours in the UK for ESU members.

Dr. Peeper hosted the extremely successful 2009 Annual Meeting of the ESU in New Orleans, combining it with the first reunion of the ESU’s Luard Morse Scholars.  In 2012, Michael Harold and he made a major contribution that leveraged the largest grant ESU has ever received to inaugurate the Andrew Romay New Immigrant Center.

He is a practicing physician working in Obstetrics and Gynecology with Crescent City Physicians Inc.  In addition to his practice, he has conducted medical research in New York City, Oxford and Lexington, VA.  Dr. Peeper received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia; his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from University College, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, and his Doctorate of Medicine from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.  He is currently pursuing an MBA degree at Auburn University.

In addition to his work in medicine, Dr. Peeper is an accomplished pianist, having performed in concerts around the world including twice at New York’s Carnegie Hall.  He won the New Orleans Ursuline Bach Competition twice as well as the 26^th Annual International Piano Competition, Giornale Musicale Festival in Italy.

In addition to his professional memberships, Dr. Peeper sits on the Boards of the New Orleans Opera Association and The Pirate’s Alley William Faulkner Society and is a member of The Most Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Shakespeare Society of New Orleans and the Jane Austen Society of North America among a host of other associations.  He served on the Vestry of Christ Church Cathedral and is Gulf Coast District Director of the Metropolitan Opera National Council.

The English-Speaking Union of the United States is a non-profit, non-political educational organization that celebrates English as a shared language to foster global understanding and good will by providing educational and cultural opportunities for students, educators, and members.  Founded in 1920, the ESU is a 501(c) (3) charitable educational organization headquartered in New York City with some 6,000 members nationwide.  An independent American corporation, the ESU carries out its work through a network of some 70 U.S. Branches, sponsoring a variety of language and international education programs including scholarships, teacher education and conversational English tutoring.  It also conducts book and cultural exchanges working in fellowship with the 57 independent ESUs around the world.  Most prominent of ESU programs is The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition, a school-based program to develop students’ speaking and critical thinking skills, through ESU Branch-sponsored community competitions and at the National Competition at Lincoln Center in New York City.  Inaugurated in 1983, the program has since engaged more than 250,000 young people.

Accepting the position of President of the English-Speaking Union of the United States,  Dr. Peeper said, “I am honored to lead this august organization, which is poised to celebrate its centennial. I am committed to ensuring that is mission for English education carry us forward in the next 100 years as a viable charitable institution, serving more and more teachers, educational administrators and students.”