The Council of the European Laboratory for Particles Physics (CERN), headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, has announced that Luciano Maiani has been elected CERN's next Director General. Maiani will assume office on 1 January 1999. He will replace Christopher Llewellyn-Smith, who will have completed his 5 year-term. This marks the second time in the past decade that an Italian has been named to head CERN. Between 1989 and 1993 Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia, also from Italy, served as CERN's Director General. Maiani is a distinguished physics professor at the University of Rome. Since 1993, he has served as President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and, for the past year, he has been President of the CERN Council. Maiani has visited the ICTP on several different occasions and has worked closely with a number of Centre scientists. He also served on the selection panel for ICTP's current director.