GATES FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director, Program Advocacy and Communications, Health
- Leadership
Alaa Murabit oversees the foundation's health advocacy and communications work, in partnership with the Global Health and Global Development divisions. She is a medical doctor, global security strategist, women's rights advocate, and United Nations High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth. Alaa is one of 17 Sustainable Development Goal Advocates appointed by the UN Secretary-General and a 2020-2021 Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Alaa founded the women's rights organization Voice of Libyan Women in 2011, at the age of 21. Her TED Talk, "What My Religion Really Says About Women," has been viewed nearly 5 million times. In 2016, she became executive director of Phase Minus 1, which provides thought leadership in conflict resolution and inclusive security, and she later founded CO-AGENCY, an accelerator for emerging women's leadership in security, peacebuilding, and policy.
Alaa is the recipient of more than 100 honors and awards, including the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, BBC 100 Women, Forbes 30 Under 30, Nelson Mandela Changemaker Award, and Harvard Law School's Women Inspiring Change. She is an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow, and she serves on the board of the Malala Fund.
Alaa received an M.D. from the University of Zawia in Libya and an MSc in International Strategy and Diplomacy, with Distinction, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Its Partners
- Leadership
- President of U.S. Programs
Allan C. Golston leads the foundation's efforts to advance educational opportunity and student achievement in the United States to ensure that all students - and particularly low-income students and students of color - receive a high-quality education that leads to success in college and their careers. He oversees the U.S. Program's major areas of investment - Education, Economic Mobility and Opportunity, Special Initiatives, and Family Homelessness and Community Grants in Washington State.
Originally joining the foundation in 2000 as the chief financial officer, Allan felt a deep connection to the U.S. Program education work - which spans early learning, K-12, and postsecondary - and began serving as president in 2006.
Allan believes education provides a bridge to opportunity unlike any other in America, and he is committed to ensuring all young people have the education and opportunity they deserve. This includes a deep focus on equity in education and using data to get to better outcomes for students of all backgrounds.
Allan's professional background is in consulting, public accounting, consumer packaged goods, software development, finance, healthcare, and education. He holds an MBA from Seattle University and a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Colorado.
Allan Golston, president of U.S. Programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, shares how the foundation and its partners are supporting U.S. students during COVID-19.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
- New Gender Equality Division President
New Gender Equality Division President Anita Zaidi discusses the newly created division and what it means for the foundation.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
- Director, Europe Office
- Leadership
Anja Langenbucher manages the foundation's policy, advocacy, and government relations activities in Europe and leads a team that builds strategic relationships with various stakeholders across Europe including governments, civil society institutions, and media.
Prior to joining the foundation in 2011, Anja worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in a range of roles, including managing the EBRD's technical assistance program and as a transaction leader in the agribusiness team leading both debt and equity transactions. Anja also worked at the IFC/World Bank in Washington and for the European Commission in Brussels. She started her career at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich.
Anja is a German National and holds a doctorate and master's degree in economics.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- As Chief Strategy Officer
- Leadership
Ankur is a thought partner who pushes innovative thinking and brings an outlook of positivity and optimism. He strives to bring an external perspective and insight to support longer term strategic planning. As CSO, Ankur leads a community of practice for foundation deputy directors of Strategy, Planning, and Management to develop organizational norms that optimize the implementation of strategies and improve coordination and alignment across teams.
Ankur joined the foundation in 2013 to lead the foundation's strategy team. Prior to that, he was the director of programs at The Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) in London where he oversaw a cross-cutting portfolio of programs focused on health, nutrition, education, and climate change across Africa and South Asia. Before CIFF, he served as principal at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he focused on healthcare, financial services, and social impact projects. Ankur was also a lecturer of Economics at the University of Chicago, and worked briefly at Goldman Sachs, the Industrial Development Bank of India, and the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in India.
Ankur grew up in India watching his parents donate most of their time, energy, and money to help others. This upbringing and mentality has been foundational to Ankur's perspectives and purpose. With the fundamental belief that the world can be a lot better, Ankur fights the solvable injustices of our time with IQ, EQ, and a mindset to win. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Chicago, along with a Master of Science in Economics and bachelor's in Engineering, Computer Science from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Founder and CEO of the Convergence Foundation
- Leadership
Ashish Dhawan is the founder and CEO of the Convergence Foundation (TCF), which is focused on accelerating India's economic growth and development. He is also the chairperson of Ashoka University, a leading liberal arts university in India, and Central Square Foundation, a nonprofit foundation working to improve the quality of education for all children in India.
Job Titles:
- Director, K - 12 Education
Bob Hughes oversees the work to ensure that we prepare all students for success in college and career.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Carolyn Ainslie oversees the finance and resource planning functions including accounting, financial planning and analysis, risk and assurance, enterprise business management, the Strategic Investment Fund, facilities, events & travel, as well as oversight of the strategy and planning functions for the foundation. This role ensures we allocate the foundation's resources wisely to maximize the impact of our investments and people across all strategies, functions, geographies, and operations.
Prior to the foundation in 2018, Carolyn worked for 10 years as Princeton University's vice president for Finance and treasurer where she was responsible for the central financial functions of the University and as a member of the president's senior staff, served as a key partner on strategic university initiatives. She also spent 10 years as the vice president for Planning and Budget at Cornell University.
Carolyn holds a master's in business administration in finance from the University of Rochester and bachelor's degree from Bucknell University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
- Director, Africa
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Diva Dhar leads a team that works to strengthen data architecture and deepen research in support of women's economic empowerment programs and policymaking. As an early member of the foundation's Gender Equality Division, which launched in 2020, she played a key role in the design and strategy of its Women's Economic Empowerment team.
Diva joined the foundation in 2016, working in the India office on research and evaluation grantmaking to support nutrition, health systems, information and communications technology, and youth and gender issues. Earlier, she spent more than a decade working in public policy research and design, with a focus on gender, youth, and development. She started her career working for the Indian government's Planning Commission and subsequently worked in 10 countries for global nonprofit organizations that included the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Innovations for Poverty Action, and the World Bank. She has lived in India, France, Morocco, and Bangladesh.
Diva is currently a doctoral candidate in public policy at the University of Oxford. She has a master's degree in international and development economics from Yale University and undergraduate degrees in economics and international relations from Mount Holyoke College.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
In a career spanning more than 15 years, Ananda has led disease control initiatives in diverse settings across the globe. He worked as a surveillance medical officer with the World Health Organization's National Polio Surveillance Project in India and contributed to India's polio elimination effort and measles surveillance initiatives. Subsequently, he coordinated public health surveillance and response activities as a medical epidemiologist in the United States, at the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Ananda grew up in Kolkata, India, and obtained his medical degree from Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital with a gold medal and several honors certificates. He received an MPH in global health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Ananda is associated with advanced degree programs in public health and vaccinology in several globally renowned teaching venues as a guest faculty member.
Job Titles:
- Leadership
- President of the Global Development Division
- President, Global Development
Dr. Chris Elias is the president of the Global Development Division, where he leads the foundation's efforts in a diverse range of program areas aimed at finding creative new ways to ensure solutions and products get into the hands of people in poor countries who need them most. Focusing on areas with the potential for high-impact, sustainable solutions that can reach hundreds of millions of people, Chris oversees Global Development's portfolio in Emergency Response; Family Planning; Maternal, Newborn & Child Health; Nutrition; Polio Eradication; and Vaccine Delivery. A common theme of these programs is innovative and integrated delivery, including an emphasis on strengthening of primary health care systems.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
- President of Spelman College, the No
Dr. Helene D. Gayle is president of Spelman College, the No. 1 historically Black college or university in the country. A global leader in the education of women of African descent, Spelman College is dedicated to academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and the intellectual, creative, ethical, and leadership development of its students.
Previously, Helene was president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation's oldest and largest community foundations. Under her leadership, the Trust adopted a new strategic focus on closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap in the Chicago region. An internationally recognized expert on health and humanitarian issues, as well as global and domestic economic development, Helene spent nearly a decade as president and CEO of the international humanitarian organization CARE.
Prior to that, Helene served as the director of the HIV, TB, and Reproductive Health program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She began her career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where she spent 20 years focusing primarily on HIV/AIDS prevention and global health.
Helene serves on several public company and nonprofit boards, including the Coca-Cola Company, Organon, Palo Alto Networks, Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies, New America, and ONE. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Council on Foreign Relations, American Public Health Association, National Academy of Medicine, National Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
A recipient of numerous awards, Helene has authored articles on global and domestic public health issues, poverty alleviation, gender equality, and wealth inequity. She has received 18 honorary degrees and holds faculty appointments at the University of Washington and Emory University.
Helene earned a B.A. in psychology from Barnard College, an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Dr. Jay Wenger leads the foundation's polio eradication efforts. He manages a high-performing team and works across the foundation to drive instrumental advocacy work, resource mobilization, communications, and research and product development. Jay represents the foundation both internally and externally and helps to shape and execute the polio eradication strategy.
Prior to joining the foundation, he served as the Associate Director for Science in the Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and focused on surveillance, prevention, and control programs for invasive bacterial diseases. Jay was formerly detailed to the World Health Organization (WHO) for five years as project manager for the National Polio Surveillance Project in collaboration with the Government of India. Prior to working in India, he coordinated the introduction of new vaccines and developed a regional network of WHO medical officers as the medical officer and coordinator for the Accelerated Vaccine Introduction Priority Project with the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) at the WHO. Jay received his medical degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and training in epidemiology at the CDC.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Dr. Jennifer Gardy joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Malaria team as deputy director, Surveillance, Data, and Epidemiology in February 2019. Before that, she spent ten years at the BC Centre for Disease Control and the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health, where she held the Canada Research Chair in Public Health Genomics. Her research focused on the use of genomics as a tool to understand pathogen transmission, and incorporated techniques drawn from genomics, bioinformatics, modelling, information visualization, and the social sciences.
In 2018, Jennifer was named one of BC's Most Influential Women in STEM by BC Business Magazine, and was named one of the Government of Canada's 20 Women of Impact in STEM. In addition to her science work, Jennifer is also a science communicator, hosting many episodes of science documentary television for Canada's national broadcast, as well as authoring science books for children, including a new book to be released in 2020.
Job Titles:
- Interim Director, Agricultural Development
- Leadership
Enock Chikava leads the foundation's work to reduce poverty for millions of farming families in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by promoting inclusive agricultural innovations that drive productivity and income growth for smallholder farmers in a sustainable way.
He joined the foundation in April 2015 as a senior program officer focusing on crop innovations.
Enock trained in Agricultural Economics and Business Strategy, with 30-years' experience in agriculture. His career spans from farmer organizations, private sector seed industry, agribusiness, food processing, and now philanthropy. Enock Chikava is a board member of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) and former president of the African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA).
He was raised on a smallholder farm in Zimbabwe in a family of eleven and has dedicated his life to working towards smallholder farmers' success as they use technology to raise productivity, incomes, nutrition, and economically empower themselves.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- President
- Leadership
Gargee Ghosh is president of the foundation's Global Policy & Advocacy division. A member of the foundation's executive leadership team, she is accountable for the organization's worldwide government affairs, development policy, resource mobilization partnerships, and advocacy campaigns. Her division works hand in hand with all program teams at the foundation-from global health to climate adaptation-to build policy and partnerships for meaningful global action.
Gargee aims to bring head and heart to her career in global development. She holds graduate degrees in economics and international relations from Oxford and Georgetown Universities, respectively. Her personal connection to drivers of development progress began with her own family's experiences in West Bengal and continued through deep work in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her career has spanned public and private sectors from the United Nations to McKinsey & Company, the Center for Global Development, and Google.
For over a decade, Gargee has held roles of increasing responsibility at the Gates Foundation: successfully deepening the foundation's work in economic policy, modernizing partnership strategies and organizational structures to be more effective globally, and juggling complex geopolitical tensions to deliver strong outcomes for foundation goals and the SDGs.
Gargee lives in Washington DC with her husband, two active children, and one lazy rescue dog.
Job Titles:
- Leadership
- Senior Advisor in the Global Development Division of the Bill & Melinda
- Senior Advisor, Immunization
Greg Widmyer is a Senior Advisor in the Global Development Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation currently focusing on our Gavi partnership, its effectiveness and overseeing the PST's interventions around HPV and cervical cancer prevention. He currently serves on the Gavi Board and associated board committees. Greg previously led teams at the foundation whose work focused on the accelerated introduction of products and system innovations that reduce maternal and childhood mortality. He also led the foundation's efforts to deliver therapeutics, diagnostics, and oxygen as part of the Foundation's Covid response. He has served as Director of the foundation's Integrated Delivery program team, where he led efforts to strengthen primary health care systems and accelerate the integration and scaling up of products and interventions within those systems. He also serves as the Foundation's board representative to Unitaid. For six years previously, he was deputy director of the Vaccine Delivery program, where he led a team that steered many of the day-to-day aspects of the foundation's partnership with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in addition to focusing on vaccine introduction, market shaping, supply chain, and financing.
Before joining the foundation in 2010, Greg was vice president and general manager of Monogram Biosciences, where he led the commercial and operational aspects of the company. He established the company's European operations, led the company's largest pharmaceutical partnership as well as the first global launch of a diagnostic/therapeutic combination. He has held a variety of commercial positions within the biotech and e-learning industries, including serving as head of marketing, finance, and business development at various companies. Greg worked for Population Services International as country director for programs in Cameroon, Rwanda, and Myanmar focusing on social marketing work in the areas of HIV, maternal and child health, and nutrition. He also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Togo.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Greta oversees a portfolio of investments in gender data and evidence, women's economic collectives, and livelihoods development for poor women.
Before joining the foundation, Greta worked for 15 years at the World Bank Group, where she served for six years as the CEO of CGAP, a think tank focusing on financial services for the poor. Earlier, she was a manager for Financial Institutions Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa, working primarily on issues related to access to finance for the poor.
Greta has more than 20 years of experience in development finance, focusing on small and medium enterprise finance, microfinance, digital financial services, payments, and livelihoods. She has worked with financial services providers, development partners, and policymakers in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. Her clients and partners have included banks, microfinance institutions, mobile network operators, financial technology companies, and major technology firms.
Greta has a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and an undergraduate degree in international studies from the University of Washington.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Director, Ethiopia
- Leadership
Haddis Tadesse oversees our work in Ethiopia and leads a team that manages programs and builds diplomatic relations with key partners and stakeholders across the region.
Haddis Tadesse leads a team that manages programs and builds diplomatic relations with key partners and stakeholders across the region, including governments, African Union and UN officials, donors, private sector decision-makers, NGOs and members of the press. In addition, his team works across the foundation's investments in Ethiopia, including agricultural development, health, financial services, water and sanitation, nutrition, and emergency relief.
Haddis joined the foundation in 2007 where he managed African government relations. In 2012, he relocated to Ethiopia to establish the foundation's office in Addis Ababa. Prior to joining the foundation, Haddis was a senior policy advisor to Greg Nickels, mayor of Seattle, Washington, where he advised on citywide policies for human services, public health, housing, and civil rights. He also led outreach to immigrants and refugees, and implemented several new initiatives to support these communities.
A United States citizen of Ethiopian origin, Haddis lived and worked in the U.S. for nearly 25 years. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Washington. He serves on a number of boards and has held several fellowships, including at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the European Union.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Leadership
Iris Mwanza leads the foundation's strategy and investments to improve women's representation and influence in the fields of health, law, and economics in priority geographies. Born and raised in Zambia, Iris had early exposure to unfair and unequal opportunities for women and girls and has been a driving force for gender equality in her career-from her Ph.D. dissertation on women's and children's rights in Commonwealth Africa to her work in international development and global health, including on HIV/AIDS, health systems strengthening, community health, and community health worker rights.
Iris serves on the Care International Supervisory Board and on the board of directors of World Wildlife Fund US. She has an M.A. and a Ph.D. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and law degrees from Cornell University and the University of Zambia.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia
Joe Cerrell oversees the foundation's government relations, policy, communications, and partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia (EMEEA). He is based in the London office.
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
Lauren W. Bright leads the foundation's legal team and is responsible for all legal matters and activities pertaining to the foundation and its affiliate organizations.
Job Titles:
- Head
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Director of the India Office
- Director, India Country Office
- Leadership
M Hari Menon leads the India Office of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also oversees the foundation's work in South and South-East Asia.
In this role as director of the India Office, Hari is in charge of managing the foundation's work areas in India, with an objective to improve conditions of family health, sanitation, digital financial inclusion, agriculture, and gender equality. He leads these efforts to advance the country's health and development goals by working closely with India's central and state governments, local and global non-profits, community groups, researchers, and the private sector. Hari has led many complex portfolios in the foundation and has been successful in advancing the goals by engaging with governments, public and private partners, philanthropists and non-governmental organizations. He brings valuable experience gained through multiple leadership roles across the foundation and has strong relationships with partners across the development ecosystem.
India has made tremendous progress across areas such as health, nutrition, sanitation, digital financial inclusion, agricultural profitability, and women's economic empowerment for enabling gender equality. Hari's key focus is to continue to partner with India, on our aligned mission to transform lives of people who are most in need, by bringing to bear our technical and global expertise.
Hari has been associated with the foundation since 2006, with a brief role outside the foundation between 2011 and 2013. He has, over the years, supported a wide portfolio of work in public health, especially in maternal and child health and HIV prevention. Prior to the India Country director role, he was leading the teams that focus on policy and advocacy and program communications for Global Health, Global Development, and Global Growth & Opportunity. Since 2017, he has also been overseeing the foundation's policy and government relations for South and South-East Asia.
From 2011 to 2013, Hari served as strategic philanthropy adviser to Rohini Nilekani. He also has experience in the consumer goods and information technology sectors with companies like Colgate Palmolive and Infosys Technologies. Hari holds a graduate degree in business management from XLRI School of Management, Jamshedpur and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering & Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
M. Hari Menon, director of the India office at the Gates Foundation, shares how the foundation has partnered with government entities, local charities and organizations, as well as biopharma, to respond to COVID-19 in India.
M. Hari Menon, head of the foundation's India office, assesses COVID-19's impact in 2020 and shares his hopes for the new year.
Mark Suzman leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair of the Bill & Melinda
- Co - Chair, Board Member
Job Titles:
- Director, Program Advocacy and Communications, Africa
Rachel Toku-Appiah leads the foundation's program advocacy and communications work in Africa.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
- Director, North America
Rob Nabors leads the foundation's policy, advocacy, and government relations activities in North America.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Office Leadership Team
- Director, Economic Mobility and Opportunity
Ryan D. Rippel oversees the foundation's work to strengthen pathways out of poverty in the United States and ensure that everyone has access to the American Dream.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
The foundation's leaders come from a broad range of backgrounds and have a diversity of expertise and experience that spans science and technology, medicine, public policy, education, communications, law, and business. Our leaders are guided by the foundation's mission to create a world in which every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chair
- Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee
- Trustee
- Co - Chair of the Bill & Melinda
- Co - Chair, Board Member
- Leadership
Dr. Zhi-Jie (ZJ) Zheng leads the foundation's efforts to develop and strengthen partnerships across China's public, private, and nonprofit sectors to advance health and development outcomes in China and around the world.