News Releases

Global Fund Launches Search for Next Executive Director

17 November 2016

MONTREUX, Switzerland – The Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched a search process to find an Executive Director to begin work in 2017.

At a Board meeting held on 16 and 17 November, the Board approved a nomination committee and invited all partners to encourage highly qualified leaders who can provide visionary direction in the mission of ending epidemics.

The Board also approved selection criteria and voting procedures, and outlined a schedule that is expected to name a new Executive Director on or around 1 March 2017.

Mark Dybul, the current Executive Director, informed the Board two years ago that he intended to step down in 2017, at the completion of his four-year term, to return to his position as a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Dybul has implemented dynamic improvements at the Global Fund, including a sharply increased focus on achieving impact, strong financial and risk management, effective partner engagement and a highly successful Replenishment conference in September 2016 that earned commitments of more than US$12.9 billion for the coming three years. Dr. Dybul has pledged to take all steps for a smooth transition to new leadership.

The 2016 Executive Director Nomination Committee is chaired by Jan Paehler, the Vice-Chair of the Board’s Ethics and Governance Committee. It includes six other members from the Board, as well as two independent members. The members from the Board are: Amy Baker, Michèle Boccoz, Sarah Boulton, Hristijan Jankuloski, Vinand Nantulya, and Filipe da Costa. The two independent members, Eric Goosby and Mphu Ramatlapeng, are both former Board members.

The nomination committee, with the support of an executive search firm, expects to interview the best candidates and to recommend up to four final candidates to the Board for its consideration at a retreat in late February. It intends to make a selection by 1 March 2017.

The Global Fund’s next Executive Director will oversee and guide the implementation of the 2017-2022 Strategy, “Investing to End Epidemics,” designed to maximize impact against HIV, TB and malaria and build resilient and sustainable systems for health. The strategy is fully aligned with partner plans and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Candidates for the role are expected to demonstrate a track record of exceptional leadership, excellent management skills, extensive partner engagement, energetic resource mobilization, and sustained advocacy.

The Global Fund is a 21st-century partnership organization designed to accelerate the end of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics. Founded in 2002, the Global Fund is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and people affected by the diseases. The Global Fund raises and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support programs run by local experts in countries and communities most in need.

The Global Fund, based in Geneva, convened its 36th Board meeting in nearby Montreux, Switzerland.