News Releases

Global Fund Appoints New Head of External Relations, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Information Officer

20 June 2018

GENEVA – Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, today announced the appointments of three new leaders joining the senior management team to accelerate the Global Fund’s work toward ending epidemics.

Françoise Vanni will become the Global Fund’s new Head of External Relations, bringing more than 20 years of leadership experience in resource mobilization and advocacy, most recently as Director of External Relations and Communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East.

Jacques Le Pape, a finance expert with rich experience in government and in the private sector, will be the Global Fund’s new Chief Financial Officer. Le Pape has served as a senior auditor, an executive at Air France KLM, an advisor to successive ministers in the French government, and as a manager at France’s Treasury. He will begin his new role on 23 July.

Michael Johnson, an innovative and accomplished leader in information technology with experience in both the public and private sectors, will become the new Chief Information Officer at a time when the Global Fund is building greater capacity for managing and synthesizing data with a focus on an enhanced digital agenda.

“I am thrilled to be able to name these three outstanding leaders to help the Global Fund deliver its mission,” said Sands. “Each of them brings distinctive expertise, fresh perspective and a deep sense of commitment that can drive the Global Fund toward even greater achievements.”

Vanni has extensive field experience in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, and a stellar track record leading advocacy and fund-raising campaigns in politically complex environments. In her most recent role, she oversaw a broad portfolio that included dozens of institutional and private donors. She begins her new role on 3 September.

Early in her career, Vanni served as country representative in Angola and in Cuba for Médecins du Monde. For eight years, she served as Executive Director of a non-governmental organization in France called Agir Ici, which she transformed into Oxfam France. Vanni served as Communications Chief for UNICEF in Mexico, before serving Oxfam GB as a regional director and then as Campaigns and Policy Director, based in the UK.

Vanni’s experience developing and delivering high-profile advocacy campaigns has built upon her passion for humanitarian work, and she has thrived in culturally-diverse organizations with a strong sense of mission. Vanni earned a master’s degree in international cooperation, development and humanitarian affairs at La Sorbonne, and completed an advanced management and leadership course at Oxford University’s Said School of Business.

Jacques Le Pape honed his aptitude for finance and politics in an illustrious career that included a four-year stint as Deputy Chief of Staff to Christine Lagarde, when she was France’s Minister of Finance.

He later became Executive Vice President of Air France KLM, where he oversaw corporate strategy, fleet management, legal and public affairs. In that role, he managed investments in aircraft and engines of around €1 billion a year and was a key player in M&A projects. His responsibilities at France’s Treasury included negotiations where the original design and funding of the Global Fund were finalized.

Most recently, Le Pape has served as a senior auditor in the Ministry of Finance, managing teams that prepare material for the government’s major financial decisions. At the same time, he has overseen the establishment of an asset management fund to manage or privatize Greek state-owned enterprises.

Le Pape graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure in Physics and from the Paris School of Economics. He is also a Chartered Actuary.   

Michael Johnson has a proven track record in achieving transformation in an organization’s IT, while directing a full lifecycle of technology projects and initiatives. With a highly pragmatic mindset and an acknowledged appetite for big challenges, he has excelled at increasing performance and alignment with strategic goals, while reducing costs. He will begin his new role on 27 August.

Johnson has served as a senior leader in several positions at the Merck Group, a Science and Technology company, directing teams responsible for IT Shared Services, new technology platforms, application management and business partnering functions, IT security and governance, vendor management and IT sourcing, among others across 68 countries. He served for five years as a regional IT leader for WHO in Cairo, Egypt. 

Originally from Jamaica, Johnson earned a master’s of business administration at Columbia University in New York, and a bachelor of science at New York Institute of Technology.